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Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2015 09:20:30 +0100
From: Bert Timmerman <bert DOT timmerman AT xs4all DOT nl>
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To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: [geda-user] on the choice of languages
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Kai-Martin Knaak wrote:
> Bob Paddock wrote:
>
>    
>>> "C"     : 11800
>>> "python": 890
>>> "lua"   : 150
>>> "guile" : 3  however, "scheme": 68
>>>        
>> The optimistic view is C is good because it has lots of books, however
>> it is also the oldest of the lot so had more time to have books
>> written.
>>      
> The number of books does not say anything about the quality of a language.
> It does say even less about the appropriateness for a specific task.
> Actually, C is a pretty bad choice for scripting ;-)
>
> But the number of books does say something about popularity. After all,
> there is no economic point in publishing 500 books about a language that
> is used by 1000 coders worldwide. Even more important, it says something
> about relative popularity.
>
> An open source project like geda relies on volunteers to get ahead. Few
> people feel comfortable to learn a new language from scratch just to start
> contributing. Choose a rarely used language and you get less contributions
> than you could. IMHO, this is what we see with guile.
>
>
>    
>> It is like job ads I see "We need C developer".
>>      
> In a way, yes. Currently, it would read "We need contributors willing to
> contribute guile code". Turns out, the response is saddening quiet.
>
> Actually, we also need someone who manages to fix the cross compile issue
> of guile. Ever since geda requires guile>2.0 we effectively lost the
> ability to produce a windows binary. Note, the road block is the cross
> compile of guile, not the cross compile of geda itself.
>
>
>    
>> There is no one 'best' language.  Use the most suitable for the
>> problem domain, of which there are many in EDA.
>>      
> IMHO, in an open source context a popular language that is OK for the
> problem beats a perfect but unknown language hands down.
>
> ---<)kaimartin(>---
>    
Hi,

I agree ....

"The *path of least resistance* is the physical or metaphorical pathway 
that provides the least resistance to forward motion by a given object 
or entity, among a set of alternative paths. The concept is often used 
to describe why an object or entity takes a given path.
....

The path of least resistance is also used to describe certain human 
behaviors, although with much less specificity than in the strict 
physical sense. In these cases, resistance is often used as a metaphor 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor> for personal effort or 
confrontation; a person taking the path of least resistance avoids 
these. In library science and technical writing, information is ideally 
arranged for users according to the Principle of least effort 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_effort>, or the *path 
of least resistance*. Recursive navigation systems are an example of this.

*Note:* The path of least resistance applies on a local, not global, 
reference. For example, water always flows downhill, regardless of 
whether briefly flowing uphill will help it gain a lower final altitude 
(with certain exceptions such as superfluids 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfluid>). In physics, this phenomenon 
allows the formation of potential wells 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_well>, where potential energy 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_energy> is stored because of a 
barrier restricting flow to a lower energy state."


Quote from Wikipedia ....

You could form some potential energy by learning Guile/Scheme, before 
flowing down to a lower energy state.

Kind regards,

Bert Timmerman.