Language names, goals, and other lofty ideals

[Hasan Aljudy]

kris wrote:
> 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

Yes, D is suitable for writing quick throwaway code. *But*, that's not 
the main design goal of D!!
C++/C are also suitable for quick throw away programs! so what?
Hell, python may be more suitable for that.

That's not the kind of design goal that a great language needs to have!