This is far from the first non-ASCII programming language[1]. Some folks have brought up balkanization as a bad thing, but there are some reasons to believe th

This is far from the first non-ASCII programming language[1]. Some folks have brought up balkanization as a bad thing, but there are some reasons to believe that balkanization could be a good thing. By putting up barriers (like language) between silo-ed groups, you allow each group to develop their own ideas under different selective pressures, which leads to different results. Then, at some point, someone with vision and skill breaks through the barrier and their ideas from one silo revolutionize the other. It's unclear whether these ideas would ever develop and mature in a more homogeneous programming environment. Looking at a different field: climbing. The industrial rope access, arborism, and recreational rock climbing communities have developed fairly independently, despite having a lot of the same base equipment and needs. The results are some fairly different solutions to the same problems. As a rock climber, I've learned a lot by cross-pollinating ideas with the other two groups. Sometimes the rock climbers do things better (dynamic ropes are a much better way to prevent spinal compression than full-body harnesses and screamers) and sometimes the other groups do things better (rope walking is far superior to hand ascenders). And these come from the independent selective pressures of each field (rock climbers fall more because they're pushing their limits of skill, so their fall protection is better, while arborists ascend the rope constantly so their rope ascension is better). It's not entirely clear to me that these very different techniques would have developed if the fields had not been able to grow their own communities fairly separately. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-English-based_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-English-based_programming_...