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by strictfp 1367 days ago
This sounds very similar to how Jetbrains tried to improve on Java but in the end deciding to invent Kotlin; a new language with more consise syntax, better defaults, some new features, and great interop back and forth with Java.
2 comments
rootlocus 1367 days ago
> great interop back and forth with Java.

That's something all JVM languages share. Not that easy with compiled languages unfortunately.

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orthoxerox 1366 days ago
No, Kotlin's goal was great interop from the start. Clojure and Scala have better interop with Java than, say, Rust with C++, but it's often painful to consume Java libs from them and consuming Clojure of Scala libs from Java is not a thing in practice.
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pjmlp 1366 days ago
Great interop only when calling Java from Kotlin, good luck doing it the other way, specially with co-routines.
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jpeter 1367 days ago
C++ needs a new frontend. Something close to C# / Kotlin
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cbarrick 1366 days ago
Google is trying to do something like that with their new Carbon language.

https://github.com/carbon-language/carbon-lang

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astrange 1366 days ago
C++ doesn't really have a "backend" like the JVM does; its ABI is already too weak to be used across shared libraries. So there's not as much need to mix a new language with existing C++.

Worse, because C++ libraries are gigantic header files, you have to support 100% of the language to use them.

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tsimionescu 1366 days ago
It's still possible, and it has been done before. One of the most amazing examples is Clasp [0] - a Common Lisp implementation that is able to fully interop with C++, including template code and exceptions. And it's led by a Chemistry PhD - I'm sure someone like Herb Sutter can run miles around him in programming expertise.

[0] https://www.cliki.net/Clasp

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