[REBOL] Re: What language am I looking for?
From: kenneth:nwinet at: 14-May-2001 21:31
Tim Johnson said:
> I rewrote one of my small projects (600 record database/15 fields) which
> was originally done in C++. It took about a third of the time as
> the "C++" edition.
When a language is put into the class of 'scripting language' it's use is
assumed to be only for very small projects. Why is that? Is there some
intrisic reason a language must be so limited? I think of languages of
having only two intrinsic levels, machine and virtual machine. Everything
else seems to me to be an artificial limitation. I'm not speaking here of
the limitations of languages, but rather, our own limitation in our
perception of them.
Many scripting languages are typeless for instance. Rebol is not. Does
this mean it's not a good choice as a scripting language? I don't even have
to point out how absurd that is. So what are the barriers that prevent it
from being capable of major applications? Can they be overcome by
intelligent (and careful) expansion of it's core features?
We don't have to ask these questions, but if we do, and we find positive
answers...
I want to do everything in one language (a fool no doubt) and have my
challenges be the barriers I have to overcome outside my language, not from
within.
Give me liberty or give me death (I heard someone once said.) One fluent
language without artificial barriers is my idea of liberty. Feel free to
come up with your own examples of ...
> I would prefer that words like "elegant" and "powerful" be eliminated
> from any conversation about computer programming languages. They
> mean nothing to me.
Oh come now! You've just spent too much time listening to customers give
you specs in qualitive terms rather than quantitive ones. :-) I know how
that works. But, I'd hate to give up the idea of elegance in an algorithm
or a language. It has much more than a surface meaning. Consider the world
without Rebol, then tell me it doesn't introduce a certain quality of
elegance into the mix.
> I believe rebol may be the flagship language of the future.
See! You do have the heart of a poet!
