On hackers news a technology focused platform where custom weird languages thrive. You're complaining about a company who the original developer made their own language.

Isn't this exactly how all of the other languages where created?

    > How could it be better?

On a purely language basis, I'd start with the things the BrighterScript [1] folks have done to clean up the warts and inconveniences of the language.

Personally I'd rather it not exist. Roku would be more pleasant to develop on had they chosen a more popular, existing language as the basis (e.g. Python). Then the task of developing for the platform ~mostly reduces from "learn a new language and a new framework" to just the latter.

I suppose it hasn't inhibited their success, of course.

    [1] https://github.com/rokucommunity/brighterscript