Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!helios!donald!byron
From: byron@donald.tamu.edu (Byron Rakitzis)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: What does an anti-perl look like
Message-ID: <17132@helios.TAMU.EDU>
Date: 11 Jun 91 14:33:26 GMT
References: <1991Jun05.013632.3198@convex.com> <1991Jun05.220157.13416@convex.com> <541@smds.UUCP>
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Organization: College of Architecture, Texas A&M University.
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In article <541@smds.UUCP> rh@smds.UUCP (Richard Harter) writes:
>Most of the articles on the ap thread have expired here; in particular I missed
>the original article that sparked the exchanges.

>Byron, you don't want to do it.  It's more work to develop a language than
>one might imagine, particularly if it is to be a good one.  If you don't
>like Perl there are a number of perfectly reasonable alternatives, among
>them TCL, Python, and Icon.

Your comment is perfectly valid. So far, I have received numerous messages
with suggestions for (already existing) alternatives to perl. Most people
named TCL, Python, Icon (as above) but I have also heard that people use
Scheme. This is the first I've heard of Lakota. Is it available for anonymous
ftp?

What it boils down to is this: whether or not ap is a lot of work, I fear it
is going to get written sometime in the near future. When I re-implemented
rc, I thought I came close to what I wanted as my command interpreter, but
now that I am aware of its shortcomings, I want to try to improve on the
rc model. I have at least several goals in mind:

1) I want the core command interpreter to be independent of any particular
application.

2) I want it to be easy to add modules so that the core command interpreter
may be grown into, say, an ap.

3) I want the syntax of the language to be elegant. This sounds like a tall
order, but what I'm doing is ruling out languages like Scheme; I just cannot
deal with the Lots of Irrelevant and Stupid Parentheses. Also, I'm afraid that
Python does not quite fit the bill either. Syntax that is whitespace dependent
just feels "wrong". I know, I tried using Python for a while.

4) This follows from (3): I've recently checked out the Oberon system, and I
am really excited and intrigued by the ideas they bring forth in this environment.
I think they did certain things completely wrong: the interclicking mouse language,
the tiled windows, but the fact that anything on the screen may be instantly
interpreted as a command at the push of a button is a big win, in my view.
There is a window system somewhere in my fingers, and one day it is going to come
out. I'm going to need a command interpreter for this task.

Let me state here that I have not ruled out any of the other interpreters yet.
I still want to see if, say, TCL cannot satisfy my needs. Also, let me state
right away that (1)-(4) contain strong doses of religion; please don't take my
comments as flames. However, if you disagree, I'm always willing to argue. :-)

--
Byron Rakitzis
byron@archone.tamu.edu