I often wonder about some sort of unified distributed system, encompassing frontend & backend into a single whole. One where user input is just something the system can ask and wait for, no matter which frontend or client it comes from.

But I’ve only ever been able to catch glimpses of it. More of a nebulous feeling and intuition than a real understanding of how such a thing would work. Something that feels obviously right, that will make perfect sense once understood, but that I still can’t begin to grasp.

It’s frustrating.

I’m also pretty sure I must not be the first, and that it either already exists or involves some complexity, maintainability or evolution issues I have no idea of.

Your example reminded me of "it".