Elevate schema to a first-class construct, deprecate table?

[hollasch]

Or put another way, should a table just be an array with a schema? Note that graphs also employ schemas, which is essentially just a vector of name-type information. Current approach:

[# // Table
    [ id:(integer32:0) name:(text:) rank:(double:0) ]  // First array is interpreted as a schema
    [ ... ] // Data row 1
    [ ... ] // Data row 2
    [ ... ] // Data row 3
    ...
#]

Instead, if a schema was enclosed in [# ... #] delimeters (to use a stand-in for now), a table would just be an array with a schema:

[ // Regular array (so far)
    [#[ ... ]#]  // Schema must be first element. A schema is an array of name-type information.
    [ ... ]   // Data row 1
    [ ... ]   // Data row 2
    [ ... ]   // Data row 3
    ...
]

It is still an open question whether we should allow rows without explicit brackets. That is, given a schema with N elements, the first N elements would define row 1, the next N elements row 2, and so on. It would be an error for an array with schema of size N to have M elements, where M mod N ≠ 0.

Note that a typed array is then just a table with a schema of a single component:

[[#(double:0)#] 1, 3.4, -8.6, 10.2, 0, 0, 1.8 ]

There's a possible problem with this approach, since graph nodes or edges can be tables. If we eliminate a special table signifier (something in [# ... #] delimeters), then the "array with a schema is a table" has to be well understood. I think that's ok.