Don't Write Off Tinkering In The Garage

Andy Arvanitis, of eero language fame, is at it again and experimenting with Idris, a Haskell like language with a simple interface to C. Which, of course, means he’s experimenting with bridges to Objective-C classes.

Idris fascinates me because it not only has a flexible syntax, but you can define your own syntax rules on the fly¹. Andy shows off how he builds the same bracket and parameter list syntax you’re familiar with in Objective-C. It’s like programming language putty.

I love this kind of stuff. I know, I know, this adds to the complaint fodder about the creaking husk of Objective-C. I applaud work like what Andy is doing precisely because it charges our imagination with what’s possible—borrowing useful solutions in other arenas to experiment at the intersection of Objective-C/Cocoa’s history and today. I’m all for what happens when someone hermits up, thinks hard, and designs a language with specific goals. But, don’t write off the tinkering in the garage.