marsninja

I am the creator of Jac, a Python-like synechic programming language with AOT native backend among other backends. Now that Mojo is open source, I can fully understand it as a serious language. I, along with my best friend GPT, sat down to do a comparison and brainstorm how Jac should evolve (as I imagine C++/rust and Zig needs to do the same based on the strong contributions of Mojo).

The result is surprising in both directions. Two of the features Mojo is well known for already exist in Jac: a gradual borrow checker (more than 4k lines with use-after-move, borrow conflicts, region escape, with ARC as the default so plain Python-style code still runs unannotated), and parallel loops whose data-race freedom is checked statically at compile time. That last one is still a Phase 2 roadmap item for Mojo.

I have to acknowledge the other direction too though. Mojo is ahead on four concrete things: value/const generic parameters, first-class SIMD, native trait bounds, and GPU codegen. This issue lays out a potential plan for each, plus non-goals. We are not adopting MLIR, and ownership stays opt-in "gradual" rather than mandatory as this is one of the key innovations in Jac.

I would love to hear feedback on this analysis and potential roadmap, especially from anyone who has taken a look at the KGEN Elaborator sources.

Massive W!!! We have to celebrate you guys on our repo/site etc.

The key next thing ahead is to harden the language. It's pretty much feature complete at this point, but some area's of its scope is more brittle than others. Let me know what you run into (I live on the language discord).

Yes, this is one of the top priorities of the language and my key focus. Indeed the design principle of the language is to make coding more fun and to never have to choose a different language simply because a project requires something specific. I've found developers like me fall in love with a single language and want to use that language for everything. But there isn't a lovable language (no pun intended haha) that can be used for everything. This is honestly why I crated Jac, to take the crappy parts of coding and leave that to the compiler, and be able to get good at one language so it can be used to create anything. All this being said, be a part of the community and help me know what pain you have with it and I'll try to knock it out. I'm super motivated by the people who love the language, or at least want to make the language more lovable. (jeezz I swear I'm not doing that on purpose! :-P)

Hot take: The reality is unless this becomes a ban on after hours coms (which likely isn't feasible), economic incentives will prevail. Folks that are less available, less engaged, and in less communication will be darwin'd out.

Only question, is this good for employees, and bad for employers, or the other way around? Creating new ways folks can "get ahead" that is non-obvious (or worse non-official) can lead to issues.