> Graphical programming is a popular example: the author pooh-poohs the terminal, for example. But text is the densest way we can precisely convey information; if we're trying to scale to the next system size, cutting information density by ½ (or more!) is not a good first step.

You don't necessarily need a terminal for a text-based interface (looking at you, Oberon). Our terminals are teletype emulators. TTY is hard-baked deep into the most prevalent operating systems and it affects what we consider "programming" and limits our collective horizon.