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Re: Y Store now C++



   >>why not just take Common Lisp and *fix* it! 
   >>    
   >>
   >
   >Do you have any idea how long the future is?  Do you really
   >think people in 1000 years want to be constrained by hacks
   >that got put into the foundations of Common Lisp because
   >a lot of code at Symbolics depended on it in 1988?
   >
   Just for the record, I agree completely.  Of course, by "fix" Common Lisp
   he might have meant taking out said hacks, but that might not be the best
   way to get where you want to go.

Dan: Why? (Is there a listing of such hacks, and why removing them
would not make Common Lisp better that I'm unaware of perhaps?)

I completely agree with what you say below, and I was trying to say
that having clear answer(s) to the platform question(s) is important
for languages that seek mass adoption. BTW, I kinda disagree that Java
happened at the right time and was swept to stardom for two
reasons. a. It extended the status quo, but in a digestible
chunk. Personally speaking, I think the time is always ripe for the
"next" language to do "just" that. Mark Fortran, Pascal, C, C++, Java
(perhaps you want to include other languages you think important) on a
timeline, and see if you can see the perioodicity. b. java became
successful because of a platform need/competitive
positioning/marketing by Sun as meeting that need. Arguably, we are at
a similar point in time again. O' well.
 
   I think the most important questions to ask when you're talking about 
   designing
   a new language are the big-picture questions, that is, being very clear 
   about
   where you want to go and why.  Exactly why a new language?
   Exactly where do I expect to go with it, who do I really think will use 
   it, how
   will I get it to catch on among the targeted community, how will they 
   see it,
   and so on.

   Of course, there's always the other way, which is to just invent the 
   language
   that you want to invent and then hope you're in the right place at the 
   right time
   to just happen to get swept to stardom, which is sort of what happened 
   with Java.