The real lesson here is that sometimes building the correct interface calls for one to build an entirely new grammar to better express the task at hand.
Languages like Lisp make this easy. Ruby a little less so. C-type languages way less so!
DSLs in Java, C or JavaScript are so atrociously ugly and illegible that it almost defeats the purpose of a custom grammar, IMO.
C actually wins the family DSL award because it has a preprocessor with macros, a foot gun if I ever saw one!
My pet theory is that LLMs will soon be competent enough to build the tools for a little language without much hassle, allowing for software to better express the task at hand.
Languages like Lisp make this easy. Ruby a little less so. C-type languages way less so!
DSLs in Java, C or JavaScript are so atrociously ugly and illegible that it almost defeats the purpose of a custom grammar, IMO.
C actually wins the family DSL award because it has a preprocessor with macros, a foot gun if I ever saw one!
My pet theory is that LLMs will soon be competent enough to build the tools for a little language without much hassle, allowing for software to better express the task at hand.