Designing Programming Languages: Challenges and Innovations

This chapter examines the multifaceted challenges involved in designing programming languages, focusing on key considerations such as feature selection, governance, and evolution. It highlights the importance of balancing convenience with consistency and explores innovative concepts like platforms in the Rock language, as well as the intricacies of type inference. Additionally, the chapter addresses the complexities of developing cross-platform applications using languages like Rust and Zig, including the role of WebAssembly and the potential for code reuse.