Would disagree with "nothing to show for them" though.
The V compiler was written in V from the start at the time of the release, which already shows the maturity of the language, and it did compile itself in less than a second. Bootstrapping it has always been as simple as `cc v.c`. It had a graphics library from the start with a working Tetris game example, hot code reloading, etc
It was definitely rough around the edges due to being a one man project, so it's good that it received help from hundreds of contributors. It's much more stable now.
Bootstrapping the compiler isn't a sign of language maturity. V has changed pretty significantly both in terms of syntax as well as semantics since that release.
Regarding compile times, why do you claim less than one second when your own tracking shows 2.5 seconds and trending upwards? (fast.vlang.io) Aren't you concerned that as the compiler and language are actually implemented, compile times will continue to worsen? Have you considered that perhaps that's why there are so few languages that claim that kind of bootstrap time?
I wonder if vlang may be the No Man's Sky of languages: initial launch over-committed and under-delivered, but steady progress helped build it into a good product. V definitely isn't there yet, and every time I go try it again it seems janky, but I'm glad to see it's making progress.
I'd say Jai is a bit different. No plans to release soon, but will probably be fairly mature when it is, since Jon is writing a real game in it first. I'm seriously excited for it after watching some of his streams.
I saw a quote recently along the lines of "a scientist is someone working on something they know nothing about; an engineer is someone working on something they know everything about." I think the project started out as a science project and is moving the direction of an engineering project. A totally outside perspective—I haven't checked it out in a while.
> an engineer is someone working on something they know everything about.
That seems completely contrary to my engineering training. The engineer motto is about "be prepared for the unexpected" i.e. escape hatches, manual override, overprovisioning, assume that your temporary "train", "power plant", "airplane" will be in service for 40 years instead of 20, make it serviceable even without infrastructure.
I think we're saying the same thing and I just butchered the original quote. having checklists of everything that could go wrong, real and imagined, with senses of probabilities, I would consider "knowing everything about". Or maybe its "knowing what you dont know".
The author made lots of unsubstantiated and even nonsensical promises such as green threads with no runtime or the supposed C++ to V translator which would be a HUGE breakthrough in compiler technology because such a tool would be (as was exactly shown in an example) able to understand programmer's intent.
He just stringed together attractive looking words and phrases without really understanding what they mean.
And of course, none of the promises actually materialized, so either Medvednikov is grossly incompetent or a pathological liar. You decide which is the case.
It's great to see that it's not s hoax, and it starts to somehow flesh out.