This is a problem when language designers are mathematicians and don’t understand typographical nuance and visual weights.
The whole "with AI" kind of reduces my hate for Rust though, and increases the appreciation for how strict the language is, especially when the agents themselves does the whole "do change > see error/warning > adjust code > re-check > repeat" loop themselves, which seems to work better the more strict the language is, as far as I can tell.
The "helpful" error messages from Rust can be a bit deceiving though, as the agents first instinct seems to be to always try what the error message recommends, but sometimes the error is just a symptom of a deeper issue, not the actual root issue.
I mean God help us should a crustacean try to understand the merits of my claim.
“Oh he’s saying something negative about rust…” Downvote!
I think with AI the language should still be readable. Humans need to be able to understand what’s going on!
However, if I link to gestalt theory of psychology; The Elements of Typographical Style by Robert Bringhurst; and The Primer of Visual literacy by Donis Dondis, folks will undoubtedly NOT read it and still downvote because they have been in Rust code and so have naturally become accustomed to its monstrous appearance. :)
Perhaps I should design a language that is typographically sound—something like brainf*ck haha
Kotlin is basically a Ruby (OO first with lots of FP goodness) with a serious type system. And where Ruby uses C-written libs in some places, with Kotlin one uses Java written libs from time to time.
See http4k for a nice implementation of Rack + a lot of goodness from Rails, without becoming a framework (it's just a lib).
Yes Kotlin is nice too. Type systems are important and helpful. Performance is a must too.. that's why we all in some point left ruby... but ruby makes you happy.. Maybe because my experience with Kotlin is restricted to Android, i didnt love that that much. Same with Crystal or even JRuby.. it's almost ruby, but not really.
(Yes, I know the 'a lifetimes are a bit weird, and that's not something that exist in typescript, but that's also not something you use everyday in Rust either.
If you want to give it a fair shot, it does take some time to get used to, coming from something like Python or Ruby. I won't deny that. I've found that using LSP-assissted semantic syntax highlighting helps, for me, on the typographic front.
I don't think typographic design is a key consideration in most languages' designs, though, and I don't think it should be. The main thing I look for is consistent, relatively predictable rules around the syntax, as far as that layer of language choice goes.