The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come!

[rantingrick]

Hello fellow programmers, scripters, hackers, and debutantes.

I have cross posted this thread to three groups that i believe need to
unite under the flag of unity for the benefit of all. Because when we
unite we not only help ourselves, we promote freedom. In the next few
paragraphs i will expose the source of this problem and propose a
viable solution for how WE can solve the problem!

It saddens me when i see API's that don't include at least three
language choices. No *one* language is going to please the masses. I
understand *WHY* this happens however it should never, *EVER* happen
and i cannot lay blame solely on application developers because "we"
have failed to provide them NOT ONLY with a unifying API model, but
also our  respective "plugin" interfaces to that unifying model.

Yes folks  "WE" are to blame for this dilemma. Who is "we" exactly?
"We" is any language community who's language exhibits the traits of
an API scripting language. For me that group includes (at the minimum)
Python, Ruby, Basic, Perl, JavaScript, and whoever else wants to be
part of this group.

Everyone knows that no one language can solve all problems. And
likewise everyone knows that even when two languages are similar (in
few ways, or in many ways) people are always going to draw lines in
the sand and prefer to use one language over another. It is natural to
simply ones working environment. How many of you folks speak English
on Mondays and Mandarin on Tuesdays and Spanish on Wednesdays and
French on Thursdays and Bulgarian on Fridays and Pig Latin on
Saturdays and Orc on Sundays? Anyone? Why i am not surprised!

But we do this very same asinine thing on a daily basis whist jumping
through the productivity limiting hoops. The stench of which rises up
from every community of language developers in the world. We have not
only created a mutual cess pool of laziness and selfishness , we are
wallowing and rooting around in it completely oblivious of our
collectively bombastic stupidity.

So i ask yous, why should we continue to propagate hateful feelings,
or have some among us feel left out because their favorite language is
not included as an alternative in the API they are using at the time?
Why should i need to switch back and forth between multiple languages,
multiple syntaxes, multiple editors, multiple help files, multiple API
help files, and suffer multiple headaches just because the status quo
is to be selfish and not care about the greater "Programming
Community".

"Community". Hmm, now that is a word that can be applied in many
dimensions. The "Python Community" is a community that inherits from
the "Programming Community"... as is the "Ruby Community" and the
"JavaScript Community" and so on and so forth. We are naturally good
at taking care of our immediate community but for the community once
removed we are failing miserably! And this community is the most
important community of all! When we damage the programming community
we damage ourselves and everyone else!

[Thought Exercise] Just imagine for a second if automobiles where
engineered the way programming languages are currently engineered. But
wait! Before we jump into insightful analyolgies we must first
understand why the automobile is such a versatile feat of engineering.
The automobile -- no matter how large or small, not matter if truck or
car or motorcycle or moped-- is designed to interface with a system...
the "highway" system.  The user of an automobile is never restricted
from driving his favorite car. He is always happy because he is free.
Free to choose and free to be.... HOWEVER NOT THE CASE WITH APIs!

For API's we have just tossed freedom to the wind fro the sake of
selfishness. We would have multiple language developers creating
languages without any regard for a language independent system to plug
said language into. But i am here to tell you that we can be different
with our language style and still promote the freedom to choose. The
tool is NOT Ruby or Python or whatever. The tool is software which
manifests itself as "ones" and "zeros". Layers of abstraction that all
compile to the same base units... 1's and 0's.  Languages are
abstractions of ones and zeros. Languages are NOT tools. Therefore we
all have a vested interest in a unifying API.

Well some would say... " it is up to the developer of an application
what language they choose"... and this is true. But i say they can
choose to allow the users to choose thereby maintaining not only a
happier user base, but a more productive one as well.

When are we going to see the light and start unifying our collective
differences into a singular plug and play API and allowing the user of
"our" abstraction language, "our" for loop, or "our" version of
stdout.write the ultimate of all choices...  the choice of FREEDOM.

for danish inspirations see:

    http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Uno

Thank You