++ and I'd already read that. My point is less that I'd have picked differently and more that how much effort a minor platform takes is perhaps as important as how many users it has.
Starting with a cleaner, simpler, more easily managed core could make managing ports around the edges of the code simpler. Starting with an example POSIX machine (and sticking to mostly POSIX), be that GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Darwin, or whatever and then adding thin, isolated compatibility layers around the file handling and signals on not-so-POSIX systems goes a long way toward portability. One or two platforms is plenty for a first model, but choosing not to support low-hanging fruit beyond that just because the fruit isn't very popular seems silly. Now, if there's a platform that absolutely nobody will step up to support, that's an issue for that platform.
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One or two platforms is plenty for a first model,
That is exactly the point. Reduce, reduce, reduce. Refactor & test; refactor & test. (Minimal platforms for tests means least hysteresis for testing.)
Then, if the project achieves anything, and if there are sufficient people willing to contribute to a given platform, then add it back.
Remember, nothing changes in the existing P5 line -- unless p5p decide to change it.
Less platforms at the start means less people required; that means it is easier to achieve agreement at each step; less chance of getting held up by one platform.
One of my steps would also be 64-bit only.
With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
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I'm curious about the 64-bit only part. Do you mean you'd force types to long-long on 32-bit machines that handle that? Perhaps you mean that you'd only support native 64-bit machines? Do you mean merely that your primary development environment would be a 64-bit OS on a 64-bit capable hardware platform, and that 32-bit systems could be fairly trivially ported? There is an awful lot of computing that still gets done on 32-bit processors.
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