My preference (for a language to replace Java): compiles to native code, statically typed, proper language spec with multiple implementations, unopinionated
Python: dynamic (yet with soft-typing bolted on), interpreted (and quite slow due to GIL); worst package management story compared to all the alternative; "the Python way" is not my cup of tea, I hate significant whitespace, and have been burnt by the Python2->3 fiasco
I value portability and formal language spec with multiple implementations as being the most important for me, precisely because of the experience of loosing code bases due to language lock-in.
So far, I've come up with JavaScript as a meta-language, and running it on Node.js, browsers, and also compiling a subset of it into native code, but while JavaScript is a good enough practical language for small apps, the direction it is being taken to in ES6+ and HypeScript to become "more like Java" doesn't make it a non-terrible language for large apps IMO. Also, it doesn't satisfy my static typing criterion.
Python: dynamic (yet with soft-typing bolted on), interpreted (and quite slow due to GIL); worst package management story compared to all the alternative; "the Python way" is not my cup of tea, I hate significant whitespace, and have been burnt by the Python2->3 fiasco
I value portability and formal language spec with multiple implementations as being the most important for me, precisely because of the experience of loosing code bases due to language lock-in.
So far, I've come up with JavaScript as a meta-language, and running it on Node.js, browsers, and also compiling a subset of it into native code, but while JavaScript is a good enough practical language for small apps, the direction it is being taken to in ES6+ and HypeScript to become "more like Java" doesn't make it a non-terrible language for large apps IMO. Also, it doesn't satisfy my static typing criterion.