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Purpose-Built Languages
- 10ren 18y agoSummary: many languages are dev tools, playing specific support-roles in an eco-system. Where major languages interact, you'll likely get hybrid support languages between. This article confirms for me that dev tools are worth investing time in developing (and crappy is OK); that languages wars in the abstract are pointless, as you can only evaluate language utility with respect to a 1. specific task; and 2. specific users. It's better to ignore anyone who goes on about any particular language being "better". Better for what? Better for whom? I found the writing a bit dry; and the in-depth examples were mostly of the languages that the author himself wrote. Although they were successfully adopted for their task, and they are examples he can speak authoritatively about, it's a small sample from which to generalize.