miniblog.

What defines the *feel* of a programming language? I've heard JS described as "composing lego blocks" due to npm, and Common Lisp with Sly feels like a place you explore (e.g. docs from the REPL). All PLs have tools though. Which ones set the vibe?

I'm coming to the view that NP-complete problems are harder to work with than tasks equivalent to the halting problem. For the halting problem, you know you're never going to solve the general case. For NP-complete problems there's a slew of complex algorithms to explore.

Lots of people have pointed out the advantage of https://foo.bar/ or foo->bar for syntax. It makes it easy to explore things you can do with foo. I think it's an instance of a more general pattern: prefix syntax that an IDE can spot. This has interesting consequences!