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Last active December 22, 2015 09:28
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If you could write your own programming language what would it be like?
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languageX.md

What and Why

I'd like a language that...

  1. has a small amount of syntax
  2. has a small set of functions
  3. is extended using the syntax provided not by adding more syntax
  4. can be extended by implementors by providing extra native functions without adding syntax
  5. does not concern itself with hardware

Small Amount of Syntax

So that the langauge is quick to learn and implement.

Small Set of Functions

Again, so that the language is quick to learn and implement but also to allow code in other languages to be converted to and from this language.

Extended Using the Syntax Provided

Once you add bad syntax it is hard to remove it, so if you only have necessary syntax and ensure that functionality is kept to functions you wont add or remove bad syntax.

Extended by Implementors

This is for performance reasons. If a function is implemented by users frequently maybe it can be implemented natively to improve performance.

Not Concerned with Hardware

This allows the language to be used on many different systems.

How

For this to be successful I believe that the minimum implentation requirements must be to...

  1. interpret the syntax specified correctly and only that
  2. implement least primitive functions correctly
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