I like the spirit of the soil/surface/atmosphere split but I think it’s a bit misleading to frame it as a way to talk about ‘languages’. It feels like those th

I like the spirit of the soil/surface/atmosphere split but I think it’s a bit misleading to frame it as a way to talk about ‘languages’. It feels like those things can be better framed as ‘runtime/tooling’, ‘language/libraries’ and ‘ecosystem’. And under that taxonomy it isn’t wrong for people who say they like a ‘language’ to not be talking about the runtime or the tooling. Like, take JavaScript (the good parts at least): I like that language! And I separate that out mentally from the fact that I hate the browser runtime, and I don’t have much love for the node ecosystem. I have complicated feelings about working in javascript as a result. But I still consider myself an admirer of the core good ideas at the heart of the JavaScript language. The surface matters a lot. You have to live there.