alt Hacker NewsPick something slightly esoteric (eg Haskell) and the quality of public code is very high, because you only have enthusiasts writing it. Choose something taught in schools (Python) and you are going to find 10,000 traveling salesmen homework problems and Django todo applications.
Not sure how you thread the needle on the quality vs quantity dynamic.
Replies
serf • today at 3:57 AM
>Pick something slightly esoteric (eg Haskell) and the quality of public code is very high, because you only have enthusiasts writing it.
that and the language supports (enforces) good decision making; static typing w/ inference and a functional style as a first class concept.
which then rolls into the same result : higher quality code available.
scotty79 • today at 6:43 AM
Quantity, it seems is a quality in itself.
Your point is a good one: Exotic, difficult languages attract enthusiasts with deeper skills than a median developer.
Haskell also has a confounding issue: Because of its focus on research and experimentation, standard best practices don't exist like they do in languages optimized for real-world use. Because there are few community guidelines, engineering practices vary widely, and unfortunately at the same time, Haskell's public codebase resources are small.
To see this playing out, check out Haskell discussions about choosing a SQL library, effect system, monad transformer stack, or web framework. The answers are all over the map because that diversity is baked into Haskell's culture and practice.