4 ms·

It's getting easier to build them.

• richardwhiuk 8y ago
  It's not - it's getting harder to build worthwhile ones. The barrier to entry is higher, the expectations on the size of the standard library are higher, the expected quality of tools is higher.
  • andrewflnr 8y ago
    But it's getting easier to just implement a language at all. That might be all you need to hit HN. No one said anything about "worthwhile" ones.
    • mmirate 8y ago
      That says a lot more about HN than about anything else...
      • andrewflnr 8y ago
        It says that we look for more in an idea than pure utility, that cleverness and beauty also count. That's a good thing.
        • mmirate 8y ago
          > That's a good thing. Maybe, maybe not, but luckily that question's not very important. Here's what is: Where is the cleverness and beauty in Yet Another Boring LLVM Frontend(tm)? Zig and Rust are more than that, I'll readily grant - but that description does fall under the umbrella of "implementing a language".
  • blt 8y ago
    Everything in your second sentence is true, but it seems like LLVM has been a huge boost. I think a lot more programmers are comfortable with parsing and ASTs than they are with the x86 instruction set. Not having to write IL->CPU codegen or peephole optimizations significantly lowers barrier for entry to compiled PL development. (I say this as just an observer, having written interpreters but no compiled languages.)