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147 points teleforce | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.674s | source
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usrbinenv ◴[] No.43800544[source]
I constantly feel like inferior languages are picked up, while superior languages are discarded. It's almost as if the universe had a law: "inferior technology is always preferred no matter how hard you seethe".

Examples:

  * Python preferred over Ruby
  * TypeScript preferred over Dart or even JavaScript (which is fine and, as a bonus, doesn't require compilation step like TS)
  * Go is preferred over Crystal and D.
While Python, TypeScript and Go are quite alright, there is no doubt in my mind that their alternatives are absolutely superior as languages. Yes, in case of Dart, Crystal and D the ecosystem doesn't have the abundance of well-tested libraries, but as languages they are simply better. The Go argument that it's popular because it's simpler is absurd in the sense that no one really forces you to write complex code and use classes or other advanced OOP features in D.
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pjmlp ◴[] No.43802418[source]
What pains me in Python adoption, beyond its use as Perl replacement, is that we have so much better dynamic languages with advanced JIT implementations, but have to reach out writing extensions in native languages instead.

At least Python as DSL for GPU JIT compilers is a thing now.

Yes, I know about PyPy in the corner looking for attention.

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creata ◴[] No.43803038[source]
> we have so much better dynamic languages with advanced JIT implementations

What are some of these better languages that you're referring to? (The usual dynamic language JITs I hear people praise are LuaJIT and Chez. And V8. And the JVM?)

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1. esafak ◴[] No.43804090[source]
I'd suggest F#, Clojure, Elixir, Scala, and TS, if that counts.
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2. kasajian ◴[] No.43814197[source]
Clojure could never really be a thing since it ignores the most important rule: fast startup. Because of this, and for no other reason, Clojure will always be an "also ran". It's not about competency of the people working on it. It's a solvable problem the community doesn't acknowledge exists, unless you press them on it, in which case they think "graal" and "babashka" is a valid response, and you're back to square 1.
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3. jhbadger ◴[] No.43843182[source]
If you like Clojure's syntax and stress on immutability but don't like the JVM-induced slow startup, take a look at janet.