Asked on Reddit: Which of Rust, D, Go, Nim, and Crystal is the strongest and why?

[Chris via Digitalmars-d]

On Wednesday, 10 June 2015 at 19:57:15 UTC, Russel Winder wrote:
> Please note, OED (which is the definition of the English 
> language

As Tofu Ninja said, a dictionary only (partly) reflects the 
current usage of a language. Look up the word "sophisticated" and 
you'll find out that it had a different meaning in the 1920s. In 
fact, dictionaries invariably lag behind and as soon as a new 
version is published it's already out of date.

Also, do not forget that those who create and revise dictionaries 
are not representative of all speakers. They will typically be 
part of an elite that defines the language in terms of their own 
belief system. Most certainly so in Great Britain.

> whatever any USA upstarts may try to pretend)

I shouldn't really comment on this cultural snobbery. However, 
different linguistic communities have different linguistic 
realities. The English spoken in the US, Ireland or Scotland is 
not the same as in England. The linguistic reality for a speaker 
in Liverpool is not the same as for a speaker in London. But who 
cares, English is beyond the grasp of Oxford now. You only have 
yourselves to blame, nobody asked you to go and spread the 
language all over the globe.

> is gearing up to define
> "they" as both singular and plural, thus at a stroke solving 
> all the
> he/she, she/he, (s)he, it faffing.



> On Wed, 2015-06-10 at 19:05 +0000, via Digitalmars-d wrote:
>> On Wednesday, 10 June 2015 at 18:41:56 UTC, Adam D. Ruppe 
>> wrote:
>> > That's actually a good idea, you might not have noticed it, 
>> > but I rarely use "he" alone as a general term and I notice 
>> > it when other people do. Little things like this in language 
>> > can make a difference in people's feelings and cause 
>> > discomfort in the environment.
>> 
>> Sure, follow your own ethics, but that won't work in an 
>> international environment as a rule without coming off as 
>> censorship. You cannot force people globally to follow a local 
>> culture. I also try to cut down on the term "you" as a general 
>> term since people might think I mean them personally.
>> 
>> At some point you just have question intent if there is a 
>> misunderstanding, rather than control every expression or else 
>> everything becomes "it":
>> 
>> "A bad programmer create bugs when it edits its files...".
>> 
>> And if people force you to write "it", it is quite reasonable 
>> to wonder what else they strongly object to so you better just 
>> stay silent. I really do try to cut down on the term "you"?