Re: [mildly OT] Some info about Python

On 04-Feb-20 00:46, Sean Conner wrote:

   I then remembered programming in BASIC as a kid, where I would have to
deal with code that looked like:

    0 'CODE TAKEN FROM THE RAINBOW M
    AGAZINE, VOL. IV, NO. 1 (AUGUST
    1984), PAGE 78-'SOPWITH COCO' FL
    IES AGAIN!
    1700 X=30+SIN(JB)*28:Y=160-COS(J
    B)*28:CIRCLE(FA,FB),1,0:CIRCLE(X
    ,Y),1,1:FA=X:FB=Y:RETURN
[snip]

(the limits of 32K RAM and a 32 column screen).  I even went on (again, as
a kid) to learn assembly langauge (for multiple machines even!).

Fond memories :-)
(I actually started with RPN on HP calculators, then pencil-assembling and hand-typing hex code on a KIM-1, then learned BASIC. Yes, I'm a dinosaur)

What does this mean for Lua? I don't know. The trends I do see is that
the more opinionated a tool set is (Go---there's only one way to format the
code; Python---there's only one way to to things) the more popular (because
programmers don't have to think. The more batteries are available, the less
code that has to be written, the less a programmer has to think, the better.
The more popular a language is, the less chance of being fired over using
it, the better (no one ever got fired for buying IBM, or Microsoft).

I think you are right. It could be down to limited time, limited attention span, desire/need to see results immediately, lower concentration required, plain laziness...
Not the world I'd prefer if I had a choice, but it is the one we live in.

Basically, the larger the user space you wish for, the dumbest (in a broad sense) the language and its environment have to be, at least on the surface.

So alternatively, a language has to be useful, but not require thinking
and very popular. Kind of explains _javascript_ in a way ...

Well, _javascript_ lives in a different environment where it could do worse, especially in the latest version. On the other hand, most Web programmers write trivial code but use opaque libraries / frameworks they have no control over.

   -spc (Thining of bowing out of the whole batteries thang for Lua---it's
    just not worth the effort because of laziness on the part of
    everybody else ... )

Uh... your honor, I plead guilty here.
That's one of the reasons I think a small-steps policy would be easier to pursue.