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Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come!

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Date Sun, 3 Jul 2011 09:38:17 +1000
Subject Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come!
From Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
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I know I shouldn't get sucked into responding to a rant, but it's like
a black hole - it's inevitable you'll cross the horizon...

On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 8:59 AM, rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> wrote:
> It saddens me when i see API's that don't include at least three
> language choices. No *one* language is going to please the masses.

This is pretty much the entire argument, everything else is exposition.

It takes work to suit your API to a different language. Let's take GNU
Aspell as an example; it's a good tool, and the ability to spell-check
something is sufficiently general that many programs can make use of
it.

Its list of "supported languages" isn't what we're looking for, though
(it lists Afrikaans, Greek, English, etc); from what I see, it
supports only C++. Should the Aspell team offer bindings for every
known language? In your post, you recommend supporting a minimum of
three. Which three? Why?

I'm a great fan of an obscure language named Pike. Do I expect Aspell
to be available for Pike? No, and I wouldn't even if your
three-language rule were followed. So how can I implement a
spellchecker in my code? By writing glue. I'll write a module that
exposes the C++ API to Pike. (This is actually a real example. I ended
up writing my aspell hook to run as a separate process for isolation's
sake, but it comes to the same thing.)

Unless the world consolidates into a smaller number of languages, this
is always going to be the case. You want the freedom to choose your
language and your API separately? You HAVE that freedom - you just
have to write your own glue. Glue-writing is a skill in the same way
that UI-building is; learn to do it well and you can do it quickly.
There's no need to demand that other people write your glue for you,
because chances are they won't do as good a job as an expert in the
language.

C or C++ bindings will cover most languages.

Chris Angelico

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Thread

The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 15:59 -0700
  Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 09:38 +1000
    Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 16:46 -0700
      Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2011-07-02 20:09 -0500
    Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 17:21 -0700
      Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 10:36 +1000
        Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-03 16:06 +1200
      Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 17:58 -0700
        Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 11:12 +1000
          Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 18:43 -0700
            Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 11:49 +1000
              Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 19:24 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 13:14 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 21:13 -0700
            Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 19:08 -0700
              Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-03 15:57 +1200
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 21:34 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-03 14:46 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-03 02:59 -0700
            Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-03 16:00 +1200
              Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 21:42 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 22:06 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 09:35 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 03:19 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-05 09:24 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-04 19:09 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 18:07 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 12:31 +1000
                Microsoft GUIs (was: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come!) (OT) Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 23:13 -0500
                Re: Microsoft GUIs (was: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come!) (OT) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 14:25 +1000
                Re: Microsoft GUIs Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 23:53 -0500
                Re: Microsoft GUIs Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 00:29 -0500
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-05 22:26 -0700
                Re: Microsoft GUIs Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 15:43 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 15:47 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-06 19:15 +1200
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-06 21:46 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-06 09:55 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 19:31 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! sal migondis <salmig99@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 11:14 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 16:01 -0500
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 08:36 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-05 22:26 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-07-07 15:10 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 00:37 -0500
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-06 21:45 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! sal migondis <salmig99@gmail.com> - 2011-07-08 12:05 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-07-08 13:21 -0600
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 19:36 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-04 19:36 +1200
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 04:42 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Corey Richardson <kb1pkl@aim.com> - 2011-07-05 12:04 -0400
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 15:35 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 08:49 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2011-07-05 18:21 -0500
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-06 21:44 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 06:41 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 23:52 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2011-07-06 15:13 +0000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-07 00:55 +1000
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 08:33 -0700
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> - 2011-07-06 19:55 +0300
                Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-06 19:05 +1200
  Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-03 13:21 +1000

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