What's the dumbest reason you've learned a programming language?

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I was going to learn !hare@programming.dev just because it is called "Hare" and I like rabbits, but then I saw that I am not on a supported OS.
- That is such a sweet reason! Whimsical decisions like this can be some of the best. Life demands a bit of whimsy every now and then.
  Edit: I don't know if you're still interested in this, but have you considered WSL? Assuming you're on Windows, that is. I haven't looked into it, but I don't see any obvious reason why it wouldn't work.
  
  Hey, thanks for the suggestion! I was considering firing up a VM just for Hare, but thanks for bringing this option to my attention.
- God. I didn’t knew that Drew was such a language nazi. If you want to write a Go clone, it must be useful for everyone. Even Emacs is available on Windows officially.
  
  What a harebrained comment.
  ...Sorry, it felt like such a waste not to say it! The puns!
  But, language Nazi? Don't you think that's a bit much? And it must be useful for everyone? Why? I also think it hinders growth, but it's their project. It's well within their right to choose whether they put in the effort to support a platform or not, regardless of the reasoning and how much effort it'd actually take.
  They don't even seem to be against the idea, they just don't care enough to be the ones to do it:
  According to DeVault, while there's currently no plan to support non-free platforms like macOS or Windows, a third-party implementation or fork could try to make that work. The Register
  Even Emacs is available on windows, you say? I think some context is needed, here. See what GNU has to say about the availability of Emacs on proprietary systems:
  However, GNU Emacs includes support for some other systems that volunteers choose to support.
  Emphasis mine.
  To improve the use of proprietary systems is a misguided goal. Our aim, rather, is to eliminate them. We include support for some proprietary systems in GNU Emacs in the hope that running Emacs on them will give users a taste of freedom and thus lead them to free themselves.
  Taken from the official download and install page.
  
  It is their project, but no company will use it if it’s broken on Windows.
  
  Sure, and that matters because...? What negative effects is this choice having on hare that go against hare's objectives?
  You seem to be treating hare as something it doesn't want, nor care to be.
  I like to describe Hare as a simple, conservative, modern update to C, with a FOSS ethos. It doesn’t try to break computer science ground, or promise to solve a million dollar problem.
  Guess you could say they're probably not friends of million-hares. Ha, ha.
  And upstream Hare will not support non-libre operating systems. That’s a lot of conviction, but Hare isn’t trying to take over the world. It will coexist with the diversity of languages out there, and thrive in its own niche. In short, the Hare project develops for a libre future and for the deliberate programmer, not the corporate, the ephemeral and the reckless.
  From Torres, one of the core contributors.
  Their wants and metrics for success aren't the same as yours.

182 comments