I tried to get an LLM to write a Raku chapter in the same vein - naah. Had to write it myself:
Raku
Raku stands out as a fast way to working code, with a permissive compiler that allows wide expression.
Its an expressive, general-purpose language with a wide set of built-in tools. Features like multi-dispatch, roles, gradual typing, lazy evaluation, and a strong regex and grammar system are part of its core design. The language aims to give you direct ways to reflect the structure of a problem instead of building abstractions from scratch.
The grammar system is the clearest example. Many languages treat parsing as a specialized task requiring external libraries. Raku instead provides a declarative syntax for defining rules and grammars, so working with text formats, logs, or DSLs often requires less code and fewer workarounds. This capability blends naturally with the rest of the language rather than feeling like a separate domain.
Raku programs run on a sizeable VM and lean on runtime dispatch, which means they typically don’t have the startup speed or predictable performance profile of lower-level or more static languages. But the model is consistent: you get flexibility, clear semantics, and room to adjust your approach as a problem evolves. Incremental development tends to feel natural, whether you’re sketching an idea or tightening up a script that’s grown into something larger.
The language’s long development history stems from an attempt to rethink Perl, not simply modernize it. That history produced a language that tries to be coherent and pleasant to write, even if it’s not small. Choose Raku if you want a language that let's you code the way you want, helps you wrestle with the problem and not with the compiler.
I see that my Raku chapter was downvoted a couple of times. Well OK, I am an unashamed shill for such a fantastic and yet despised language. Don’t knock til you try it.
Some comments below on “I want a Go, but with more powerful OO” - well Raku adheres to the Smalltalk philosophy… everything is an object, and it has all the OO richness (rope) of C++ with multiple inheritance, role composition, parametric roles, MOP, mixins… all within an easy to use, easy to read style.
Probably was downvoted because it seem to copy-paste/derive-off an LLM output since, even if you say you wrote it yourself, some distinct LLM grammar/style characteristics appear. (Could just be you picked them as habit after use of such tools.) It doesn't appear to in same vein either. The submitted article's descriptions are, for each language, {philosophy} & {specific design examples}. Yours is mainly on {design}.
That said, agree Raku is cool. A big disadvantage though it has (or had?), more than the sigils-everywhere syntax & small ecosystem, is performance. It's slower than pre-JIT Python. Go also natively-compiles to self-contained binaries, which some people appreciate. (And there're those that prefer Go's simplicity and don't want very high expressiveness other than specific features.)
Well - sure - I meant wrote as in "sourced a set of relevant sentences from ChatGPT and then close edited them to convey precisely what I wanted to say" - got me bang to rights there!
Raku
Raku stands out as a fast way to working code, with a permissive compiler that allows wide expression.
Its an expressive, general-purpose language with a wide set of built-in tools. Features like multi-dispatch, roles, gradual typing, lazy evaluation, and a strong regex and grammar system are part of its core design. The language aims to give you direct ways to reflect the structure of a problem instead of building abstractions from scratch.
The grammar system is the clearest example. Many languages treat parsing as a specialized task requiring external libraries. Raku instead provides a declarative syntax for defining rules and grammars, so working with text formats, logs, or DSLs often requires less code and fewer workarounds. This capability blends naturally with the rest of the language rather than feeling like a separate domain.
Raku programs run on a sizeable VM and lean on runtime dispatch, which means they typically don’t have the startup speed or predictable performance profile of lower-level or more static languages. But the model is consistent: you get flexibility, clear semantics, and room to adjust your approach as a problem evolves. Incremental development tends to feel natural, whether you’re sketching an idea or tightening up a script that’s grown into something larger.
The language’s long development history stems from an attempt to rethink Perl, not simply modernize it. That history produced a language that tries to be coherent and pleasant to write, even if it’s not small. Choose Raku if you want a language that let's you code the way you want, helps you wrestle with the problem and not with the compiler.