[Dobbs]

Sadly we don't all have these options. The project I'm working on right now, a prototype DSL for writing counters to check data, can't be written in a fancy language like ML, Haskell or hell even Python. They don't want any "weird languages" that someone else will have to maintain once I leave. So C/Lex/Yacc it is.

[mahmud]

Prototype it in the language you know best, implement it in the language you're "required" to.

A typical compiler project is at least 6 months away from start to finish. Deliver something in Python in 2 weeks and see if they can resist it; you still have 5.5 months to flesh it out in C if you still have to. I don't for once buy that a software shop will refuse having a working demo immediately, even if it's in APL.

[cema]

What about Clojure? It's a lisp and can be used the Scheme way. At the same time, it runs in Java virtual machine and therefore can be controlled directly from Java. That is, your legacy code can be written so that it can be maintained by Java programmers (this is to sell it to "them".)

[theBobMcCormick]

That might work if their concern is deployment of his code. But if their concern is actually maintenance (you know, patches, updates, bug fixes), than I don't see how Clojure, Scala, JPython, etc. would be any more acceptable. The concern is probably having legacy code in a language that nobody else on staff knows how to program in.

[cema]

Correct: they will not be able to program in clojure. But they should be able to interop java with the classes created in clojure. No REPL environment and all code compiled is a requirement for this kind of legacy work, but it can be done easily. (Or "should" be done easily.)