Why I Don't Write Web Apps

gistfile1.md

Why I Don't Write Web Apps (if I can help it)

This is what happens when I try to pick a language.

Note: If I didn't think it was possible to create a development environment without any of these issues (which I consider "major" for the most part), I would not have written this list.

C/C++

• NOTHNX.

Node.js

• Javascript is weakly typed.. boo.
• Cooperative multitasking.. booo.
• No threads, V8 memory limits, all the joys of a browser VM.
• The Java influences can still be felt.

Ruby (Rack)

• Sloowwww..
• Doesn't have language-level I/O concurrency & scheduling (Fibers don't count).
• Crappy package management.
• Classical OOP meh (although it is probably my favorite implementation of classical OO).
• Too much magic, even in the language itself.

Ruby on Rails

• brb—forgot my saddle.

Python

• Sloowwww..
• Doesn't have built-in language-level I/O concurrency & scheduling.
• Classical OOP meh.

Clojure & Scala

• The Java ecosystem.. stab, stab.

Note: Clojure might be the perfect language, if it didn't run on top of Java.

Erlang

• The fucking records.
• The fucking stack traces. (Haven't tried R15 yet)
• The fucking stdlib.

Note: This is my current choice for large applications.

Haskell

• That would be like using a bat-mobile to go grocery shopping.
• It also feels like a bad fit overall, looking at code from yesod etc.

.NET

• m$

PHP

• LOLPHP

Go

• Too young
• Disregards 30 years of programming language design.

Lua

• Not ready for the web

what about sinatra or rails using jruby?

• not slow
• nice concurrency
• lots of ruby magic =)

Maybe too young, but you have to try GO.

@gertfindel: that falls under the "Java ecosystem, stab, stab.." banner. It's also still pretty slow under Jruby..
@thypon: added.

@go: maybe we need a complete reboot :-D

BASIC? shell script? an assembly language? lisp? perl? :p

@thypon: hah, I'd say we need more of a renaissance.

Whats wrong with Ruby on Rails magic?

Vaguely amusing but are you really going to wait until the perfect language comes along before you start making what you want to make? It may seem impossible to write a good web app in C, but Raph Levien did it. The impossible is what hackers do.

Of course the title isn't meant to be taken seriously, in the end you have to deal with the imperfections if you want to build anything. That being said, there is no language/environment I thoroughly enjoy for web development.

Haha. I gotta say, though, if you're running into slowness issues (I'm assuming slow in regards to CPU time) with a web-app, you're doing something wrong.

Really? When you look at the typical Rails app with mininal I/O, and it takes at least 100ms to go through the stack, that is slow..

If that's true then you're right, rails is doing something wrong. :)

I/O should always be the principle bottleneck in a web app.

@cloudhead My app takes about 46.3 ms to load the homepage. No were close to 100 ms or over.

@cloudhead your lack of enjoyment for web dev probably comes from a dislike of how the web works, I know mine comes from that lol

@cloudhead I'm definitely finding Clojure to be the perfect language for me. The Java stuff isn't a bother at all and it's nice to have access to the libraries if you want them.

@owainlewis but how about the java stack traces?

Yeah I'll admit they are a bit cryptic sometimes but I've not really had much issue. They are often helpful enough. I find myself not wanting to use Ruby as much anymore after spending time with Clojure. Definitely worth a good look even for web stuff. Your work is awesome by the way! : )