18 Nov
2024
18 Nov
'24
8:55 p.m.
Luther Johnson <luther.johnson(a)makerlisp.com> wrote:
C, Lisp, and probably many other languages have gone
through a similar
historical arc - first they are designed to solve problems, and be a
useful and powerful means of expression - then they become official,
standardized, and legalistic - then they become commercially
competitive, and leverage the legalisms, benchmarks, and other
collateral that has accrued - at this point, generations later, the
language is evolving with no appreciation or understanding of the
aesthetic and practical principles of the original language effort.
Yes, big money makes things strive not for excellence but for
accessibility and a low, if not negative, entry threshold. When a
language ends up catering to the majority, or developed by a commitee
instead of a close-knit yet open society of loving and caring
enthusiasts, it undergoes the process above on the way to become usable
by volatile teams of poor programmers indoctrinated with doing as
everybody else does in order to be understood (which means blingliy
following whatver standards and practices are enforced), with any
aspiration burned out of actualy inventing things or least experimenting
creatively.