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Why I don't use Dylan

I use Dolphin Smalltalk for Win32 programming, but have been browsing
in my spare time for something better.  Dolphin has been improving a
lot over the past couple of years, and I like it more and more, so I'm
spending less and less time browsing for something better.  Dylan
seemed very interesting, and I downloaded version 1 from Harlequin
sometime in the past.  But I was disappointed at how slowly it compiled
and how big the dll's needed by the executable were.  More recently, I
downloaded version 2 from F.O. and started to give it a try, by
following the examples and/or tutorials.  I started at the beginning,
where it suggested starting with the Reversi example.  But when I went
there, it said something to the effect that I had to pay money for
libraries before I could proceed with that.  But since I'm just
browsing for something better than Smalltalk, I'm not ready to pay
money for it yet.  Especially since Smalltalk keeps improving, and it
starts to seem like I will get the best by simply staying with
Smalltalk while it continues to improve.

And I think Dylan may gradually fade away, because it might not have
enough support to ever get critical mass.  Critical mass is what makes
Java useful in spite of how bad a language it is.  It causes the
vendors to compete against each other to provide the best tools at the
lowest prices, and the biggest and most functional libraries.

It's sad, because Dylan seemed almost like the ultimate programming
language, and I had high hopes for it.  It's too bad the best
programming language designers tend to suck so badly at promoting their
products.

But even though I have lost a lot of my interest in Dylan, I still do
discuss it sometimes, and sometimes suggest to other programmers that
it might be worth trying, especially if they're willing to pay money to
try it.  One thing I would like to know is how well it does in
benchmarks against LispWorks, because that question came up in a recent
discussion.


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