CudaText: Cross-platform, open source code editor written in Object Pascal
cudatext.github.io
cudatext.github.io
"CudaText: Cross-platform, open source code editor..."
Me: "Meh, yet another open source code editor..."
"written in Object Pascal..."
Me: (as a long-time Delphi/FreePascal/Object Pascal programmer/afficionado):
"OK, NOW I WANT IT!!!"
:-) <g> :-)
Let us suppose that I knew Ancient Greek.
Now, I don't know Ancient Greek -- but let us suppose that I did...
And let us suppose that I was asked randomly by someone, someone whom I did not yet know, the following:
"Can you pitch Ancient Greek to me? Why should it be my next language to learn?"
OK, so if that were the case, basically I'd have more questions for my interlocutor before I issued any recommendations...
For example (including but not limited to:)
Does my interlocutor like to study ancient languages?
Does my interlocutor like to study present day languages?
Which present day languages, other than their own native tongue, have they studied?
What were the challenges and/or hardships experienced with such studies, if they engaged on them?
What specific goals would they have with learning Ancient Greek (just to see if they could do it -- or would they like to read and/or retranslate a specific text in Ancient Greek? Which one? Why?)
etc., etc.
Also, why is it specifically necessary for me, a random user on HN to pitch Pascal to you?
This is the age of Google -- you could simply query Google which such queries as "Pascal benefits", "Pascal advantages", "Pascal sellling points", "why people like Pascal", etc., etc., and I'm sure you'd find much better advice than the advice that I could give you, "out there"...
Finally, if you wish to study Pascal, do it.
If you don't wish to study Pascal, don't.
It's like Yoda said: "Either do -- or do not...".
My advice, if I were to have it, and if I were to give it -- would probably not motivate you to take a specific path of action, one way or the other...
Finally, to reverse your question:
Can you pitch me on why I should pitch Pascal to you, to me?
?
Ya see my problem?
Or did you not expect that answer, also?
ime people who consider themselves "afficionados" often have certain things they really like about their favorite language and are more than willing to volunteer that information even when not asked for it.
That's why I asked. I didn't mean to put you on the defensive or expect some kind of comprehensive essay on the pros and cons of Pascal. Carry on.
Some people love NixOS and can't do without it -- but many other people will not need it and not use it and see no purpose for it in this lifetime...
It's an acquired taste.
We might ask a broader philosophical question, and that is:
Why should people want to become computer programmers in this day and age -- if there's enough pre-existing software to suit any need for software?
In other words, why become a video game programmer -- if every possible video game that you could ever want, already exists?
Or, why become a plumber -- if there are tons of plumbers and plumbing services are plentiful and inexpensive?
Perhaps you are asking me why I individually value Pascal as a language...
If this is your question, then my answer is a historical one:
Pascal (in its earliest historical incarnations) and C (also, in its earliest historical incarnations -- which I also equally value) -- are descendants of Algol, siblings in the "Algol Tree" -- languages descended from Algol, which descended from Fortran...
We see in these early languages a shift from assembler code to a somewhat human intelligible symbolic language with very few symbols (the keywords, in effect), and that language is deterministic (compare to today's AI, which can use an almost unlimited set of symbols and is usually non-deterministic -- the same input can result in multiple differing outputs).
In summation, Pascal (at least, early Pascal, not newer variants like Object Pascal), at least to someone with a historical interest of how things evolved -- is an important step between "pure" (or relatively pure) assemblers -- and higher level languages.
You know, we have (or are going to have in the future) -- the same problem with Lisp, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python -- that we do/did with Pascal...
Which is this:
The current-day problem: Why should I learn (Assembler, Fortran, Algol, Pascal, C, etc.) when (Lisp, JavaScript, Java, Python, C++) -- is so much more functional, and does so much more for me?
The future problem: Why should I learn Lisp, JavaScript, Java, Python, C++ -- when ChatGPT (or other AI) -- does so much more for me?
?
Anyway, I'm glad you originally asked me to pitch Pascal to you...
That's because I wouldn't have seen the broader pattern of where society may be going in the future had I not written this...
So, great question!
Hope I answered it, at least somewhat...
Yes, that's what I was asking. Or rather:
> Some people love NixOS and can't do without it
... and then they'll usually have specific reasons why they can't do without it.
I didn't mean it as "why should I use Pascal now when there are so many better languages out there," on the contrary. If you're gonna dabble in a niche language, it might as well be a historically significant one.
I'm not quite convinced AI will supplant programming languages, though. Search engines, perhaps. And it'll become part of image processing and artsy tools.
Last official release was 2021, so I looked for something more regularely updated, and found CudaText. Definitely very Sublime-ish, and I like it so far.
(to the downvoter: my fave lang is Scala. That's expressive)
Imagine calling something PentiumText