You can make embarrassing mistakes in virtually any programming language that’s not too esoteric.

When I still used Python for prototyping (today, I usually use Go for that), it happened much too often that I did this:

if foo:
    bar()
   foobar() # syntax error

In Lisp, however, both errors are much harder to make (not even considering GNU Emacs’s superb auto-indentation - which is what most Lispers use these days, as far as I know):

(when foo)  ;; <- obvious!
    (bar))

(when foo
    (bar)
          (foobar)  ;; <- still valid
(quux))  ;; <- also still valid

Dynamic typing is the source of very amazing errors, see JavaScript.

Feel free, it’s still out there!

I still write more Perl than Python these days.

Still easier to refactor than Python. ;-)

For all of those, Lisp is the more logical choice. Plus, whitespace as syntax is the worst possible design decision.

A viable alternative is Guix, which uses Scheme for its scripts and could also use the Hurd kernel instead of Linux, but works the same.

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Wait until you see the Lisp community. But yes, Rust is currently in its “why are there even any other languages lol” phase. Just wait.

Friends don’t let friends use a dark mode.

I understand the reluctance but it feels to me like arguing “we should just stick with COBOL because it works.”

For those depending on COBOL code that does the job and has been doing it just well for a few decades, there are approximately zero good reasons to not stick with it.

Ha, I’ll steal that! “Karen compiler” - quite fitting, to be honest.

Maybe it’s not your profession but a hobby but the point stands.

To be honest, I’ve hardly ever asked myself how I could best please a potential employer with any of my hobbies. But I recognise that you’re probably taking a different approach.

It also expands your employment potential and general usefulness.

I have already mentioned that programming is not everyone’s profession. Not everyone chooses what they do in their unpaid free time primarily based on whether it makes them a more useful person. I think the very phrase ‘my usefulness’ is dangerous.

Are we only worth something as drones?

Why? I mean, I, personally, try to be as polyglot as possible, but not everyone working on the Linux kernel is even interested in doing anything that’s not C kernel code, nor is it their profession.

even though Rust is objectively better.

In some of its characteristics, Rust is certainly a good language. The borrow checker, however, still haunts my restless dreams today.

Developers who are not willing to learn something new and not adapt are the worst.

And this is why COBOL developers are desperately needed these days: because too many people think that “old” was the same thing as “needs a replacement”.

Most groups of people who write code have one person to report to.

You don’t need to install SQLite to use Fossil, as Fossil already contains the (newest) version of SQLite, given that both tools come from the same developer.

In my experience, Git is harder to use than Fossil and if shit hits the fan, it is much harder to unshit the fan. There are reasons why there are numerous tutorials and books about how to tame Git. I don’t want to have to tame the tools that I use every day.

And yes, most tools are not Linux. Linux is a huge bazaar (with one BFDL, but that’s optional). Most real-life projects are a cathedral though, and Git just doesn’t mirror this.

The reactions are shocked enough.