Lambda the Ultimate

I apologize for the unweildy topic, but my musings revolve around this idea:

Is the two language approach espoused by Ousterhout workable, or will people inevitably want to do everything in the scripting (err..'dynamic') language?

Both Tcl and PHP began life as a way to tie together little bits of C code in a flexible way, but soon took off as languages that many users had no intention of tying to C, although both of course make extensive use of libraries written in C, rather than taking the approach of doing everything in "pure Tcl" or "pure PHP".

I happen to like the dual language approach a lot, because it lets me express the right things in the right language. Fast, low level code in C, and then organize everything in Tcl.

However, C isn't for everyone, which is one of the reasons why dynamic languages got so popular in the first place. It's easier to use a scripting language, even if it's not as fast. So the tendency is really to try and do as much as possible in that language, and then add C code only where necessary.

Other languages seem to aim more for the "do everything myself" approach. Java and Lisp seem to fall into this category. My experience with Erlang is that it has some tendencies in this direction too (Joe Armstrong's X implementation!).

In some ways, it's a lot easier to piggyback on an existing, popular language like C or Java if you're doing a scripting language and want to get lots of libraries 'for free', but aside from this, is explicitly pursuing a dual language approach a sensible idea in this day and age, or not?

Tired of talking about Erlang and Telephone Switches? Next time someone asks for an example of functional programming techniques in the "real" world, suggest Google Labs to them.

Would it make sense for LtU to have a section where people can put pointers to their resumes and open job positions? I've seen a few discussion boards that do this, and I think it's a great idea to help get the right people together. My employer is looking to hire some bright people to add to my project right now. I'd like to think that a lot of the folks at LtU would make great office mates, and I believe the work we're doing would interest at least some of the people around here.

God bless,
-Toby Reyelts