Bare Bones

[Mackie]

For the longest time I've been stuck on Turing. I didn't know why but, I think I figured it out. I like Turing _because_ it sucks. I seem to enjoy making things that no one has yet, to improve the language for everyone else. With this in mind what should I look into, language wise.

[Tony]

virtually anything, really. There are tons of open source projects for various libraries, extensions, frameworks, etc.

[btiffin]

Mackie; Part of my presence here on compsci is as a self appointed REBOL advocate; http://rebol.com. Get used to R2, then give us all a hand getting the new R3 released. The Unicode alpha hit the streets a few weeks back, but there is still lots to do re; modules and tasks, network protocols, well lots and lots.

While most of the developments occur in a closed, by invitation only, Altme world, Carl asks public questions here http://www.rebol.net/cgi-bin/r3blog.r and sometimes on his main blog, here; http://www.rebol.com/cgi-bin/blog.r If you are interested, I can invite anyone to one of our main closed worlds, and if you are good enough, I can ask about getting people invited to the very closed r3-alpha group. Carl purposely keeps this group small, tight and focused to keep a high SNR.

We really could use help ensuring REBOL Release 3 is the best that it can be. And why not be part of a language design team. It's pretty cool.

And just so I don't always sound like a REBOL broken record. Walter Bright is very active in D 2.0 development and quite open to suggestions. Guido is still in Python 3000 development and (although I don't really know), I'm guessing that system is still open enough to accept suggestions as well.

But, from my perspective; try and not be a lemming for lemmings sake; pick your languages by merit and personal taste. You will live a happier life (perhaps with that little twinge of angst over "hey, why don't people get it.").

Cheers

By the way. If you ever wanted to run a secret society on the internet, start at http://altme.com/

[wtd]

Keep in mind, Guido is exceptionally opinionated, and not known for changing his opinions.

[btiffin]

wtd @ Mon May 05, 2008 9:40 pm wrote:

Keep in mind, Guido is exceptionally opinionated, and not known for changing his opinions.

Never actually tried to talk with the BDFL. I only play Python; haven't ever felt a strong urge to try and run with the big dogs of the community. Does his personality lead to frustrated fans or a strong follow the leader parade I wonder? I remember the Linux Kernel team getting a little exacerbated with Linas until be finally picked some lieutenants.

So's to not derail Mackie's thread, I'll add; look for languages still in design. It can be fun. Personally, I like small communities (with some slim hope of commercial opportunities) so I can pretend my voice is heard and I have an impact on outcome.

Cheers

[wtd]

It's polarizing. If you can live with Guido's rule, you're probably a devoted Python disciple. If you can't, then you've probably moved on to something else.

Polarizing is a good way to describe Python in general. The "there's only one right way to do it" mantra is not a particularly inclusive way of viewing the world.