[Haskell-cafe] yi or not to yi was: IDE?

[Pasqualino 'Titto' Assini]

On Sunday 17 June 2007 23:56:51 Claus Reinke wrote:
> i didn't know that Yi had acquired a tongue-in-cheek mode
> already!-) at least i hope that's what it was, because the ermacs
> lesson was not about contributing code or better language, but
> about sheer size and momentum being in favour of the weaker
> solution.

I think that we should not underestimate the transforming power of dogged 
determination.

Think of Linux: only a terminal idiot could have conceived the plan of writing 
from scratch a clone of a 20 years old operating system (Unix) when everybody 
knew that momentum was on the side of the weaker solution (Microsoft) in the 
PC market and on the many existing commercial Unix versions in the 
professional market.

Well, we all know what that stupid idea has led to. I certainly do, as I am 
writing this message under Linux.


Whenever we act, we do so in a context that determines the value of our 
actions. However, our actions also create a new context. 

Linux, in the context in which it was started, was an unequivocaly bad idea.

However, its existence has created a new context where it has a real value.


So, the idea of writing an Emacs-like system  in Haskell might be 
ill-considered but, as you also notice in the rest of your message, that 
doesn't make it worthless in a long-term perspective.


An even more relevant example might be Eclipse: Eclipse is very much the Java 
Emacs: a customisable application framework with a zillion extension. 

Creating it was a major effort but, thanks to that effort, Java has greatly 
increased its reach and credibility, in particular as a viable solution to 
write desktop applications.


Maybe, just maybe, yi might play a similar role for Haskell.


Regards,

             titto