[E-Lang] down with `define' (was: newbie syntax: picayune points from a prejudiced programmer)

[Marc Stiegler]

> P.S.  I think E should be aiming, like Python did, and Perl before it,
> for the community first, and world domination second.

Exactly, though I guess I never say it that way, do I? Anyway, this is why I
take these parts of the discussion so seriously. We have to get a handful of
people before we get the rest. The first thousand users will be much harder
to collect than the next 9000 thereafter. Getting those first thousand is so
much more important than any of the syntax alternatives we have discussed
here, it is reasonable to say that it is the only question that matters in
determining which syntactic solution we should choose.

I do not understand why capability security is a religious war. I have had
the mixed blessing of being able to compare, side-by-side, an E prototype
and a Java prototype of an enterprise-wide system with stringent security
requirements. The E prototype is so much better in every dimension--every
dimension!-- that it leaves you weeping. How could anyone possibly object to
this stuff? But they do.

Inheritance is also a religious war. This one I can understand the opposing
side on, indeed I am an opposing-side-sympathizer. But it is still religion.

Fighting one religious war is crazy. But that is what we are here to do.
Someone must win the war for capabilities, the future of computing depends
upon it. I endorse it.

Fighting 2 religious wars at the same time is not merely crazy, it is a
waste of time. You've already lost before you begin. It is comparable to
plunging a butter knife into your heart. Except that the butter knife hurts
less and is quicker.

--marcs