Crosscut

Let's recap: From the start, Crosscut (then called "Caterpillar") used postfix operators. Meaning, you don't write 1 + 2 or + 1 2, but 1 2 +. I'm not going to explain or justify that here, because I already did so at length. With the new prototype, I wanted to (temporarily) try something else, but then changed my mind.

One thing I realized through that process, is that I had underestimated the importance of syntax. Yes, I did care enough about it to choose the least common model, because I considered (and still do) that to be the best fit for this language. But beyond that, I always (naively!) thought, that I could just change the syntax later, if it turned out to be no good.

I now understand that syntax is the surface-level expression of the underlying evaluation model, and thus closely tied to it. You can't just change one and not adapt the other. Any mismatch will result in weirdness and complexity. Which is why I've abandoned my plan to go with something tried and true for now. Because that's not a decision I can easily reverse.