That issue was among the points up for debate by a panel of programming language experts at the Microsoft PDC (Professional Developers Conference) in October. The issue was whether programmers should be allowed to extend a language to get around constraints or to do things they typically might not be able to do with the language in its standard form.

"You should be able to extend the syntax [of a language] as a programmer," said Jeremy Siek, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado.

Adding syntax or tweaking the syntax of a language could be somewhat akin to the idea of DSLs (domain-specific languages), in that a programmer could customize a language for specific tasks. There has always been tension between general-purpose language design and specific application requirements—usually developers have to compromise or work around language features. Adding syntax may be like adding macros in Excel, allowing a way to use language to represent common routines or to group multiple steps.

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