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Comment by RussianCow | Hacker News Reader

> But if Python dies, I won't really be sad. Better languages are out there. :)

Like what? I'm curious, because I've tried a lot of the newer languages out there, and I haven't found a general purpose one that I like nearly as much as Python. Elixir is really cool, but it has a pretty narrow focus, which makes it difficult for me to make the investment in learning it.

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Elixir _is_ the correct answer. Not sure what you mean by "narrow focus" - it is as general purpose as anything. Only thing holding me back from fully moving from Python to Elixir is that the ecosystem isn't mature enough yet.

I like Elixir, but the ecosystem has years of catching up to be anywhere close to Python. Not just libraries but experienced developers. There's also a danger it might end up like Ruby - basically the support system for a web framework.

Elixir is nice, but I hardly think it compares to Python due to the fact that you are required to hand back control from a native call approximately every half second or so or else you will screw the internal scheduler on the ErlangVM.

Would you do Bitcoin mining or 3D games with Elixir?

http://tednaleid.github.io/intro-to-elixir/?full#60

I think use-cases like that are included when you say general purpose.

Let's put it this way: there is nothing I would do in Python, that I wouldn't do in Elixir. For all intents and purposes, that's general purpose.

Common Lisp is better as a dynamic language. I have a strong suspicion OCaml is actually better as a static language, but I haven't spent enough time with it to say otherwise. If you're comfortable debugging lazy evaluation bugs at 3am: Haskell. Clojure is better if you want a pile of libraries.

For shops with a functional language horror, Java, particularly Java 8, is better.

My opinion on Python is that it's stunningly bad. I'll spare you the litany.

If you're going to get in the weeds and build libraries from scratch that don't exist, would you enjoy that in Python3? Or would you like to get in the ground floor of something truly new and truly superior in every regard with Elixir?

Other languages have eaten some of Python's lunch over the 3 debacle, but Elixir is the answer to any question about "what's better".

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