Dev Diary 8

There's a larger post bubbling in the back of my head about this, but for now, lets say that digging into Raku feels a lot like rediscovering an old friend. At the same time, I'm realizing that I've changed.

Raku is… brilliant. I regret not having stayed in touch with it during it's rather prolonged development (21 years!!). You see, I loved Perl 5. I don't know if it was because it was my first "real" language (after Basic) and I imprinted on it, or if I was just exceptionally fortunate to start with a language that really supported my way of thinking. It's, coincidentally, the same reason I'm not a Python dev. Python's great, but it forces me to solve tasks in ways counter to how my brain wants to.

Anyway, I'm still just getting into it, but I'm loving what I'm discovering. At the same time, I'm learning that I'm not the same person I was. There was a tiny bit of fear that I'd be all "Never mind, screw tuplet. I'm just going to use Raku." But, I'm finding that I still want something different.

For example, I'm annoyed by the c-style curlies. They feel like unnecessary clutter. I dislike the inconsistency of sometimes needing parens around args and sometimes not. While it is definitely multi-paradigmatic I find myself thinking that it hasn't gone far enough towards supporting a lisp-like syntax. Also, I've spent so long in Ruby-land that the sigil-heavy syntax isn't really a feature so much as a readability issue.

So, tuplet, is still on track.

…

[Days later]

Raku is, brilliant, and… a lot. It's got a ton of documentation, but it's simultaneously too much and too little. It's not good for a new dev. For most languages I'm just like "ok how do you express this thing with your syntax". Same idea, different clothes. But Raku isn't like that. Raku's like…

"Well, you see… We don't do it like that 'round here. We express things differently. Oh, sure, you could do it in the old-n-busted way, but 'cmere." And then they lead you into this old broken down looking shed that's actualy a Tardis in disguise. "Lemme show you some of the tools I've built with this-here CNC machine. … Yup. I see you checkin' out the thingawhatzit. That puppy'll strip varnish of a flooblebobber to within 3 microns!"

Meanwhile you're wondering what a "flooblebobber" is, and why you'd want to strip varnish from one.

I am still optomistic about it, but it feels like one of those projects that isn't going to be easy, but'll definitely be worth it in the long run.

—- In case you don't get the reference: Curzon, my beloved old friend.