[news.eclipse.technology.ldt] so-called Dynamic 'Scripting' Languages

["Brandon J. Van Every" <mylastnameruntogether@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, I'm trying to understand the nature of this language proposal, 
Eclipse itself, and Bigloo Scheme, and to a much lesser degree Common 
Lisp, and implications to open source Windows developers in general, all 
at once.  :-)

Some posts have talked about "Dynamic Scripting Languages."  Python and 
Ruby are mentioned as exemplars, as well as Lisp.  I would like to point 
out that from a technology standpoint, Lisp and Scheme are not 
'scripting' languages.  They are languages with various implementations, 
sometimes compiled to bytecode, sometimes to native code, sometimes 
interpreted as scripts.  As a game developer, native code performance 
for my 3D graphics and AI problems is what's most important to me.  This 
is a big part of what has guided my language shopping decisions.  Many 
"Dynamic Languages" offer compiled, bytecoded, and interpreted 
versions.  Sometimes these facilities can be used in concert, other 
times they must be used separately.  For instance, bytecoded OCaml 
cannot talk directly to compiled OCaml, as they are produced by 
completely different implementations.

Even from a marketing standpoint, some parties don't like the 
'Scripting' language label.  This is true of the Python crowd, for 
instance.  Python is a valid cross-platform applications development 
language, on par with Java in many respects.  Some people in the Python 
world have tried to put marketing energy into getting rid of the 
'Scripting' label, but Python marketing in general is not very good, so 
they will be living with the 'Scripting' label for quite some time.

Given these technical and marketing points, I hope others see the wisdom 
of addressing "Dynamic Languages," and dispensing with the "Scripting" 
label?  Unfortunately, I see the term "DSL" as almost a mantra all over 
the Eclipse.org search engine.

I would appreciate pointers to groups in the Eclipse community that are 
addressing the problems of Dynamic Languages.  Particularly Scheme and 
Lisp.  Using the search engine, it's not actually easy to pinpoint any 
particular group working on it.

--
Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

"The pioneer is the one with the arrows in his back."
                         - anonymous entrepreneur