Language names, goals, and other lofty ideals

[kris]

Hasan Aljudy wrote:
> kris wrote:
> 
>> Leading on from the Mascot and D/Java topics, I went hunting for this 
>> quote from Don Knuth:
>>
>> "The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A 
>> language will not succeed without a good name. I have recently 
>> invented a very good name and now I am looking for a suitable 
>> language." -- D. E. Knuth
>>
>> Wonder if he had the name "Dude" in mind? <g>
>>
>>
>> Along the way, I stumbled upon one of PG's essays that looked 
>> interesting enough to pass along. It has some thoughts on what makes a 
>> language popular: http://www.paulgraham.com/popular.html
>>
> Oh my GOD! That article should be called "how to create a lousy language"!
> He starts with the premise that the language should suit hackers, and 
> goes on to say how the language should be used for writing kludge!! (see 
> "section" 5: Throwaway Programs).

:-D

Perhaps you missed the addition of Shebang to the D lexer? It's there to 
(a) make D source directly "invokable" via various *nix shells, which 
then (b) directly supports the endevour of quickly and easily creating 
Throwaway Programs, and (c) has the vague intent of making D more 
attractive to so-called Hackers ...

It's sometimes worth giving PG the benefit of the doubt; he's now a 
rather wealthy smart guy <g>

For those who don't know their CS luminaries: Knuth is also a very smart 
guy, but (IMO) of an entirely different caliber, and born too early for 
dotcom riches. His quips are often steeped in reflective wisdom ~ worthy 
of attention under all circumstance