> This is what most programmers do. They type raw text into the editor; the compiler either processes it into structured data, or returns an error the programmer has to internalise before resubmitting.
In the 1980s structural editors were quite popular (fe the basic editor in the ZX81). Using these, it is impossible for the programmer to create text that is not a valid program.
I never saw any structured editor on these machines, how did they operate ? grammar guided insertion ?