Re: Lua and Neko comparison

[Chris Marrin <chris@...>]

On Sep 20, 2006, at 1:37 PM, Etan Reisner wrote:

...

You might have been trying to open up dialog on what you perceive as the costs of luas "oddball" syntax but what it seemed like to me (and I'm assuming other people) was more of a statement to the effect that lua needs to get its act together and fix the syntax in order to 'make it' for some definition of 'make it'. You also seemed to not want to really listen to any arguments about the fact that syntax should be one of the more minor concerns to choice of development platform (though higher priority for end-user exposure). So take a look at this thread again please, before you go off in a huff and make sure it came out the way you meant it to.

The problem with flame wars is that they always end up with misunderstandings and hurt feelings. My intent with the last missive was not to "go off in a huff", but to try to end the pointless rounds of point and counterpoint, which didn't seem to be productive.

But in response to "syntax should be one of the more minor concerns", that is a matter of opinion. To some people it is a very valid major concern. When a flame war is raging and someone says "the syntax is a showstopper for me", and the response comes back "only idiots would worry about syntax" that is not only insulting, but it damns the conversation into an endless loop.

But the more important point is that I am foolish. I have been through countless flame wars on countless topics and every time I think my participation will have some productive effect: either I will convince someone that my point is valid, or I will be convinced that there is an alternative that I had not thought about and that will lead me to a new way forward. But it never does.

I guess it is the nature of the beast. 

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~Chris                       And now, an important message from Microsoft:

chris@marrin.com  "Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all"