3 ms·
> Mozart/Oz is so underrated. It's a shame it never took off. The documentation was a major barrier. More so than any other language (trying for public adopti
by mncharity 6y ago
> Mozart/Oz is so underrated. It's a shame it never took off.
The documentation was a major barrier. More so than any other language (trying for public adoption) that I can immediately think of. A textbook-expensive dead-tree book as onboarding path. With the usual pattern of commercial thing reducing incentive to create accessible thing, without fully meeting the need for same. And online documentation that was fragmented and poorly integrated. So "looking up" a topic would involve groveling over a pile of documents, and lecture notes and such, searching out pieces of the puzzle, and pulling them together yourself. So much niftiness, so inaccessibly documented. :/ I once massaged together a distributed table of contents[1] (long since link rotted), which might give a feel for it. Part of the problem was M/Oz was at heart a teaching and academic effort - think of early Racket.
One of the hardest things about capturing history (and perhaps a fruitful way to teach it?) is the "wait, they wat?!!?". Picking up a language now, with expectations of how language and ecosystem are documented, and HN kibitzing on "the landing page should be improved by ...", reflects a big cultural learning process on how to do this well. Mozart/Oz, didn't.
[1] http://www.vendian.org/oz/wiki/index.cgi?VirtualManual http://www.vendian.org/oz/wiki/index.cgi?VirtualManual