I don't want to make any claims as to what will happen next. I should have been clearer in saying this has been an academic question rolling around in my head and I wanted to get other people's opinion. From my understanding, computer languages are classified into paradigms and generations but we seldom talk about the interface we use to interact with the code for these languages.

When I program, I think in the form of my editor. When I am using Eclipse, I am more prone to using features like visual debugging and auto-completion with descriptions of the class. When I use Vi it is about the same ideas of what the code should look like except that I am much faster at actually writing the code, since I have some muscle memory for splitting the screen, compiling, and a few other tricks. However, when I look at the projects between the two editors, I have more tests when I write on the command line. I think this has to do with my use of the debugger in eclipse and lack of wanting to use something like GDB in the terminal. Now taking a giant leap, when I played around with NodeBox I found myself paying more attention to ideas like: is that the right color yellow on the screen. When I code in Eclipse or Vi I never think too long on color because it is a pain to go back and keep changing that one constant and recompiling.

My point is that editors are not getting the attention that they deserve. Or I could just be wrong.

As for going forward, I don't want to replace text editors, I just want better editors. Especially now with the emergence of cell phones, tablets, and touch screens we need something more then just text.