Language names, goals, and other lofty ideals

[Bruno Medeiros]

Hasan Aljudy wrote:
>>
>> 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).

Funny thing. He says:
"A good programming language should have features that make the kind of 
people who use the phrase "software engineering" shake their heads 
disapprovingly."
I am totally one of those people. For me a good language is one for 
software engineering and software development, and not for "hacking". 
"hacking, as in "a language for hackers", is the term that makes me 
shake my head disapprovingly.
This means that, in this regard at least, the opposing sides are well 
defined, and Paul Graham does have a clear understanding of what those are.

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - CS/E student
http://www.prowiki.org/wiki4d/wiki.cgi?BrunoMedeiros#D