The syntax has warts (eg duck typing hinders long-term maintenance and the package member operator should have been '::' or similar, both IMHO). But the simpli

The syntax has warts (eg duck typing hinders long-term maintenance and the package member operator should have been '::' or similar, both IMHO). But the simplicity of the toolchain and breadth of the standard library makes it the most pragmatic major language for backends.