2011년 3월 31일 목요일

Plain Simple Stupid Language

People don't implement plain simple stupid language. It is an understandable but grave mistake. To implementers it may seem pointless and to users unattractive. But to students of language implementation plainness is a virtue, simplicity a must, and even stupidity can be helpful.

Modern programming languages are complex beasts. They are like cheetahs, tigers, lions, and even dragons. Some have wings like pegasus. When we speak of beasts we remark on their speed, their sharpness of teeth and claws, their unusual ability of breathing fire and winged flight. We rarely remark that they have eyes, mouth, and legs; hearts, lungs, brains, and kidneys. Above all we don't talk of the fact that they are animals -- and that they can do things we expect animals to be able to do. Those are implicitly understood.

Imagine that you are to explain what is a dog in words to an alien who never saw any animals. To people of Earth a particular animal is often described as an animal plus any difference to what I would call a plain simple stupid animal. But when you really try to describe it, you soon realize that the most of complexity is in that it is an animal, not that it is a dog. A dog may be simple, certainly simpler than dragons or pegasuses (pegasi?), but it still is an animal which is insanely complex in itself.

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