Re: [dev] Interesting post about X11

On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:26:28 +0100
Connor Lane Smith <cls_AT_lubutu.com> wrote:

> On 16 June 2010 00:44, Robert Ransom <rransom.8774_AT_gmail.com> wrote:

> > Try <script type='application/python3'> or <script
> > type='application/scheme+r6rs'> (the text/* media types are supposed to
> > be for content meant to be displayed as text, and in a format that is
> > human-readable if displayed as plain text). Or try scheme2js.
>
> Surely interpreted languages (assuming you haven't, eg, compiled
> Python to bytecode) are human-readable if displayed as plaintext?

Even the human-readable ones are not intended to be displayed as text.
(Hence, PostScript is application/postscript, even if it is
human-readable -- it is typically *intended* to be fed to an
interpreter, not dumped to the screen as plain text.)

Byte-code compilation isn't the only way to get a non-human-readable
script -- consider Unlambda, a language without (user-defined)
abstractions of any kind (not even functions).

> Converting into JavaScript is ugly, but possible. I'm holding out for
> something better.

Converting into IA-32 or AMD64 machine code is ugly, but possible.
Sometimes the only reasonable thing to do is ugly.

Robert Ransom