Ask HN: What is the killer app/library of your favorite language?

16 pointslquenti4y ago11 comments

I liked the idea of [1] that many languages just get popular because they have killer apps. The prime examples are - Wordpress and PHP - Rails and Ruby

What are the killer apps of your favorite language? You can go for any language if you want to as well.

For me, Haskell has 3 great apps/libraries:

- PostgREST: An awesome way to create a REST-API from PostgreSQL tables

- Shellcheck: A static analysis tool for Shell scripts

- Pandoc: A parser/converter for various formats

How about you?

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyJZzq0v7Z4

11 comments

rwmj4y ago

On the subject of PostgreSQL and although I haven't had to use it in several years, I'm quite fond of the OCaml extension I wrote which integrates PostgreSQL statements directly into the language.

Values are type-checked across the boundary, SQL commands are validated at compile time, and proper prepared statements get generated (also at compile time).

It's a little bit like MS Linq in concept, but it works quite differently - by using PGSQL "DESCRIBE" to send the statement to the PostgreSQL server when compiling the code to do the validation and get the types. It really made writing database-baked websites less of a grind. https://github.com/darioteixeira/pgocaml

ncmncm4y ago

Pandoc, anyway, is essential. Many rely on Git-annex.

The only essential Rust program I know of is Blake3.

I don't know of any essential Java or .Net programs; anyway, I have no runtime for either. Maybe Minecraft and KSP?

Are any in Ada? With no runtime (as for Rust), we might not be forced to notice.

I have not encountered any in Erlang.

TheMonarchist4y ago

The interesting languages are those that don't need killer apps to succeed.

yucky4y ago

Not a knock on WordPress at all, since it is ubiquitous. But for PHP I would say the "killer app" is actually Laravel.

lquentiOP4y ago

I get why you think that, but I'd say that Wordpress was a different time.

Back when your Squarespace/Webflow/Wix didn't exist yet, this was a "great" no-code solution

yucky4y ago

I still think WordPress is great (far better than those other options in the space), I just think Laravel was what PHP needed to legitimize it to developers. You can build anything with Laravel as a framework, it's great.

santa_boy4y ago

Copilot from Github is proving to be a huge killer addition to the my programming work in node.js

Despite limited enterprise level programming knowledge, Copilot is helping me write pretty good code vs. doing the copy, paste, modify from Stack Overflow.

deathtrader6664y ago

For Elixir -

[1] - https://livebook.dev/

[2] - https://livebeats.fly.dev/ built with Phoenix Framework

[3] - Discord

lquentiOP4y ago

Stupid question: What are some cool things about Livebook that Jupyter is missing? Besides the language obviously, although Jupyter supports custom kernels as well

forgotmypw174y ago

Perl: No breaking changes since October 17, 1994.

thesuperbigfrog4y ago

Linux / Unix and C

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

Ask HN: What is the killer app/library of your favorite language?

16 pointslquenti4y ago11 comments

I liked the idea of [1] that many languages just get popular because they have killer apps. The prime examples are - Wordpress and PHP - Rails and Ruby

What are the killer apps of your favorite language? You can go for any language if you want to as well.

For me, Haskell has 3 great apps/libraries:

- PostgREST: An awesome way to create a REST-API from PostgreSQL tables

- Shellcheck: A static analysis tool for Shell scripts

- Pandoc: A parser/converter for various formats

How about you?

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyJZzq0v7Z4

11 comments

rwmj4y ago

On the subject of PostgreSQL and although I haven't had to use it in several years, I'm quite fond of the OCaml extension I wrote which integrates PostgreSQL statements directly into the language.

Values are type-checked across the boundary, SQL commands are validated at compile time, and proper prepared statements get generated (also at compile time).

ncmncm4y ago

Pandoc, anyway, is essential. Many rely on Git-annex.

The only essential Rust program I know of is Blake3.

I don't know of any essential Java or .Net programs; anyway, I have no runtime for either. Maybe Minecraft and KSP?

Are any in Ada? With no runtime (as for Rust), we might not be forced to notice.

I have not encountered any in Erlang.

TheMonarchist4y ago

The interesting languages are those that don't need killer apps to succeed.

yucky4y ago

Not a knock on WordPress at all, since it is ubiquitous. But for PHP I would say the "killer app" is actually Laravel.

lquentiOP4y ago

I get why you think that, but I'd say that Wordpress was a different time.

Back when your Squarespace/Webflow/Wix didn't exist yet, this was a "great" no-code solution

yucky4y ago

santa_boy4y ago

Copilot from Github is proving to be a huge killer addition to the my programming work in node.js

Despite limited enterprise level programming knowledge, Copilot is helping me write pretty good code vs. doing the copy, paste, modify from Stack Overflow.

deathtrader6664y ago

For Elixir -

[1] - https://livebook.dev/

[2] - https://livebeats.fly.dev/ built with Phoenix Framework

[3] - Discord

lquentiOP4y ago

Stupid question: What are some cool things about Livebook that Jupyter is missing? Besides the language obviously, although Jupyter supports custom kernels as well

forgotmypw174y ago

Perl: No breaking changes since October 17, 1994.

thesuperbigfrog4y ago

Linux / Unix and C

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse