1. What's Holding Euphoria Back ?
There is only one thing holding Euphoria back; a lack of credibility.
I am not saying that Euphoria isn't a credible language, I have been
very happy using it and the lack of certain ( C type ) language features
does not detract from the language, indeed the use of pointers is
recognised as the most efficient way to introduce obscure, random bugs
into a program. Euphoria is Euphoria and can be measured in terms of
usefulness by what it does, and offers over other languages rather than
by purely direct comparison; no language is a panacea to all problems.
What Euphoria lacks is credibility in terms of reputation and visibility
in the programming arena.
As has already been stated by others, if Euphoria were marketed by
Microsoft or Sun then it would have been pushed onto the market and
would probably have been used, hyped up by the world and used more.
Indeed, this is really how Visual Basic, JavaScript and Java gained
their strong footings.
As it is, Euphoria is marketed by a small, unknown company with little
visibility outside of this list - No offence meant to RDS et al, that's
just the way it stands, or appears from outside, at present.
I am a professional programmer with many years of experience and stand
fully behind Euphoria. I have tried to get fellow programmers to look at
the language and indeed use it, however, with little success.
The problem is that, whilst they would hang on every word that MS and
Sun utter, I don't have the credibility of those two companies and, if
no one else is using it, why should they bother ? Exactly the same
reason why everyone has kept well clear of Mac's ( in the UK ), BeOS,
Ada and many other good things - just look at the difficulty that Linux
has faced in becoming established; if it wasn't for The Net, would Linux
have become as popular as it is ?
There is a tendancy to only go along with things that appear credible;
using Euphoria is a jump in the dark. With Java etc there is serious
backup support and, perhaps more importantly, books from O'Reilly and
the usual Idiot's Guides To ...
This small matter should not be underestimated; if serious, commercially
aware people are taking a language seriously then others will go and
look to see what the hype is about and the roller-coaster takes off, so
to speak.
Most programmers have not heard of Euphoria, nor do they have their
attention drawn to it by their peers as they are also in the dark.
What is holding Euphoria back then is the ability to bring the world out
from the dark and show them what Euphoria is.
If the light can be turned on then a waterfall of interest in Euphoria
will begin, the hype will start, more will join the interested parties
and Euphoria will become established as a credible, well known language.
Once Euphoria becomes a credible addition to a CV it will then be fair
to say it was an established and credible language.
I don't know how to switch the light on; the best course that I can see
is to gain a Product Champion, well known and from within the industry,
but who ?
If Bill Gates stood up tomorrow and said, "Euphoria is the way", on one
hand we'd rejoice but, come Visual Euphoria++, the loss of control to
Microsoft, the change in the way it's marketed etc, and change in the
language itself, would we be so happy ?
There must be some champions around who would support Euphoria in the
way that it exists in the hands of RDS ... all we need to do is find
them and get them to shout their message from the hills. If there
aren't any champions; that's the place to start then, convincing people
to be champions.
Of course, it's all easier said than done. After all, would you start
using Python just because I said it was good ? Probably not, not just on
my opinion.
That's the same problem as when I tell others to use Euphoria.
How many of you just thought, "I'll check out Python" ? And how many
weren't interested in whatever it is ?
Euphoria is among the best languages developed this decade, although it
doesn't have the popularity of Basic, C, C++ and Java that doesn't mean
it's inferior.
If Euphoria gets the visibility and following it deserves, I believe it
will stand alongside those languages well.
2. Re: What's Holding Euphoria Back ?
One word: AMEN (WOW also comes to mind).
3. Re: What's Holding Euphoria Back ?
Adam Weeden wrote:
>
> One word: AMEN (WOW also comes to mind).
AMEN means "So be it",...is that what you mean? WOW!
-Mike B.
4. Re: What's Holding Euphoria Back ?
As Ralf says, the name [ or knowledge of it ] is important ... look at
LiveScript; totally unheard of until Java came along with the hype and
it got renamed JavaScript. There's very little in common between the two
but it suceeded in leaps and bounds.
