I want to talk about programming language syntax tradeoffs. This stuff has probably been said before, but I’ve been thinking about it a bit recently and want to write a blog post about it, because what’s this blog even for anyway.

I was thinking about people’s complaints about various programming languages, and it got me thinking about tradeoffs of features vs. syntax simplicity. What do I mean? Let’s look at some examples.

So I finally got around to buying Monument Valley and playing through it (and the extra level pack, “Forgotten Shores”) and I have to say I’m really enamoured with it. I’ve always loved weird perspective-distorting images (I had a book of Escher engravings as a kid that I studied obsessively) and I found the game itself totally charming. Also, why has nobody had this idea before? It’s genius. Actually, perhaps somebody has had this idea before. In which case, why haven’t I heard of them?

For those not in the know: Monument valley is a game for mobile devices where you navigate Ida, the princess, through Escher-like impossible constructions and beautiful architecture. It’s available for iOS and Android and costs 4 dollars. This is the game’s website.