Re: Why I leave Lua (Was: Re: [ANN] Lua 5.3.0 (work3) now available)

[Jay Carlson <nop@...>]

On Jul 9, 2014, at 9:11 AM, steve donovan <steve.j.donovan@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 2:57 PM, Alex Queiroz <asandroq@gmail.com> wrote:
>> This does not make sense. There can be a *lot* of discussion in a mailing
>> list besides feature requests but, for some reason, people prefer to discuss
>> new features instead of techniques or creating libraries.
> 
> It puzzles me as well.  Also how strongly people feel about syntax as
> opposed to semantics.

I'm a little sympathetic; I think it has to do with different cognitive styles. Every time you switch languages, you have to remember quirks, and that has different costs for different people. Syntax errors are like bumping into furniture in the dark; there's a little of a "startle" reaction. I wouldn't have put that chair *there*, but it has to be somewhere....

I would complain about a lack of "continue" but I just don't walk on that path in the dark; I think some other language trained me out of it. I sometimes catch myself writing a "function call/early return" pattern instead of "break". Probably Smalltalk.

Jay