Justinas on Nostr: Folks that either gave up on #Nix because of the Nix language or use it but dislike ...
Folks that either gave up on #Nix because of the Nix language or use it but dislike the language, what are your biggest issues with it?
I've heard people saying that the language is "bad" multiple times, but often it's left at that, without raising specific points.
Here's the few arguments that I can remember:
* It should just be JSON, TOML or YAML - I disagree, because static documents are not always enough. The ecosystem would inevitably adopt something that generates these documents e.g. via text-templating languages, and that is considerably worse IMO (see: the horror that is Helm).
* Dynamic typing - I agree to some degree, optional strong typing would be great.
* Lisp as used in e.g. Guix is better - this is completely subjective, but as a person who has never touched a Lisp, the Nix language was clearer from the very start compared to Guile. I can't tell syntax from code from data, and that (homoiconicity) seems to be a feature of Lisp in general. I guess I'm just not used to it.
#nixos
I've heard people saying that the language is "bad" multiple times, but often it's left at that, without raising specific points.
Here's the few arguments that I can remember:
* It should just be JSON, TOML or YAML - I disagree, because static documents are not always enough. The ecosystem would inevitably adopt something that generates these documents e.g. via text-templating languages, and that is considerably worse IMO (see: the horror that is Helm).
* Dynamic typing - I agree to some degree, optional strong typing would be great.
* Lisp as used in e.g. Guix is better - this is completely subjective, but as a person who has never touched a Lisp, the Nix language was clearer from the very start compared to Guile. I can't tell syntax from code from data, and that (homoiconicity) seems to be a feature of Lisp in general. I guess I'm just not used to it.
#nixos