A syntax tree node does not fit into a git object. Too many children. This doesn't mean we shouldn't keep everything that's great about git in a next-gen solution, but it does mean that we'll have to build some new tools to experiment with features like semantic patching and merging.

Also I checked the author out and can confirm that they know how git works in detail.

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ongy 12 hours ago | parent [-]

Why do you think it has too many children? If we are talking direct descendents, I have seen way larger directories in file systems (git managed) than I've ever seen in an AST.

I don't think there's a limit in git. The structure might be a bit deep for git and thus some things might be unoptimized, but the shape is the same.

Tree.

	▲	conartist6 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Directories use the `tree` object type in git whereas files use `blob`. What I understand you to suggest is using the tree nodes instead of the blob nodes as the primary type of data. This is an interesting idea for how to reuse more of git's infrastructure, but it wouldn't be backwards compatible in the traditional sense either. If you checked out the contents of that repo you'd get every node in the syntax tree as a file, and let's just say that syntax nodes as directories aren't going to be compatible with any existing tools. But even if I wanted to embrace it I still think I'd hit problems with the assumptions baked into the `tree` object type in git. Directories use a fundamentally different model than syntax trees do. Directories tend to look like `<Parent><Child/></>` while syntax trees tend to look like `<Person> child: <Person /> </>`. There's no room in git's `tree` objects to put the extra information you need, and eventually the exercise would just start to feel like putting a square peg in a round hole. Instead of learning that I should use exactly git's data structure to preserve compatibility, I think my learning should be that a successful structure needs to be well-suited to the purpose it is being used for.