Really interesting application of category theory, I'd love to see a nonlinear editor with a good UI. Don't know if the general public would bite, but I think there could be a niche market there.
As an aside, thanks @ColinWright for another high quality submission. HN needs more of these kinds of articles.
Yes, more please! When plumbing gets uninteresting, it does my heart good to see there are still ideas like this I have yet to wrap my brain around. Besides HN and LtU, are there any venues that tend to attract it?
I always wanted a nonlinear editor for representing stuff like different choices of wording in a song or piece of fiction. It never occurred to me that the same idea might work for conflict resolution.
Of course, if branches could be introduced both manually and by editing conflicts, what if there are conflicts in the branches? Would it work to just simulate adding new branches as an incoming conflicting edit?
As an aside, thanks @ColinWright for another high quality submission. HN needs more of these kinds of articles.