[billforsternz]

I wasn't really appealing to authority. I was just suspecting a familiar pattern that I always find a little distasteful. Person A describes a brilliant idea they're obviously proud of. Person B casually dismisses it and just claims without evidence that the obvious way of doing it is better. I find that pattern to be not only rude, but to suck some of the joy out of life. The fact that person A on this occasion is widely acknowledged as a brilliant practitioner I thought added weight to me pushing back. But I'd be inclined to feel the same way if person A was an enthusiastic wide eyed student (say) with a fresh perspective.

[electroly]

I can't imagine a situation where that sort of response isn't rude. It's polite to assume people have thought about their opinions, and to address the points rather than the person. If they didn't think it through, then you can counter their points.

In any event, I don't think Walter needed any help here. He is an HN veteran and always willing to discuss the points. Every programming language designer loves an opportunity to discuss their language with interested people! There's almost never a truly right answer in language design, just various tradeoffs.

[billforsternz]

We're both seeing rudeness. We both dislike rudeness. I think it's rude to rain on someone's parade. You think it's rude to assume someone hadn't thought through their comment (I basically agree) and to address the person rather than the points (I also basically agree).

You might note my original comment included softening elements ("perhaps", "not saying you're wrong"). In general if you look at all my comments you'll see I'm not a rude person, I'm pretty agreeable in general.

I was (trying to) make a meta point rather than a point about the specific technical issue. I agree (again!) that the last word has not been said on this issue or on any other issue where tradeoffs need to be weighed.

I read Walter's comment and thought "Wow, that's a surprising, clever and innovative idea, I'm impressed". And I just didn't enjoy someone bluntly saying, in effect. "No you're wrong, you shouldn't do it like that". It's as simple as that really. I know blunt exchanges of views are normal for programmers and engineers, I don't have to like it every time.

Finally, I know Walter Bright is no shrinking violet and he definitely doesn't need me to defend him!