[XeTeX] The future of XeTeX

[Philip TAYLOR]

Ulrike Fischer wrote:

> Well some days ago I tried to use otfinst.py. The version on CTAN
> mixes tabs and spaces and used an obsolete syntax for print. My
> python didn't like both. To correct the second was not so difficult,
> but the first was really trying. How to you get correct identation
> when you have no idea what the author used as tabwidth and the
> needed grouping can not be guessed from the code? Imho a language
> where grouping depends from something so fragile as indentation is
> rather mad.

OT, but I completely concur.  I was about to write my own message
to that effect, but Ulrike has already expressed my feelings perfectly
about the mandatory use of indentation to imply grouping.

If I /were/ to propose a replacement language, I would strongly
advocate JavaScript, which has almost universal uptake, adoption
and acceptance.  From a purely personal perspective, I would also
consider C#, but adoption of the latter would imply a total re-write 
rather than the slipping in of an alternative interpreter, and would
also (I believe) restrict the platforms on which the resulting system
would run.

Philikp Taylor