Simplicity

I thought more about the difference between Luan and JavaScript.  The difference is really the difference between the good old languages and the horrible modern languages.  That difference is conceptual simplicity.  A good language is based on one concept.  So C is a good procedural language, Java is a good object-oriented language, and Luan is a good closure-based language.  Each of these languages only supports one conceptual way of programming.  Modern programming languages including JavaScript and Ruby support multiple programming concepts.  This is bad.

Why is it bad?  For me, I like simplicity for its own sake.  But I can give more objective reasons.  One reason is that it is almost impossible to completely separate programming paradigms within one language which means that even if you restrict yourself to a subset of the language, other concepts are bound to show up.  Another reason is that to really feel comfortable in a language, one needs to grasp all of it deeply, and this is much harder when there are many concepts.  But the biggest reason is that even if your own code sticks to one concept, when you read other people's code you will be exposed to other concepts.  In a simple language like Luan, you will be able to quickly understand other people's code.  The same is true of C and Java, but Luan is the simplest of all.  In contrast, reading other people's JavaScript or Ruby code will be difficult if they use different concepts.  This readability is critical for one intended use of Luan which is to provide basic web apps like forums that users can easily tweak.