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Go is to C as plan 9 is to unix. Not better enough - and no new platform to carry it unlike JS, Perl, Ruby, Python, PHP, Java (web); Objective-C, Java (mobile)
by 6ren 13y ago
Go is to C as plan 9 is to unix.
Not better enough - and no new platform to carry it unlike JS, Perl, Ruby, Python, PHP, Java (web); Objective-C, Java (mobile); Java, Ruby, Python (cloud).
The problem is that people don't like to switch. They'd prefer their present tool to improve, and they'll support that. So the only way a language can achieve ascendency is when users don't switch. That is, new users. During rapid adoption of a platform, a significant majority can be new users. And that is the only time a new language can take over.
NOTE: it may appear there's an exception with flavour-of-the-month frameworks etc, but this is a combination of rapid turnover of developers/projects in specific areas, plus the enthusiast/techie kind of developers who love to switch (the ones always excited about the newest tech for its own sake, not for its long-term practical benefits: think inventor, not investor). These developers cannot form the basis of language's future, because they will quickly switch to the next new thing.
- nealabq 13y agoI agree that a new language has a much better chance of survival if it's part of a new platform. And it's interesting to think about what exactly a "platform" is in this context: an OS, a form factor, a VM, a scriptable tool, a technology stack, a service, a sandbox, a consumer app, a game, new users, a new industry, something that nobody's thought of. But C++ suggests another path to language survival: present it as an "easy-to-learn" (it started that way) superset of an existing language that addresses a weakness. It's C! With classes!