For program access, one could claim this is even how linux tools usually do it: you parse some meant-for human text to attempt to extract what you want. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can find an argument that spits out something meant for machines. Funny enough, Microsoft is the only one that made any real headway for this seemingly impossible goal: powershell objects [1].
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/learn...
