| > A modern Python/Ruby replacement, built for speed and with a large-ish community would be nice to see. Both Python and Ruby have performance as main areas of focus for improvement, having largely met their goals in terms of expressiveness. So, to a large extent, that's what each new version of Python and Ruby already is. If you mean "built for speed first", then there are plenty of those (though they aren't really expressly aimed as Python/Ruby replacements, because "built for speed first" isn't Python or Ruby's focus, so something built that way isn't really targetting Python or Ruby, even though it may be targeting some subset of the places where Python and Ruby are currently applied.) Many new languages fit this niche (langauges designed with performance as a key focus that target some subset of the use cases of Python/Ruby.) But for the most part, they aren't very Python/Ruby-like, because the difference in goals leads to much bigger changes than slicing off features of Python/Ruby. > It's not like we can't have new languages anymore. No, its like we have lots of new languages, as well as lots of existing languages, and lots of use for improved versions of existing languages, so it doesn't make a lot of sense for people who aren't the people involved to say that people currently working on new Ruby implementations should stop working on them and instead work on new "Ruby-like" languages with reduced features that fit niches that aren't what Ruby is targetted at, but are what other existing and new languages are already targetted at. Both because there are plenty of people already working on what you want, and because "people should stop working on what is important to them on spend their time working on what is important to me" is a generally silly when you aren't paying the people in question for their time/effort. > After all both Ruby/Python came out of nowhere around 1992-4 If you are talking first public release, that's "1991-1995", if you are talking 1.0 release that's "1994-1996" (in both cases, Python and then Ruby.) |