IMO because Dhall is unique syntax to the vast majority of developers who have never done anything with Haskell or Elm or whatever, it’s a non starter for large case use. We use Starlark, where the syntax is familiar to anyone familiar with python.
I like your analogy though. For us, the assembly language is using the k8s API directly in Golang. The “compiler” is the golang Starlark interpreter extended with our own config API, like you would implement in Dhall. It’s just in this case, you can implement it in Golang, which has much much better tooling than Dhall does. A typed compiler, debugger, IDE, unit tests.... so much easier to develop and maintain.
I like your analogy though. For us, the assembly language is using the k8s API directly in Golang. The “compiler” is the golang Starlark interpreter extended with our own config API, like you would implement in Dhall. It’s just in this case, you can implement it in Golang, which has much much better tooling than Dhall does. A typed compiler, debugger, IDE, unit tests.... so much easier to develop and maintain.