The Case for Writing Libraries Instead of Designing New Programming Languages
By
teleforce
Pure flour-power. Hearty enough to carry you through lunch.
Summary
The article argues against creating new programming languages and instead advocates for focusing on writing better libraries. The author's friend observes that most programming languages share similar core features (variables, arrays, loops, functions), and what truly makes a language productive is the quality of its libraries. The piece suggests that rather than designing new languages with incremental improvements, developers should invest time in creating comprehensive, well-designed libraries that can be used across existing languages, as libraries have a more direct impact on developer productivity and project success.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledStop Designing Languages. Write Libraries Instead.
What really makes a programming language productive for him, he says, are the libraries it comes with.
They all have variables, and arrays, a few loop constructs, functions, and some arithmetic constructs.
Sure, some languages have fancier features like first-class functions or coroutines, but he doesn't consider himself an expert programmer anyway and doesn't use those features.
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