What features does your dream language have?

[minxtech]

Hi!

 

I'm minx (to be clear, my nickname is derived from this toy, not that word...), a developer from Germany .

 

The question I'd like to ask you is simple: What features would you like to see / what would the syntax look like in the programming language of your dreams?

 

Why? Because I have a compiler in development right now and I'm looking for features to implement. That's it. Anything can be suggested

[Aniallation]

#comments

[Tea1337]

I want to be able to use statements like this

 

'moveThat Playermodel1 to Position -12,56'

 

Collision=true, add player damage +15' and so on. Simple statements. Even though I'm nearly fluent in C#, there would be so many ways to make programming more easy.

[minxtech]

I want to be able to use statements like this

 

'moveThat Playermodel1 to Position -12,56'

 

Collision=true, add player damage +15' and so on. Simple statements. Even though I'm nearly fluent in C#, there would be so many ways to make programming more easy.

 

This kind of commands are usually used in Engine Scripting Languages. I'm afraid this'll be too abstract for the compiled language we develop right now. By the way, why would

moveThat Playermodel1 to Position -12,56

be an improvement over a simple function call like

move(Player1, -12, 56)

? Or do you just wish for a human language interface in general?

[Tea1337]

This kind of commands are usually used in Engine Scripting Languages. I'm afraid this'll be too abstract for the compiled language we develop right now. By the way, why would

moveThat Playermodel1 to Position -12,56

be an improvement over a simple function call like

move(Player1, -12, 56)

? Or do you just wish for a human language interface in general?

I want something where I can basically type the english language and it does what I ask, but not straight up sentences. Something still with that programming feeling.

[minxtech]

I want something where I can basically type the english language and it does what I ask, but not straight up sentences. Something still with that programming feeling.

 

I actually had a discussion with a colleague about this kind of syntax. We came to the conclusion, that it would be impossible using a normal language like english (or in our case, german). Instead, creating a human language interface with a pure logical language like Lojban would be a challenging, yet possible task. Sadly, no one speaks Lojban ^^ .

[Tea1337]

I actually had a discussion with a colleague about this kind of syntax. We came to the conclusion, that it would be impossible using a normal language like english (or in our case, german). Instead, creating a human language interface with a pure logical language like Lojban would be a challenging, yet possible task. Sadly, no one speaks Lojban ^^ .

Yeah it kind of sucks. The most easy language to use is, VB. But that language it's self is pretty bad.

[loganryan99]

I want something where I can basically type the english language and it does what I ask, but not straight up sentences. Something still with that programming feeling.

 

After you program for long enough you basically would see those as the same thing. Human languages are inefficient and quirky so it'd be a lot more writing to accomplish the same thing. Honestly I think it'd be even less readable than traditional code. 

[Tea1337]

After you program for long enough you basically would see those as the same thing. Human languages are inefficient and quirky so it'd be a lot more writing to accomplish the same thing. Honestly I think it'd be even less readable than traditional code. 

I know, I can write in C# almost like I do when typing this sentence, it just flows.

[Ciccioo]

i love operator overloading, even thought it's just syntactic sugar

[Mariius]

IDE:

Refactoring
Auto imports
Library downloads (similar to gradle)

Auto complete / etc in general. You can go on and on and on. I believe that JetBrains is the company that you should look after if you are java or php developer (their IDE's are awesome)

When it comes to programming language - java and C# combination with C/C++ memory management (Java's garbage collector gives you almost no control of it)...

[LukeTim]

I'd like to have something that compiles natural language into a program...

Data and the ship's computer from Star Trek: The Next Generation are capable of this...

 

Yes. That would be my dream.

 

I think perhaps I am thinking way further into the future than the OP was thinking, though...

[manon_gfx]

It wouldn't really be a language. It would be a compiler that would read you mind to figure out what you want the program to do, and then compiles your idea into code.

The only downside is, is that it would take all the fun out of programming

 

A feature I would want that is a little bit more realistic, would be to be able to edit C++ code while running, and compile it on the fly.

[Avratz]

Rust is pretty close http://www.rust-lang.org/

[minxtech]

The compile we're developing is Perseus 5 ( http://perseus5.sourceforge.net/ ). Currently, it's a weird mix of BASIC, C and LUA. We're now at a point at which we need to decide a clear direction for this language. That was the intention behind this question

[Deprecated]

compiler warnings on currently allowed shitty programming practices,

for example:

long methods/functions (more than 40 lines is a bit much)

bad naming (who hates variables named 'a')

high amount of complexity in methods/functions (unreadable and not maintainable)

singletons (anti-patterns are evil)

[scarylabcat]

Deprecated, if you are using c# you can install resharper and stylecop in visual studio, they work great together and provide most of the things that you are describing. About the complexity, some algorithms are complex by nature and they can't be simplified, there is nothing you can do about it except contain them somewhere where they do no harm. If the design of the application is too complex then that's a bad design. No language, ide, plugin or compiler can help you if you just made a bad decision during the design making process. That's not just programing that's engineering.

 

I write in c# but I would be too small minded if I say that c# is the best language, everything comes with trade offs, more expressive languages are more easy to use and read but they are slower and less accurate.

[bealsabub]

I'd like to have something that compiles natural language into a program...

Data and the ship's computer from Star Trek: The Next Generation are capable of this...

 

Yes. That would be my dream.

 

I think perhaps I am thinking way further into the future than the OP was thinking, though...

 

I think the main issue with this is that natural language can be interpreted in more then one way.

[LukeTim]

I think the main issue with this is that natural language can be interpreted in more then one way.

 

What exactly do you mean by that?