i’m slowly coming around to the idea that in most cases (1) big runtimes are a good thing, and that (2) compile-once-run-many was a bad idea. i think our programming languages should create and run software in a highly introspective and interruptible environment.
I don't know what you have against compile-once-run-many, but as a Rust user I agree that most software doesn't need C or Rust. I think there could probably be a Rust-like and a Java/Go-like, two general-purpose languages that cover 99% of software.
compile-once-run-many makes decisions, especially optimization decisions, too early ie way before the software got a chance to see real input. vm-based programs that are able to do just-in-time optimization can learn on the job and make adjustments as necessary. making optimization decisions late, taking input into consideration, makes sense for long-running applications.
Ah, that's fair. I doubt most applications need that level of optimization, and AOT still seems to be more reliable overall for performance. A language with GC and/or VM does have great properties, though, so for most apps it's not a loss to go with the managed approach. Poorly designed software seems to be the bigger issue in general.
