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> You will likely have good C/C++ libraries for most things. For most things in your domain. Then someone wants regexps, or Windows path handling, or what-not

> You will likely have good C/C++ libraries for most things. For most things in your domain. Then someone wants regexps, or Windows path handling, or what-not, and you find that you didn't really implement Scheme macros, or some particular style of modules, so you lose. I agree that if you want C++ integration, you're probably going to want to roll your own. The first person to write an easy FFI that groks C++ name mangling will do a tremendous service to mankind.

astrobe_ 12y ago
There's no "someone" in this context, because you're not designing a language for the masses, you're making your personal language. At best, if you put it on Github you'll maybe find a bunch of people wanting the exact same thing so you'll have a bunch of users&co-implementors that know that they're basically on their own if they choose to use your language. This is where small and simple languages such as Scheme, Forth or Lua shine: you can master and hack everything from the first byte to the last. The real issue with this approach is that, if you need a particular library you have to do the bindings yourself first. You have to deal with the delay required to design, implement and test it. On the other hand, the difference between learning the API for an another popular language and learning the native API so you can make the bindings for your language tends to zero as the complexity and size of said library goes up.
fspeech 12y ago
"Then someone wants regexps, or Windows path handling, or what-not" I think you would be hard pressed to find something that is available in Scheme but not C/C++. Take regex, you have std::regex, many pcre wrappers and Google re2, which has strong linear time guarantee. If you go with chibi as recommended by the blog, does it come with a good regex binding? What if you want to use Google's library? By the time you figure out how to bind iterators or coroutines in c the effort may well have been used to roll your own c++ solution in the first place. "you didn't really implement Scheme macros" I agree that is a more serious barrier. One has to honestly assess one's own true understanding and ability in implementing the target language. I am not an expert in Scheme and I couldn't tell you how easy or hard this is. I did study Prolog and its implementations extensively so I knew exactly what I needed to do. There are so many good resources out there that if one is willling to put in the effort one will be richly rewarded for the learning experience.

astrobe_ 12y ago

There's no "someone" in this context, because you're not designing a language for the masses, you're making your personal language. At best, if you put it on Github you'll maybe find a bunch of people wanting the exact same thing so you'll have a bunch of users&co-implementors that know that they're basically on their own if they choose to use your language. This is where small and simple languages such as Scheme, Forth or Lua shine: you can master and hack everything from the first byte to the last. The real issue with this approach is that, if you need a particular library you have to do the bindings yourself first. You have to deal with the delay required to design, implement and test it. On the other hand, the difference between learning the API for an another popular language and learning the native API so you can make the bindings for your language tends to zero as the complexity and size of said library goes up.

fspeech 12y ago

"Then someone wants regexps, or Windows path handling, or what-not" I think you would be hard pressed to find something that is available in Scheme but not C/C++. Take regex, you have std::regex, many pcre wrappers and Google re2, which has strong linear time guarantee. If you go with chibi as recommended by the blog, does it come with a good regex binding? What if you want to use Google's library? By the time you figure out how to bind iterators or coroutines in c the effort may well have been used to roll your own c++ solution in the first place. "you didn't really implement Scheme macros" I agree that is a more serious barrier. One has to honestly assess one's own true understanding and ability in implementing the target language. I am not an expert in Scheme and I couldn't tell you how easy or hard this is. I did study Prolog and its implementations extensively so I knew exactly what I needed to do. There are so many good resources out there that if one is willling to put in the effort one will be richly rewarded for the learning experience.