Quora: If you could create your own programming language, what would some of the features be?

It would be just like Smalltalk but with optional static typing. Separate namespaces, too.

It would have built-in support for multi-core concurrency.

I would call it Maxwell (after James Clerk Maxwell).

Since Smalltalk already has lambdas, Maxwell could do functional programming, too.

Since Smalltalk is fully reflective, Maxwell could do metaprogramming, too, just like Lisp.

Since Smalltalk has built-in support for live coding, Maxwell could also eliminate the traditional edit-compile-test-debug cycle that hampers most developers. Productivity could easily double!

Maxwell would also have the option to compile to native code, C, Java, and JavaScript, so it can:

1. execute very quickly on bare metal
2. interoperate with C
3. utilize the JVM ecosystem
4. run in the web browser

Maxwell would retain Smalltalk’s simplicity (for the most part) making it great for educational purposes.

Finally, Maxwell would be a tightly controlled standard, thereby avoiding fragmentation. There can be only one Maxwell.

And I would be the BDFL.