7 ms·

That's not the impression I got from the article, which cites performance, API architecture and integration with existing codebases. Is the "dr" in "tl;dr" lit

That's not the impression I got from the article, which cites performance, API architecture and integration with existing codebases. Is the "dr" in "tl;dr" literal?

sidlls 9y ago
Your comment and the parent aren't mutually exclusive. It's fairly easy for coders to provide vast amounts of technical justification for resume driven development.
- dmix 9y ago
  Is a new immature language like Pony really that desirable in the marketplace? I highly doubt 'resume development' was ever a primary motivation. If it was anything beyond the strategic interests of the company it's that developers love a) clean code and possibilities of a fresh new project and b) playing with new modern toys.
  - rgrieselhuber 9y ago
    I think there is a hipster element to language selection in situations like the parent refer to. I've certainly seen this at play.
    - sidlls 9y ago
      I don't know about "hipster" unless you're using it as a synecdoche for "trend following." There is definitely a predilection in certain parts of the coder community to prefer newness and difference over tried and true. There isn't anything wrong with that necessarily: it's part of how progress is made. However I think it's often taken to extremes in the coder community.
  - rurban 9y ago
    At least it is more mature than rust. And faster and safer also.
    - HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
      Ha! You might as well say "Beetlejuice" 3 times while looking into a mirror.
      - dsnuh 9y ago
        Minor quibble: no mirror needed to summon Beetlejuice, only Candyman and/or Bloody Mary. ;)
        HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
        This is why I keep quiet when pub trivia turns to popular culture.
  - spooneybarger 9y ago
    Hi VP of Engineering at Wallaroo Labs here. We put a lot of thought and experimentation into our decision to use Pony. It wasn't a decision we made lightly. I wrote a post a few months back that covers that decision: https://blog.wallaroolabs.com/2017/10/why-we-used-pony-to-write-wallaroo/ https://blog.wallaroolabs.com/2017/10/why-we-used-pony-to-wr...
    - lod723 9y ago
      I've read that blog post and some of your other posts on HN. I get why the JVM, C/C++, and Go were not fits. However, I have not seen a lucid explanation of why you didn't go with Erlang or Elixir.
      - spooneybarger 9y ago
        That's a complicated topic. The short version is: We looked at Erlang. Several of us are friends with folks who worked at Basho on Riak and we talked with them about our performance goals. They were very skeptical that we could meet them using Erlang. Based on that, we moved on from Erlang.
        lod723 9y ago
        It's worth posting the long version. I've been following the various Pony blog posts with interest (I'm a both language geek and a distributed systems geek), but I always come away with the notion "Huh, kinda cool, but why didn't they just use Erlang, it'd be a great fit for this". So either: a) Erlang is not a good fit, and I'm wrong. Then I'd really like to know why I'm wrong! b) Your friends at Basho led you astray. Would also be interesting to know what happened in this case! Either way, without knowing more details, the short version you just posted is inconsistent with the claim that you guys did serious research into existing language ecosystems before going your own way.
        dmix 9y ago
        I too would love to hear a long-form answer to this. Erlang seems like a good fit for this problem, besides maybe packaging up the client in an easily usable fashion.
  - brazzledazzle 9y ago
    If no one takes the plunge how do languages af technologies ever get proven? A startup without bureaucracy, institutional legacy and technical debt seems like a good place to do it.

That's not the impression I got from the article, which cites performance, API architecture and integration with existing codebases. Is the "dr" in "tl;dr" literal?

sidlls 9y ago

Your comment and the parent aren't mutually exclusive. It's fairly easy for coders to provide vast amounts of technical justification for resume driven development.

dmix 9y ago
Is a new immature language like Pony really that desirable in the marketplace? I highly doubt 'resume development' was ever a primary motivation. If it was anything beyond the strategic interests of the company it's that developers love a) clean code and possibilities of a fresh new project and b) playing with new modern toys.
- rgrieselhuber 9y ago
  I think there is a hipster element to language selection in situations like the parent refer to. I've certainly seen this at play.
  - sidlls 9y ago
    I don't know about "hipster" unless you're using it as a synecdoche for "trend following." There is definitely a predilection in certain parts of the coder community to prefer newness and difference over tried and true. There isn't anything wrong with that necessarily: it's part of how progress is made. However I think it's often taken to extremes in the coder community.
- rurban 9y ago
  At least it is more mature than rust. And faster and safer also.
  - HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
    Ha! You might as well say "Beetlejuice" 3 times while looking into a mirror.
    - dsnuh 9y ago
      Minor quibble: no mirror needed to summon Beetlejuice, only Candyman and/or Bloody Mary. ;)
      - HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
        This is why I keep quiet when pub trivia turns to popular culture.
- spooneybarger 9y ago
  Hi VP of Engineering at Wallaroo Labs here. We put a lot of thought and experimentation into our decision to use Pony. It wasn't a decision we made lightly. I wrote a post a few months back that covers that decision: https://blog.wallaroolabs.com/2017/10/why-we-used-pony-to-write-wallaroo/ https://blog.wallaroolabs.com/2017/10/why-we-used-pony-to-wr...
  - lod723 9y ago
    I've read that blog post and some of your other posts on HN. I get why the JVM, C/C++, and Go were not fits. However, I have not seen a lucid explanation of why you didn't go with Erlang or Elixir.
    - spooneybarger 9y ago
      That's a complicated topic. The short version is: We looked at Erlang. Several of us are friends with folks who worked at Basho on Riak and we talked with them about our performance goals. They were very skeptical that we could meet them using Erlang. Based on that, we moved on from Erlang.
      - lod723 9y ago
        It's worth posting the long version. I've been following the various Pony blog posts with interest (I'm a both language geek and a distributed systems geek), but I always come away with the notion "Huh, kinda cool, but why didn't they just use Erlang, it'd be a great fit for this". So either: a) Erlang is not a good fit, and I'm wrong. Then I'd really like to know why I'm wrong! b) Your friends at Basho led you astray. Would also be interesting to know what happened in this case! Either way, without knowing more details, the short version you just posted is inconsistent with the claim that you guys did serious research into existing language ecosystems before going your own way.
        dmix 9y ago
        I too would love to hear a long-form answer to this. Erlang seems like a good fit for this problem, besides maybe packaging up the client in an easily usable fashion.
- brazzledazzle 9y ago
  If no one takes the plunge how do languages af technologies ever get proven? A startup without bureaucracy, institutional legacy and technical debt seems like a good place to do it.