What Makes a Programming Language Successful?" is the subject of a post on Slashdot today. It links to an article that is probably quite illuminating, but I have not read it: the web site is heavily slashdotted (overwhelmed).

But there are a number of comments posted on this page, and they have typical Slashdot tags: "Interesting", "Insightful", "Informative". One of the comments is marked "Funny", but I think it is anything but. The comment answers the question "What Makes a Programming Language Successful?" with a simple one liner: "Those who don't know how to use it."

I think this deserves at least "Insightful," and this is why. You remember that a few posts ago I wrote about what makes a Coral8 expert, and we had a lively discussion on this topic, both in this blog and others. I still stand by everything I said there, but that was the post about experts. Most users of every programming language, including CCL, are not, and will never be experts.

There is no shame in not being an expert. Every person usually learns just enough of various skills to accomplish whatever tasks he or she needs. And this is what a programming language, or any other tools, should be good at - helping people, especially beginners, accomplish whatever tasks they need.

So what's the most important quality that the programming language should have? As I said, I have not read the article, so I'll give you my own answer instead. I strognly believe that first and foremost, the programming language and the programming model should look familiar.

This is one reason why CCL is based on SQL. Is SQL the only language that you could base a CEP language on? No. It's certainly a good choice, I'd even argue it's the best choice, but it's not the only one.

But whatever you choose, you must make sure that the language looks and feels familiar. Beginner users do not have time to study lengthy manuals to learn a new language, even if this is the most elegant language in the world. The language either "makes sense" to them, or it does not. In this sense, the people who don't know the programming language, or who don't know it very well, are truly the ones who make it successful. Remember, even every expert starts as a beginner.

At Coral8, we try to keep this in mind as we are building our products. We like it that Coral8 and CCL get great reviews from CEP experts, but we also like it that somebody who has never heard of CEP can download our product and build their first real CEP application within a few days, without much, if any, help. We hear about this happening every day. Their CCL may not be the most elegant or optimal, but it works. As long as it keeps happening, I know we are doing something right here.

Mark Tsimelzon, President & CTO, Coral8