Steele on Configuration Language Pitfalls | Generated by AI
Yes, Guy L. Steele Jr. (the programming legend behind Scheme, Java specs, and much more) has indeed said this. The quote appears in various talks and writings where he discusses domain-specific languages (DSLs) and the pitfalls of ad-hoc configuration syntaxes. For instance, it’s referenced in his 2007 talk “It’s Time for a New Programming Language” and echoed in discussions on evolving config formats like YAML or JSON into de facto scripting tools.
It’s Time for a New Programming Language (Guy Steele talk)
Growing a Language (Steele paper, related context)