Cambridge English Empower Intermediate Student's Book with Online Assessment and Practice and Online Workbook

It's just part of what a programming language is. A programming language does need a good implementation, of course, and this must be free. Companies will pay for software, but individual hackers won't, and it's the hackers you need to attract. A language also needs to have a book about it. The book should be thin, well-written, and full of good examples. K&R is the ideal here. At the moment I'd almost say that a language has to have a book published by O'Reilly. That's becoming the test of mattering to hackers. There should be online documentation as well. In fact, the book can start as online documentation. But I don't think that physical books are outmoded yet. Their format is convenient, and the de facto censorship imposed by publishers is a useful if imperfect filter. Bookstores are one of the most important places for learning about new languages. 3 Brevity Given that you can supply the three things any language needs-- a free implementation, a book, and something to hack-- how do you make a language that hackers will like? One thing hackers like is brevity ...»