Subtext

Subtext

I like subtext, I am just wondering how it would be possible to create a big practical project in it:

  • How would it do async operations? GUI’s; networking… If there is no difference between runtime and execution time this could be very hard to visualize
  • How would this ever perform properly? Compiling would just do but when debugging a big application it would get rather slow. When it would get dynamic, meaning that the code can drag-n-drop itself, it would be virtually impossible to get a compiled version running quick.
  • What about internal arguments? Lets make a static field in a function, and if the language wisely doesn’t support it this behaviour could also be replicated by having a file in which a number is incremented. So now we got a field in that function which number gets incremented on every call, an internal argument not known by the engine. Every function generates the same results with the same arguments but now it doesn’t and for there is no difference between runtime and developtime it would behave unpredictable.

Subtext is rather a way to create a function which is ‘instant’, it is a defenition rather than an operation. Computers can’t just do stuff instantly like read a whole file or execute operations.

I like the idea, but I just see no real practical use.