An excerpt, which (imo) should be quoted more often
"Language designers love to argue about why this language or that language must be better or worse a priori, but none of these arguments really matter a lot. Ultimately all language issues get settled when users vote with their feet. If Tcl makes people more productive then they will use
it; when some other language comes along that is better (or if it is here already), then people will switch to that language. This is The Law, and it is good. The Law says to me that Scheme (or any other Lisp dialect) is probably not the "right" language: too many people have voted with their feet over the last 30 years. I encourage all Tcl
dis-believers to produce the "right" language(s), make them publically available, and let them be judged according to The Law."
> when some other language comes along that is better (or if it is here already), then people will switch to that language.
That part is actually not entirely true. Languages have positive network externalities, as well as some very serious lock-in (see: Cobol) and switching costs.
http://www.vanderburg.org/OldPages/Tcl/war/0009.html
An excerpt, which (imo) should be quoted more often
"Language designers love to argue about why this language or that language must be better or worse a priori, but none of these arguments really matter a lot. Ultimately all language issues get settled when users vote with their feet. If Tcl makes people more productive then they will use it; when some other language comes along that is better (or if it is here already), then people will switch to that language. This is The Law, and it is good. The Law says to me that Scheme (or any other Lisp dialect) is probably not the "right" language: too many people have voted with their feet over the last 30 years. I encourage all Tcl dis-believers to produce the "right" language(s), make them publically available, and let them be judged according to The Law."