There are three opportunities right now in front of our eyes we are all missing: a simpler-than-node JS on the server implementation, a rectified php, and a simpler functional language for web development. Bonus point: a universal templating system, like jinja, for all programming languages.
As soon as I finish the course about compilers I'll jump head first to try to solve them all.
I don't agree with ever design decision made for the syntax, and I've not used jinja, but it has the universal part handled quite well.
The idea of a roasted PHP is interesting. It's not a no brainer in the way CoffeeScript is though. There's no real choice of language in the client-side, but there is on the server side.
Server side devs can just learn ruby/python/.NET/Scala. Client side devs are probs best switching to JavaScript or something very similar.
I rather see a 'for' statement than imply that an object is 'loopable', or an 'if' instead of guessing if the var is boolean.
I rather see a differentiation between statements and variables like {% statement %} {{ var }} like in jinja.
I don't support the idea of logic-less templates. Everything in the right measure. Not a full-fledged language inside the template but basic loops and conditions I think are ok.
I am always complaining about syntax but I believe if it is too noisy or it makes me think about its meaning, it's too complex and should be simplified.
As I've stated elsewhere on the thread, I prefer the idea of giving another language the ease of use of PHP. It is likely to be less work, especially in the case of Lua (super easy to embed in C). And the compiler is already built for you. :)
So, I'd like to know if C is the only way or if there are new papers that I don't know of for implementing modern compilers before committing to C. I am just starting so there is a lot to read about different contexts and ideas.
(PS: Java is not an option)
I don't think you have to use C++ to target LLVM. I think you can output LLVM IR from anything and then just call LLVM from the shell to get an executable.