The first glance of the code made me think of CNC g-code. Some older machines I've seen have tabular form similar to this, only because they have segmented displays. I suspect these concepts aren't as "new paradigm" as the author imagines.

Most such code is generated elsewhere and loaded into industrial machines. However, technicians frequently find themselves navigating and editing code directly at the console. Some are entirely capable of programming all of the steps involved in a complex operation directly in these primitive languages.