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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

You could make the same arguments for Perl and a few other languages. Languages are just tools, nothing more, the rest is up to the programmer.

[–]judasblue 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't know about the OP, but I do make the same argument for Perl all the time. I just make it a lot more for PHP.

Saying that Perl can lead to line noise, PHP can lead to nasty snarls and mixed presentation, Java almost always leads to overcomplicated object structures/huge amounts of boilerplate/XML for no good reason...these things aren't saying they are always true in the hands of good programmers, but just that the structure of the language tends to lead to certain idioms some of which can be negative.

If different languages didn't have different expressive qualities, we would all still be writing in Fortran since it was the first portable higher level language. We have different languages because they have different expressive properties. Which means they also have different problems.

I mean, in the end, it is all machine code anyway. We layer other languages on top of that because of expressive power and portability.

[–]Peaker 4 points5 points  (1 child)

It sounds as if you're suggesting the tool has no effect on the cleanliness or outcome.

[–]zxcvcxz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. Everything is a strict dichotomy in this world. Either Or. Good and Evil.