Lambda the Ultimate

(some muddling thoughts fermented with "adt vs. object" and "triz" and such.)

What problems in PLT are best solved via better tools? And what are those tools? And what does it take to get there? And which ones already exist? For example:

• Based on my experience, the vision for Subtext rings very true: the traditional ASCII representations just don't offer enough concise information vs. a tool with layout and UI that is targeted at the narrow problem.
• There was something useful about the Visual Age IDE's habit of breaking up files into snippets of code. I think part of the problem with the expression problem is that people are worried about what files need to be modified for a change. If our tools let us weave according to current reader need, wouldn't that free us a lot? Mightn't it help unify ADTs and Objects as well?