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What a lame Mars/Venus theory. Language designers never make complex features in order to have more to learn and catalogue. They are nakedly compromises which a
by avgcorrection 4y ago
What a lame Mars/Venus theory. Language designers never make complex features in order to have more to learn and catalogue. They are nakedly compromises which are supposed to make certain things easier, maybe even simpler in certain senses (for example simpler library code: more complex features like pattern matching can make for less spaghetti control flow).
Then the retort might be “but they wittingly or unwittingly pursue the goal of complexity for its own sake!”, in which case that would just prove that you have stacked the deck in favor of the “logician” (who makes simple languages for simplicity’s sake—simple).
Another problem is that some language designers are logicians by trade already.
> So, for the logician type thinker, small languages are just deeply pleasing for the same reason Newtons laws and Chess are deeply pleasing.
Chess has Opening Theory. I bet the Half-Delayed Swashbuckler Sicilian just comes naturally to the oh-so exalted logician.
(Then the retort might be, oh I’m just talking about the game in the abstract, not the metagame. Well it is very important how a game is actually played and how a language is actually put to use.)
- chongli 4y agoThere are plenty of people who love chess but hate opening theory. They look to variants such as chess960 to get their logician fix on. They also tend to love Go (the board game) and perhaps even Stratego (which has such a game tree that dwarfs the rest).
- avgcorrection 4y agoChess was such a good example to use in this lame dichotomy that we are now pivoting to Bobby Fischer chess and completely different games.
- chongli 4y agoIt's not a lame dichotomy. There are loads of people who detest rote memorization and prefer to solve only the problem directly in front of them. Bobby Fischer himself invented his variant because he hated that aspect of the game. I, personally, empathize with this position as a university student who gets higher grades in pure math courses than in the "easier" applied versions due to the memorization aspect.
- avgcorrection 4y agoDoesn’t matter because it doesn’t apply to language design.
- IIAOPSW 4y agoCompletely different in that everything is exactly the same except for minor variation to the starting position...
- avgcorrection 4y agoFischer Chess is solidly outside the mainstream. Just let it go.