Scott Meyers, in Effective C++, writes at the outset that C++ is a federation of languages and that one must come to an agreement at the beginning of a project

Scott Meyers, in Effective C++, writes at the outset that C++ is a federation of languages and that one must come to an agreement at the beginning of a project about which parts of the federated language will be used. I think Java is in the same ball-park these days. Common Lisp has little syntax (but complicated by macros), 900+ functions in the language spec, supports many programming paradigms, and yet I don't feel it as having become fragmented as a language. Your winnowing idea is interesting, but would seem to suggest we periodically discard entire languages. A language's library ecosystem is often a critical factor in selection, which also makes it harder to give up. The longer a language is actively developed, it seems there's a greater risk for the language to become fragmented. I wonder if this is ever a concern for language designers (I presume it is) and what sorts of decision might lessen the probability of fragmentation occurring in the future. > I have always loved a tech world with many programming languages, but I wonder if this might change in a few decades if software reliability becomes more of an issue. I don't expect that to happen unless the liability landscape or some other financial incentive changes. Do you see force that would drive an increased focus on reliability in the industry?