3 ms·

> Too many people will end up using it to write horrible DSLs but it’s the spider man thing I guess. What is “the spider man thing”? Sounds like an interesting

> Too many people will end up using it to write horrible DSLs but it’s the spider man thing I guess. What is “the spider man thing”? Sounds like an interesting concept I’m not familiar with. Also, why do you think DSLs are a bad idea? I’ve only ever heard the claim that they are a game-changer, but it’s never been clear to me why. So I’d love to hear the counter argument.

mikelevins 3y ago
"With great power comes great responsibility." In Spider-Man's origin story one of the first things that happens after he gains his powers is that he tries to make some money as a masked wrestler. A guy robs the box office at the wrestling venue and Spider-Man lets the guy escape because it's none of his business. The same robber later shoots and kills Spider-Man's uncle, from which Spider-Man takes the lesson expressed in the above quotation. The same lesson then colors a large fraction of the character's storylines forever after.
Blackthorn 3y ago
DSLs are great if your problem and requirements are set in stone and never change forever. Unfortunately every project I've ever had in the real world has not been the case. Every time some DSL was used to specify the logic and behavior, it ended up being an albatross around the project neck that kept it from adapting to the new requirements. It would have always been better to just use a proper programming language in the first place. I put the DSLs into two camps. The first one, the one that I'd say is okay to use, is like Google GCL or jsonnet. This is basically what's known as a "configuration language". It has a small amount of power to let you do a bit of text processing and abstraction, but not too much. If at any point you need more than those offer you, you don't want a DSL anymore. You just want a real programming language.

mikelevins 3y ago

"With great power comes great responsibility." In Spider-Man's origin story one of the first things that happens after he gains his powers is that he tries to make some money as a masked wrestler. A guy robs the box office at the wrestling venue and Spider-Man lets the guy escape because it's none of his business. The same robber later shoots and kills Spider-Man's uncle, from which Spider-Man takes the lesson expressed in the above quotation. The same lesson then colors a large fraction of the character's storylines forever after.

Blackthorn 3y ago

DSLs are great if your problem and requirements are set in stone and never change forever. Unfortunately every project I've ever had in the real world has not been the case. Every time some DSL was used to specify the logic and behavior, it ended up being an albatross around the project neck that kept it from adapting to the new requirements. It would have always been better to just use a proper programming language in the first place. I put the DSLs into two camps. The first one, the one that I'd say is okay to use, is like Google GCL or jsonnet. This is basically what's known as a "configuration language". It has a small amount of power to let you do a bit of text processing and abstraction, but not too much. If at any point you need more than those offer you, you don't want a DSL anymore. You just want a real programming language.