I have an odd love/hate relationship with C++. It's my third favorite
language, and is my favorite non-dynamic (aka non-scripting) language.
So one of the things that attracted me to ArX was the fact that it is
written in C++.
However, many newer SCM engines and tools are being written in dynamic
languages such as python. For all the non-processor-intensive parts, I
think this makes a lot of sense, because it gives them a substantial
advantage in terms of development speed and maintainability. It also
widens the audience of potential code contributors, since many folks are
intimidated by C++.
So I'm wondering if the ArX project might want to choose a preferred
"higher level" language. Initially this would be for standalone tools
built on top of ArX, like GUI tree browsers or perhaps quilt-like "patch
refactoring" tools. At some point, it might actually make sense to
rewrite the upper layers of ArX in this dynamic language.
Not to start a language war (please, please PLEASE don't start a
language war here!), but I would propose ruby as that language. I have
my own personal, irrational reasons to dislike python, perl and tcl, as
well as any functional language (lisp, scheme, haskell). There are other
SCM's in python, so I'm thinking python coders would already be drawn to
those. Ruby fans like me have nowhere to go :-(
Questions for Walter in particular, but I'm interested in feedback from
other ArX folks too:
1. Are you at all open to any kind of gradual shift toward a dynamic
language?
2. Do you have any existing strong feelings about Ruby, positive or
negative?
Kevin
P.S. My second favorite language, after Ruby, is Io. Sadly, it lacks a
good GUI toolkit, so it's not a good candidate for this role.
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