Beyond Mainstream Languages

José Antonio Ortega Ruiz has written an excellent article on Beyond Mainstream Object-Oriented Programming Languages. In it, he talks about the problem with modern object-oriented languages. He sings the praises of Smalltalk (simplest, cleanest syntax), but yearns for something MORE! He then goes on about prototype-based langauges like Self and Slate. He had very positive remarks on Slate and basically hails it as the future. Slate is a lot of fun to play with (I haven't blogged about it much, but I digress). Anyway, it's a fun read and I especially loved following the links (read the debate on whether an object is a poor man's closure or a closure is a poor man's object, GREAT STUFF!). I need to get back to do some prototype programming. I think Slate might just satisfy that itch, plus I've been wanting to play with Slate's dispatch mechanism.