5 ms·

the examples for weird languages he puts forward are slightly disappointing - with the exception of haskell maybe. but then, even haskell is the mainstream vers

the examples for weird languages he puts forward are slightly disappointing - with the exception of haskell maybe. but then, even haskell is the mainstream version of ideas that where first put into practice someplace else.

gaius 16y ago
Only on HN is Haskell "mainstream" :-)
- michaelochurch 16y ago
  It's not "mainstream" but I'd expect any serious programmer to know, at least, that the language exists and a few talking points about it-- that it's statically-typed, lazy, and functional-- and why people like those properties for some uses. You don't have to be using Haskell or Lisp to be a serious programmer, but if you're using Java instead, you should know why you're using Java.
- zem 16y ago
  well, haskell itself may not be mainstream, but the author himself mentions mainstream languages like c# borrowing features from it. J, on the other hand, would be the sort of language I expected the author to be talking about - built around paradigm that has not worked its way into mainstream languages yet, but which nevertheless contains useful ways to think about and attack real problems.
  - gaius 16y ago
    Not "borrowing" exactly, Simon Peyton-Jones is a full-time employee of Microsoft Research. And for J, that's an APL derivative isn't it? APL was a mainstream language once, still used a lot in banking, particularly in fixed income.
    - silentbicycle 16y ago
      Yes. It (http://jsoftware.com/ http://jsoftware.com/) was released under the GPL recently. There's also Kona (http://github.com/kevinlawler/kona http://github.com/kevinlawler/kona), an ISC-licensed implementation of K.
    - zem 16y ago
      matlab has probably taken a lot of ideas from apl too, but i wouldn't really call either scientific or banking number crunching mainstream. a bit too specialised a niche for that.
  - dons 16y ago
    Haskell is the #15 most popular language on GitHub. Scala (17), Clojure (19), Erlang (20), Go (30), OCaml (31), F# (#37). Which surprises me, since a lot of the community uses darcs..
pimeys 16y ago
Haskell or Erlang may not be so mainstream for enterprise Java or C# coders...
michaelochurch 16y ago
with the exception of haskell maybe There is Nothing weird about it; it's Just different.
- stewbrew 16y ago
  The author used the word "weird" to refer to a language that is not commonly considered mainstream. So did I paraphrasing the title.
  - Peaker 16y ago
    data Maybe a = Nothing | Just a

gaius 16y ago

Only on HN is Haskell "mainstream" :-)

michaelochurch 16y ago
It's not "mainstream" but I'd expect any serious programmer to know, at least, that the language exists and a few talking points about it-- that it's statically-typed, lazy, and functional-- and why people like those properties for some uses. You don't have to be using Haskell or Lisp to be a serious programmer, but if you're using Java instead, you should know why you're using Java.
zem 16y ago
well, haskell itself may not be mainstream, but the author himself mentions mainstream languages like c# borrowing features from it. J, on the other hand, would be the sort of language I expected the author to be talking about - built around paradigm that has not worked its way into mainstream languages yet, but which nevertheless contains useful ways to think about and attack real problems.
- gaius 16y ago
  Not "borrowing" exactly, Simon Peyton-Jones is a full-time employee of Microsoft Research. And for J, that's an APL derivative isn't it? APL was a mainstream language once, still used a lot in banking, particularly in fixed income.
  - silentbicycle 16y ago
    Yes. It (http://jsoftware.com/ http://jsoftware.com/) was released under the GPL recently. There's also Kona (http://github.com/kevinlawler/kona http://github.com/kevinlawler/kona), an ISC-licensed implementation of K.
  - zem 16y ago
    matlab has probably taken a lot of ideas from apl too, but i wouldn't really call either scientific or banking number crunching mainstream. a bit too specialised a niche for that.
- dons 16y ago
  Haskell is the #15 most popular language on GitHub. Scala (17), Clojure (19), Erlang (20), Go (30), OCaml (31), F# (#37). Which surprises me, since a lot of the community uses darcs..

pimeys 16y ago

Haskell or Erlang may not be so mainstream for enterprise Java or C# coders...

michaelochurch 16y ago

with the exception of haskell maybe There is Nothing weird about it; it's Just different.

stewbrew 16y ago
The author used the word "weird" to refer to a language that is not commonly considered mainstream. So did I paraphrasing the title.
- Peaker 16y ago
  data Maybe a = Nothing | Just a