Language Subtext

Check out this Subtext screencast. This had me thinking about languages and the nature of programming all night long.

Something important to remember in the recent GNOME language debates is that both Java and C# are just an iteration on the existing crappy tools, and that neither is the future of computing.

Besides, debating empirically about what should be chosen and persued is antithetical to the way (free) software works.

If we could dictate this stuff — the avenue developers or software houses aught take — software, and especially free software, would be a lot less interesting.

Anyway, it will probably all work out thusly…

• Novell will continue to ship Mono because it has a vested interest in its perpetuation.
• RedHat will continue to not ship it for the foreseeable future, because they have a vested interest in not being sued.
• Ubuntu and everyone else will eventually include Mono because users want the apps.
• And no matter what, the handful of apps I’ve half-started writing are all in C#.

Using a Joel analogy, we need to stop arguing the design of the shed, and get some brains arguing over the aircraft carrier. Everyone understands how a shed should work and has an opinion. No one understands aircraft carriers, so people accept whatever is proposed, and you end up with a big pile of junk.