OT musings about psychology of Squeask mailing list members -
unanswerable questions
demiourgos at smalltalk.org
demiourgos at smalltalk.org
Sun Feb 20 02:26:17 UTC 2000
On Thu, 17 February 2000, Mark Guzdial wrote:
>
> At 11:51 AM +1000 2/18/00, Mike Thomas wrote:
> >
> >Why is it that there are so many non-mainstream computer language
> >users/lovers here?
> >
> >Are you all wanderers in cyberspace, fearful of the mainstream computer
> >language imperialists? Perfectionists looking for the ultimate computer
> >language? Outcasts? Snobs?
>
> I laughed out loud at that set of questions. At least for me: Yup,
> probably, all of the above :-)
>
> My favorite languages have always been NON-mainstream: Logo,
> HyperCard, Lisp, Python, Smalltalk. I believe that the design of the
> language does impact my productivity and also impacts the way that I
> think about things through the language (the Whorfian hypothesis).
> So I do look for languages that stretch how I think about things and
> that let me easily do interesting things.
>
> That said, the more interesting question to me is: Why are there so
> many people addicted to "mainstream" languages? Why does everything
> have to look like C?
> - Is it this deeply held belief that only C and its derivatives can
> be compiled to efficient enough code and my programs deeply need
> every zot of zorch in the machine? I find lots of my students have
> that one.
> - Is it "it doesn't really matter, and I already know C"? Most
> professionals I've asked this question give me this response.
[snip]
It is oversimplifying greatly, but (a) I think the
software industry is little better than the rock music
business: The killer app or the latest programming
language are little better than Top Tens; (b) it may be
that most of programming practice is crap because 90%
of everything is crap. "(a)" is why I have a link to
the Eagle's "New Kid in Town" off my personal page
(http://algebraist.com/newkid.htm). "(b)" is
"borrowed" from the reported brief interview with some
famous SF author (Frank Herbert?) who, when asked by a
reporter, "Why is 90% of SF crap?" replied "My dear
sir, 90% of everything is crap."
Smalltalk is and always was Good Stuff. Appealing
to "pop Zen" by paraphrasing Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita
(from "The Next Karate Kid"), "Do a small thing
perfectly, and everything is possible."
__________________________________________________
Jan Theodore Galkowski algebraist.com/
www.whysmalltalk.com/ www.smalltalk.org/
demiourgos at smalltalk.org marssociety.org/
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