I’d not heard of Lazarus, but just looked at the website. Apparently, it’s open-source (GPL/LGPL) and cross-platform, which is attractive. I’ll try it.
And no, I’m not volunteering to build an Exercism track…
During my study in the University I had programming on PL/I and Rexx.
Power Query M language
About some exotic languages. Some time ago I had created several programs for my project using Power Query M language. I was impressed that I could create relatively complex queries. Then I have solved several Exercism problems in this language!
Sounds like this might be the start of a new language track! ;)
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Snobol - string manipulation language. From the 1960’s. If you pick the right problem, you can write Snobol so that it looks a bit like a BNF definition of the text you are working on. The following is not exact Snobol, but…
‘(’ any1 ‘+’ any2 ‘)’
would match text such as-
(33+total)
and would set any1 to ‘33’, any2 to’ total’
I wrote a summary of it, plus how to download for Windows, and with a pre-configured editor: Snobol - Mike Parr
I have been wanting for some time to add SNOBOL4 to Exercism. It hasn’t happened yet.
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But there is a tension here: What was Exercism originally conceived to do, @kytrinyx? I’m sure you’ve said something about it before. If it was to prepare people for a software development role then I can see the benefit of, for example, the JavaScript and C# tracks, but what of the others?
Who benefits from SNOBOL4, Seed7, TRAC or even Mouse (all languages that I’m wanting to add sometime, BTW.) Doesn’t it tend to degenerate into an exercise in programming language nostalgia?
And, for that matter, do I want to spend my remaining years (I’m 64 but not a Commodore) maintaining arcane language tracks (I’m having a hard enough time with the current COBOL, 8th and Euphoria tracks).
You make your own choices! At 60+, I feel we’ve earned that right.
I’m a bit older (at 68), and I have my hands full with Julia, R and a bit of Python (while dabbling quietly in more things). There are other languages I remember fondly. I, personally, don’t want to create a track for them, but other people may choose differently.
Volunteer-driven efforts would fall apart pretty quickly if we all wanted to do the same thing.
I think adding an older language is totally fine, especially if that language does things a bit differently.
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I also miss PL/I.
I also miss PL/I.
Stockholm syndrome? PL/I was the first language I ever got paid money to write. Don’t miss it in the slightest. You made me think about PL/I for the first time in 20 years — my, those were a blissful 20 years.
My own Stockholm syndrome is for APL — the first language I ever learned (for twisted reasons that should never be repeated anywhere). There’s something glorious about crafting a flawless ten-character program that nobody in the world can understand, including yourself an hour later. If someone insane managed to craft an Exercism track for APL, I’d be the first to try it.
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