> We built Repl.it to make it easy to explore and learn languages and programming paradigms. We were, however, surprised by how slow-moving the programming language space seems to be. Given how fast software is growing, shouldn’t we see more innovation in programming languages?<p>Isn't this like saying: "the construction industry is growing fast, how come there are no new hammers being invented every other week?"<p>I, too, love to learn new languages that introduce me to new ways of thinking and don't want that influx to dry up, but I don't think it is necessary from the perspective of programming as an industry.
This make restart the work on my own lang (<a href="https://github.com/Tablam/TablaM" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/Tablam/TablaM</a>) and convince a friend to also use this for learn rust.<p>Tooling around development (langs, editor, shells, debuggers, etc) is at 2 apart sides: Supported by deep-pocket companies or by the crazy/love of a very few individuals<i>.<p>So, the idea to at least get a little push to justify the time is a big plus, IMHO.<p></i> This few years this group is becoming a little bigger (check for example <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammingLanguages/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammingLanguages/</a>).<p>When i start with the idea of tablam I feel is like walk in a deserted planet, now is more like a little oasis in the middle!
Nothing per se against repl.it, but I'm surprised to see this on #1 of the front page as it's basically a call to free labour.
Will there ever be a future when companies innovate themselves again?
IMHO all these "hackathons" or "jams" are really just about finding use cases for their product and getting it tested for a very affordable reward ...
Elixir, Clojure, Rust, Go, Haskell, Elm, TypeScript, Nim, Crystal, Swift, Kotlin, Dart, Gleam,… – there’s so much new(ish) stuff it’s hard to keep up actually, isn’t there? Not complaining, quite the opposite.
> We built Repl.it to make it easy to explore and learn languages and programming paradigms. We were, however, surprised by how slow-moving the programming language space seems to be.<p>But also: You have to build a REPL.<p>If I'm constrained to a 60s (50s?) interaction model with my language, how am I gonna build an innovate language? See <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZipJOan54&t=394s" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZipJOan54&t=394s</a> for my take on PL innovation - can't happen in repl.<p>That said, this is great, I'm all for encouraging experimentation.
I'm unable to find anything about teaching Repl.it how to understand / handle a new language. So, I only see Repl.it as useful to this process _if_ you're bootstrapping from one of the languages they already support... However, if you're bootstrapping from some other language you probably have better support for it and its libraries on your home computer.<p>What am I missing? How is Repl.it notably useful to the process of creating a new language? It _seems_ like this is more of a "you can do it in the cloud, but not quite as well" kind of thing.
There's a surprisingly big list of languages not supported, just off the top of my head: Standard ML, OCaml, Rebol, Elm, PureScript, Racket, Lisp-flavored Erlang, Common Lisp, Zig, Perl 5.<p>Most of these even have JavaScript targets already.<p>Edit: OCaml is supported through Reason Node.js on BuckleScript.
Already super excited about what will come of this.<p>somewhat related: the Pioneer challenge calling for a "Terminal 2.0" happened this weekend and you can check out the submissions here:<p><a href="https://frontier.pioneer.app/challenge" rel="nofollow">https://frontier.pioneer.app/challenge</a><p>I love ambitious challenges like these. Is there a hackathon for reinventing the browser? Refreshing to re-think fundamentals once in a while. Thanks for organizing the jam!
We already have enough happening in programming language. Hear me out, IRL we do occasionally try to learn new languages but we spend a lot of time learning new ideas, mental models and frameworks to accumulate and distribute the ideas.<p>This is akin to various frameworks/libraries/packages in programming world. A new programming language shall only come when something fundamental changes eg. languages to support multiple cores, going back to async as single cores become good enough, quantum computing is going to spin off new languages.