>> 2. Some programming languages definitely *are* "better" than others, in
>> an objective way.
>
> You forgot a significant part: "for a given purpose."

BASIC is worse than just about any modern language for any conceivable 
purpose (rather than, as I said, simple programs written by beginners). 
However, as you point out, once you get to languages which don't so 
obviously suck, the question becomes far more complicated.

> In fact, the issue is that as soon as it is a bit more complex than a
> hammer, the evaluation of a tool (OS, filesystem, editor, language, ...)
> is a multidimensional vector. Defining "the best" is projecting all the
> dimensions onto a single line (whose directional vector might be any
> composition of value in the evaluation base).
>
> And there is no chance that MY line (the True One) will ever be the same
> as Your lines (you're just heretics).

Yeah, that pretty much explains why people don't agree about these 
things. Hopefully the rest of my post goes some way to explaining why 
people *argue* about these things. (Nobody actually argues about 
icecream, after all...)

PS. Thunderbird doesn't think that "icecream" is a word. But then again, 
it doesn't think that "thunderbird" is a word either, which as amusing...

Post a reply to this message