I want to write a tool without usage entry barriers. Do I have to write it in C? [closed]

Question

I want to write an open-source tool for use by developers. I want to eliminate entry barriers, so if they like the idea, they just get the tool and start playing with it.

In particular, I don't want an "Oh, should I also install 200Mb of ThatLanguage runtime libraries? Oh, so they don't build on my latest version of Linux?" entry barrier.

Should I write this tool in C, then? Or is Python, or Java, or whatever, already sufficiently widespread to not worry about this sort of things altogether (everyone already has them installed)?

Well, of course I know that they are freaking hugely widespread, but still - are there any major benefits to writing a super-lightweight zero-dependency tool, or am I being too much of a perfectionist?

Answer 1

Just write it first. If it is worth it people will use it.

Beyond that, (almost) everyone has Java, Python, and Ruby installed (especially devs). Some languages are still esoteric enough that it might not be worth it for 'that one app' (erlang, haskell, etc.).

Just write it though, that's the important part. From there it can be ported, rewritten, adopted, but none of that can happen if the tool isn't written first.

Answer 2

It won't help if people don't know C.

If you write your own DSL, you can have people use that API and not worry about which language you choose.