Whatever happened to Arc?

I got excited by Paul Graham’s rhetorics about two years ago when I first read his pitch on Arc and I sure still do, every time I happen to go through it again.

A Language for Good Programmers - Target user: opposite of Java is a bold statement, but if it doesn’t get you excited, I have to admit it says a lot to me.

And Paul Graham is guy who has a lot to say and he definitely hits the spot more than often. And I quote:

If a language had twenty separate users, meaning twenty users who decided on their own to use it, I’d consider it to be real. Getting there can’t be easy. I would not be surprised if it is harder to get from zero to twenty than from twenty to a thousand. The best way to get those initial twenty users is probably to use a trojan horse: to give people an application they want, which happens to be written in the new language.

Rings any bells?

Paul speaks of programming languages eventually making it to the mainstream and defining software building manifestos on the shoulders of a few distinctively above average, over-dedicated hackers. And, oh, how I like associating with this theory. Not that I ever put myself next to any of the afore suggested luminaries, but you can always dream. And try…

I’m guessing Paul didn’t have Ruby in mind when he came up with the above observation, but C also - much more so - falls into that category - a language built for creating Unix, which became better and popular alongside the great Operating System. And I dare anyone question C’s momentum as the most important programming language ever, maybe after Assembly.

So where’s Arc now, five years down the line of its announcement? Is it going to remain the ever Unfinished Dialect of Lisp?

One of the most difficult pills to swallow is witnessing people who inspire(d) you go down the path they once damned.

I might certainly be misinterpreting facts here, but it seems to me Paul Graham is nowadays dedicating most of his efforts in becoming some sort of ex-hacker, Venture Capital, geek-friendly Business Angel. Which reads, plainly and simply, d o u g h.

And that is pretty close to how Paul condemned Java as hype software, or a language designed for average programmers that has to put safety first. Java is where it is today because some people knew how to sell it. And Paul has realized he has a talent for selling stuff, thus, potentially abandoned the idealistic goal of creating the best - to his convictions - programming language and decided to fund/coach graduates in garages promote their next-MySpace idea to suits who will help make everyone rich.

Nothing wrong with that, wish I could come up with Goose With the Golden Egg 2.0. But let me tell you what. Not Unix, nor C, were built with material profits in mind. At least not up front.

Of course, I could very well be wrong. Arc might be just around the corner and it might turn out to be the missing programming language. And this whole Venture Capital issue is just a side project…

Man, I hope I’m wrong…

This entry was posted on Monday, September 4th, 2006 at 11:22 pm and is filed under Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.