12 ms·

What Languages Fix

20 points by jey 19y ago

henning 19y ago
Haskell: there are too many experimental pure lazy functional languages. Scala: why should you have to choose between functional and object-oriented programming? F#: OCaml has no libraries. Erlang: C doesn't scale.
rkabir 19y ago
will there ever be one language to rule them all?
- tokipin 19y ago
  maybe Arc 2...
  - eru 19y ago
    Hopefully the version digits of Arc will converge to e.
jey 19y ago
My favorite is "Lisp: Turing Machines are an awkward way to describe computation", especially given that McCarthy originally only intended Lisp to be used as a theoretical device, and not for actual programming! (so goes the story, anyway)
- michaelneale 19y ago
  I wonder if that is true or a myth? I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.
aston 19y ago
PHP: Doesn't [insert other language] have that function? Let's add it, too!
tel 19y ago
This is interesting because it's a good way to look at the domain of language not in its power or application but its audience. Haskell: Because programming isn't enough like math Mozart: Because Prolog is pretty foreign Lisp: Because parens are really underappreciated ; )
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]
Zak 19y ago
Arc: Common Lisp is a kludge, and Scheme has no libraries. This seems to address the reasons the languages were created more than the reasons people continue to use them today. The former is insightful, but the latter might be more useful.
- rsheridan6 19y ago
  >...and Scheme has no libraries. That's a strange reason to write a brand-new language that has even fewer libraries. If that's the problem with Scheme. I hope PG and JAR had better reasons than that.
  - gms 19y ago
    jar is working on Arc?
    - rsheridan6 19y ago
      No, but jar was involved with T, which had the same reason according to pg.
mojuba 19y ago
Original JavaScript: HTML can't validate forms Modern JavaScript: we are the best language committee in the world
vlad 19y ago
Perl: C isn't as good with text. PHP: I'd rather write my own Perl. Visual Basic: Crap, we desperately need a way to inflate the number of apps available for Windows. The same is true for most companies.
ralph 19y ago
Perl wasn't the motivation behind creating Python.

20 points by jey 19y ago

Haskell: there are too many experimental pure lazy functional languages. Scala: why should you have to choose between functional and object-oriented programming? F#: OCaml has no libraries. Erlang: C doesn't scale.

rkabir 19y ago

will there ever be one language to rule them all?

tokipin 19y ago
maybe Arc 2...
- eru 19y ago
  Hopefully the version digits of Arc will converge to e.

jey 19y ago

My favorite is "Lisp: Turing Machines are an awkward way to describe computation", especially given that McCarthy originally only intended Lisp to be used as a theoretical device, and not for actual programming! (so goes the story, anyway)

michaelneale 19y ago
I wonder if that is true or a myth? I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.

aston 19y ago

PHP: Doesn't [insert other language] have that function? Let's add it, too!

tel 19y ago

This is interesting because it's a good way to look at the domain of language not in its power or application but its audience. Haskell: Because programming isn't enough like math Mozart: Because Prolog is pretty foreign Lisp: Because parens are really underappreciated ; )

deleted 19y ago
[deleted]

Zak 19y ago

Arc: Common Lisp is a kludge, and Scheme has no libraries. This seems to address the reasons the languages were created more than the reasons people continue to use them today. The former is insightful, but the latter might be more useful.

rsheridan6 19y ago
>...and Scheme has no libraries. That's a strange reason to write a brand-new language that has even fewer libraries. If that's the problem with Scheme. I hope PG and JAR had better reasons than that.
- gms 19y ago
  jar is working on Arc?
  - rsheridan6 19y ago
    No, but jar was involved with T, which had the same reason according to pg.

mojuba 19y ago

Original JavaScript: HTML can't validate forms Modern JavaScript: we are the best language committee in the world

vlad 19y ago

Perl: C isn't as good with text. PHP: I'd rather write my own Perl. Visual Basic: Crap, we desperately need a way to inflate the number of apps available for Windows. The same is true for most companies.

ralph 19y ago

Perl wasn't the motivation behind creating Python.