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Comment by sho_hn | Hacker News Reader

It's not about novelty, it's about realization. PyPy exists and works as both an open source project and as a codebase, which is no easier to achieve than coming up with an idea. That said, PyPy has yet to demonstrate real impact outside the Python community, and projects with a somewhat similar aim to what's being discussed (the Parrot VM) have likewise not gotten to significant uptake. We'll see. PyPy is definitely already useful at other things, though.

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> PyPy exists and works as both an open source project and as a codebase, which is no easier to achieve than coming up with an idea.

I have no idea what you are getting at here.

The post I was replying to was misunderstanding "this is new!" as "this is the first time this exists!" when it's more about "this is the first time this is available!", where availability is complex and defined by factors like governance, distribution, quality, accessibility, infrastructure, communication ... these are the things that tend to be make or break long after novelty had its moment.

Whether "this is the first time this is available!" is true or not is open to debate (it depends in part on how you weigh the listed concerns), but parent's post didn't read on it.

So you just adding a user program to a REPL/Parser and cramming it into a JIT?

You can do this in Javascript, or LLVM-IR just as easily.

The main blessing is also its biggest curse. You are writing a language to move fast, and change often. Its a good learning tool, but a constantly changing language is next to impossible to build value upon.

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