What Makes A Programming Language Good

[Bruno Medeiros]

On 04/02/2011 20:55, bearophile wrote:
> Bruno Medeiros:
>
>> That language ecosystems are what matter, not just the language itself.
>
> This is true, but only once your language is already very good :-)
>
> Bye,
> bearophile

I disagree. I think an average language with an average toolchain (I'm 
not even considering the whole ecosystem here, just the toolchain - 
compilers, debuggers, IDEs, profilers, and some other tools) will be 
better than a good language with a mediocre toolchain.
By better I mean that people will be more willing to use it, and better 
programs will be created. Obviously it is very hard to quantify in a 
non-subjective way what exactly good/average/mediocre is in terms of a 
language and toolchain. But roughly speaking, I think the above to be true.

The only advantage that a good language with bad toolchain has over 
another ecosystem, is in terms of *potential*: it might be easier to 
improve the toolchain than to improve the language. This might be 
relevant if one is still an early-adopter or hobbyist, but if you want 
to do a real, important non-trivial project, what you care is what is 
the state of the toolchain and ecosystem *now*.

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - Software Engineer