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Is there any sign that other languages are going to adopt sigils? I can't think of any new language that does, and no one ever talks of the idea. If anything, t

• bmn__ 6y ago
  I like to think that I have a pretty good grasp on the current landscape, and concur that a trend can be observed for new languages specifying their identifiers to be sigil-free. Types are an orthogonal concept, so this direction of thought is fruitless and explains nothing. (An example is Raku, it has both typing and sigils.) People should discuss what sigils or lack of them brings to the table, and language designers must be challenged to defend their decision for or against sigils and explain the resulting trade-off specific to their language. I sincerely hope they are not simply acting out of ignorance, but it's plausible because the language design docs make no mention. Well, Sturgeon's law applies: not everyone's a Larry. Yet, I don't see that kind of rational discourse happening in the vast majority of cases. Instead I see something very superficial, namely end-users complaining that languages are different. Features that cannot be found in the majority of languages are suspect and basically criticised as a foregone conclusion for just being there, i.e. they will not entertain finding out what the advantages of having identifiers with sigils are. This makes me sad because tolerating this discourse makes the world dumber.