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Why F#?

(batsov.com)
438 points bozhidar | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.199s | source
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jxjnskkzxxhx ◴[] No.43548069[source]
Does anyone else find interesting that people who write blog posts saying "my favourite language is X", it's never a mainstream language..?
replies(4): >>43548191 #>>43548314 #>>43550667 #>>43557687 #
1. mrkeen ◴[] No.43550667[source]
Successful language designers select for what's popular, not what's good.

C++ intersected the mass of C programmers with the new OO fad, and kept all of C's warts. Had Stroustrup made C++ better, he wouldn't have an army of adopters who already knew C. Maybe merit will win out in the long run [1]? I'm not hopeful.

Java needed to be close enough to C++, and C# to Java. And Brendan Eich joined Netscape to "put Scheme in the browser".

[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/02/c_creator_calls_for_a...