After hearing the talk, I certainly was struck by the complexity of TeX and the mental challenge of adapting it.
It seems unlikely that doing two ports (first to Go, second to Clojure) would result in less work overall. I would not expect that a procedural-to-functional adaptation would be made dramatically easier by porting to Go first.
It seems unlikely that doing two ports (first to Go, second to Clojure) would result in less work overall. I would not expect that a procedural-to-functional adaptation would be made dramatically easier by porting to Go first.