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Do you think a statically-typed language could ever be a "contender" - i.e. compete with Python in terms of ease-of-use etc? Nowadays, I don't think any new, d

by firdak 8y ago

Do you think a statically-typed language could ever be a "contender" - i.e. compete with Python in terms of ease-of-use etc? Nowadays, I don't think any new, dynamically-typed language has a chance to become mainstream.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
- LaGrange 8y ago
  Eh, web assembly is coming so that we can have a _proper_ mess in the browsers :)
  - devxpy 8y ago
    Thanks for reminding me xD https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death-of-javascript https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death... It's VERY real
devxpy 8y ago
Well I don't exactly see any attempts to do it..
- firdak 8y ago
  What are your thoughts on Crystal [1], Nim [2] or even Go [3]? [1] https://crystal-lang.org https://crystal-lang.org [2] https://nim-lang.org https://nim-lang.org [3] https://golang.org https://golang.org
  - devxpy 8y ago
    I took a quick look at them and this is just first impressions, so bear with me? They still look kinda low level to me. Yes, they provide a lot of high-level constructs and data types like python -- But what they fail to do (IMO) is a consistent abstraction. For example, all of these languages have a concept of pointers. All of them have a distinction between different integers (int32, int64 etc..) I had similar feelings when I used dart or even java. They're high level, but not quite! I don't mean to thrash on these languages in any way. I think they have some real value for programmers. It's just that I've never seen a language just throw everything out of your way and provide you with this extremely high level and easy to reason interface. Nim actually looked pretty good, but then I realized it was just the significant whitesapce xD Maybe I'm too biased because Python was my first (proper) language.
scarface74 8y ago
The things I do in Python - mostly straightforward simple automation scripts around AWS - I would hate to do in my go to language C#. The overhead and ceremony of C# is not worth it. There are also no issues with a mismatch between what you think should be running based on what is in source control and what is running.
- firdak 8y ago
  Static typing doesn't have to mean overhead and ceremony. Do you think you would, theoretically, enjoy writing scripts in a language like Crystal [1], which provides both the benefits of static typing and a scripting-language-like syntax? [1] https://crystal-lang.org https://crystal-lang.org
  - scarface74 8y ago
    It’s not just the language being statically typed, it’s also about the tooling around the language. Modern IDEs around mature static languages are s powerful.

by firdak 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

LaGrange 8y ago
Eh, web assembly is coming so that we can have a _proper_ mess in the browsers :)
- devxpy 8y ago
  Thanks for reminding me xD https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death-of-javascript https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death... It's VERY real

devxpy 8y ago

Well I don't exactly see any attempts to do it..

firdak 8y ago
What are your thoughts on Crystal [1], Nim [2] or even Go [3]? [1] https://crystal-lang.org https://crystal-lang.org [2] https://nim-lang.org https://nim-lang.org [3] https://golang.org https://golang.org
- devxpy 8y ago
  I took a quick look at them and this is just first impressions, so bear with me? They still look kinda low level to me. Yes, they provide a lot of high-level constructs and data types like python -- But what they fail to do (IMO) is a consistent abstraction. For example, all of these languages have a concept of pointers. All of them have a distinction between different integers (int32, int64 etc..) I had similar feelings when I used dart or even java. They're high level, but not quite! I don't mean to thrash on these languages in any way. I think they have some real value for programmers. It's just that I've never seen a language just throw everything out of your way and provide you with this extremely high level and easy to reason interface. Nim actually looked pretty good, but then I realized it was just the significant whitesapce xD Maybe I'm too biased because Python was my first (proper) language.

scarface74 8y ago

The things I do in Python - mostly straightforward simple automation scripts around AWS - I would hate to do in my go to language C#. The overhead and ceremony of C# is not worth it. There are also no issues with a mismatch between what you think should be running based on what is in source control and what is running.

firdak 8y ago
Static typing doesn't have to mean overhead and ceremony. Do you think you would, theoretically, enjoy writing scripts in a language like Crystal [1], which provides both the benefits of static typing and a scripting-language-like syntax? [1] https://crystal-lang.org https://crystal-lang.org
- scarface74 8y ago
  It’s not just the language being statically typed, it’s also about the tooling around the language. Modern IDEs around mature static languages are s powerful.