Mid-Twentieth Century Languages

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Mid-Twentieth Century Languages

Ruby's powerful and full of Tim Toady. Python's powerful and pythonic. In one area, however, both are bad reminders of the 1960s.

I refer to the fact that both are strictly interpreted, according to the lamest definition of the term. They begin processing at the top of the file. Declarative code? Processed. Imperative statements? Processed.

The intelligent way, of course, is to read the file handling all the declarative code first. Functions, for example, are defined and ready for use when the imperative code is processed. Functions may be declared where they make sense. The structure of the source code is not dictated by the processor; it's decided by the programmer.

Ruby and Python? Nope. Don't place your imperative code at the top of the file; library functions at the bottom. You cannot call a function from statements above the function's definition; you cannot instantiate an object ... This is stupid.

JavaScript eats your source code's declarations first, then goes on to process your imperative code. JavaScript is not the world's most advanced language. That Ruby and Python are less advanced than JavaScript should be an embarassment to both.

If you remember Pascal from the early days of microcomputers you remember being forced to write your main program at the bottom of your file. This was, and is, a tragedy if you valued readability. This is how you must structure your Ruby and Python.

JavaScript gets this right. Java lets you put "main()" where you choose. This should be completely standard in this century.