I downloaded and tried to try Vale.

The very first impression of running 'valec' compiler is that it "panics" when no arguments are given. It literally writes so: "(panic)". I want to point out that "panic" is a very strong word and should be avoided in scenarios where a normal error handling takes place. Any kind of panic is always a sign of an uncontrolled situation, and if a program ever "panics" it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

The next struggle was to get the basic help for the command-line parameters. But it's currently non-existent.

The next and final stuggle: trying a hello world sample. I copied the code from the website:

  import stdlib.*;

  exported func main() {
    println("Hello world!");
  }

and saved it to 'hello.vl' file. Then, I tried to build it:

  > valec hello.vl

However, no luck for me this time:

   Unknown subcommand, specify `build`, `run`, etc. Use `help` for more. 

It looks like I should specify 'build' command. Let's try:

  > valec build hello.vl

Well, here is the result:

  Unrecognized input: hello.vl                                                                                                       
  (panic) 

Hm. Let's try to get some help:

  > valec help

The result of the help command is:

  <nothing>

Not very helpful. At this point, I gave up. How does this thing work?