Tut is a simple programming language designed for educational purposes, featuring a browser-based IDE that works fully offline. It emphasizes visual learning with a drag-and-drop interface for code blocks, making it accessible for beginners. The language itself is dynamically typed and supports basic programming concepts like variables, loops, and functions. The offline functionality aims to broaden accessibility, particularly in low-connectivity environments. The project is open source and designed to be easily extendable.
In 1979, sixteen teams competed to design the best Ada compiler, judged on a combination of compiler efficiency, program efficiency, and self-documentation quality. The evaluated programs ranged from simple math problems to more complex tasks like a discrete event simulator and a text formatter. While no single compiler excelled in all areas, the NYU Ada/Ed compiler emerged as the overall winner due to its superior program execution speed, despite being slow to compile and generate larger executables. The competition highlighted the significant challenges in early Ada implementation, including the language's complexity and the limited hardware resources of the time. The diverse range of compilers and the variety of scoring metrics revealed trade-offs between compilation speed, execution speed, and code size, providing valuable insight into the practicalities of Ada development.
Hacker News users discuss the Ada competition, primarily focusing on its historical context. Several commenters highlight the political and military influences that shaped Ada's development, emphasizing the Department of Defense's desire for a standardized, reliable language for embedded systems. The perceived over-engineering and complexity of Ada are also mentioned, with some suggesting that these factors contributed to its limited adoption outside of its intended niche. The rigorous selection process for the "winning" language (eventually named Ada) is also a point of discussion, along with the eventual proliferation of C and C++, which largely supplanted Ada in many areas. The discussion touches upon the irony of Ada's intended role in simplifying software development for the military while simultaneously introducing its own complexities.
Goboscript is a new text-based programming language that compiles to Scratch 3.0, making it easier for experienced programmers to create Scratch projects. It offers a more familiar syntax compared to Scratch's visual block-based system, including functions, classes, and variables. This allows for more complex projects to be developed in Scratch, potentially bridging the gap for programmers transitioning to visual programming or wanting to create more intricate Scratch applications. The project is open-source and available on GitHub.
HN users generally expressed curiosity about Goboscript's purpose and target audience. Some questioned its practical value over directly using Scratch, particularly given Scratch's visual nature and target demographic. Others wondered about specific features like debugging and the handling of Scratch's inherent concurrency. A few commenters saw potential use cases, such as educational tools or a bridge for programmers transitioning to visual languages. The overall sentiment seemed to be polite interest mixed with skepticism about the language's niche.
FreeBASIC is a free and open-source, 32-bit and 64-bit BASIC compiler available for Windows, Linux, and DOS. It supports a modern, extended BASIC syntax with features like pointers, object-oriented programming, operator overloading, and inline assembly, while maintaining compatibility with QuickBASIC. FreeBASIC boasts a large standard library, offering built-in support for graphics, sound, and networking, as well as providing bindings to popular libraries like OpenGL, SDL, and GTK+. It's suitable for developing everything from console applications and games to GUI applications and libraries.
Hacker News commenters on the FreeBASIC post express a mix of nostalgia and cautious optimism. Some fondly recall using QuickBASIC and see FreeBASIC as a worthy successor, praising its ease of use and suitability for beginners. Others are more critical, pointing out its limitations compared to modern languages and questioning its relevance in today's programming landscape. Several users suggest it might find a niche in game development or embedded systems due to its performance and ease of integration with C libraries. Concerns are raised about the project's apparent slow development and limited community size. Overall, the sentiment is that while FreeBASIC isn't a cutting-edge tool, it serves a purpose for certain tasks and holds value for those seeking a simple, accessible programming experience reminiscent of classic BASIC.
Teal is a typed dialect of Lua designed for improved code maintainability and performance. It adds optional type annotations to Lua, allowing developers to catch type errors during compilation rather than at runtime. Teal code compiles to standard Lua, ensuring compatibility with existing Lua projects and libraries. The type system is gradual, meaning you can incrementally add type information to existing Lua codebases without needing to rewrite everything at once. This offers a smooth transition path for projects seeking the benefits of static typing while preserving their investment in Lua. The project aims to improve developer experience by providing better tooling, such as autocompletion and refactoring support, which are enabled by the type information.
Hacker News users discussed Teal's potential, drawing comparisons to TypeScript and expressing interest in its static typing for Lua. Some questioned the practical benefits over existing typed Lua solutions like Typed Lua and Ravi, while others highlighted Teal's focus on gradual typing and ease of integration with existing Lua codebases. Several commenters appreciated its clean syntax and the availability of a VS Code plugin. A few users raised concerns about potential performance impacts and the need for a runtime type checker, while others saw Teal as a valuable tool for larger Lua projects where maintainability and refactoring are paramount. The overall sentiment was positive, with many eager to try Teal in their projects.
This website hosts a browser-based emulator of the Xerox NoteTaker, a portable Smalltalk-78 system developed in 1978. It represents a significant step in the evolution of personal computing, showcasing early concepts of overlapping windows, a bitmapped display, and a mouse-driven interface. The emulation, while not perfectly replicating the original hardware's performance, provides a functional recreation of the NoteTaker's software environment, allowing users to explore its unique Smalltalk implementation and experience a piece of computing history. This allows for experimentation with the system's class browser, text editor, and graphics capabilities, offering insight into the pioneering work done at Xerox PARC.
Hacker News users discuss the Smalltalk-78 emulator with a mix of nostalgia and technical curiosity. Several commenters reminisce about their experiences with early Smalltalk, highlighting its revolutionary impact on GUI development and object-oriented programming. Some express interest in the NoteTaker's unique features, like its pioneering use of a windowing system and a mouse. The practicality of NoteTaker's hardware limitations, particularly its limited memory, is also discussed. A few commenters delve into specific technical details, like the differences between Smalltalk-72, -76, and -78, and the challenges of emulating historic hardware. Others express appreciation for the preservation effort and the opportunity to experience a piece of computing history.
Ruby 3.5 introduces a new feature to address the "namespace pollution" problem caused by global constants. Currently, referencing an undefined constant triggers an autoload, potentially loading unwanted code or creating unexpected dependencies. The proposed solution allows defining a namespace for constant lookup on a per-file basis, using a comment like # frozen_string_literal: true, scope: Foo. This restricts the search for unqualified constants within the Foo namespace, preventing unintended autoloads and improving code isolation. If a constant isn't found within the specified namespace, a NameError will be raised, giving developers more control and predictability over constant resolution. This change promotes better code organization, reduces unwanted side effects, and enhances the robustness of Ruby applications.
Hacker News users discuss the implications of Ruby 3.5's proposed namespace on read feature, primarily focusing on the potential confusion and complexity it introduces. Some argue that the feature addresses a niche problem and might not be worth the added cognitive overhead for developers. Others suggest alternative solutions, like using symbols or dedicated data structures, rather than relying on this implicit behavior. The potential for subtle bugs arising from unintended namespace clashes is also a concern. Several commenters express skepticism about the feature's overall value and whether it significantly improves Ruby's usability. Some even question the motivation behind its inclusion. There's a general sentiment that the proposal lacks clear justification and adds complexity without addressing a widespread issue.
GCC 15 introduces experimental support for COBOL as a front-end language. This allows developers to compile COBOL programs using GCC, leveraging its optimization and code generation capabilities. The implementation supports a substantial subset of the COBOL 85 standard, including features like nested programs, intrinsic functions, and file I/O. While still experimental, this addition paves the way for integrating COBOL into the GNU compiler ecosystem and potentially expanding the language's usage in new environments.
Several Hacker News commenters expressed surprise and interest in the addition of a COBOL front-end to GCC, some questioning the rationale behind it. A few pointed out the continued usage of COBOL in legacy systems, particularly in financial and government institutions, suggesting this addition could ease migration or modernization efforts. Others discussed the technical challenges of integrating COBOL, a language with very different paradigms than those typically handled by GCC, and speculated on the completeness and performance of the implementation. Some comments also touched upon the potential for attracting new COBOL developers with more modern tooling. The thread contains some lighthearted banter about COBOL's perceived age and complexity as well.
The blog post recounts the author's experience using Lilith, a workstation specifically designed for the Modula-2 programming language in the 1980s. Fascinated by Niklaus Wirth's work, the author acquired a Lilith and found it to be a powerful and elegant machine, deeply integrated with Modula-2. The post highlights the impressive speed of the system, the innovative windowing system, and the seamless integration of the Modula-2 development environment. Despite its advantages, the Lilith's specialized nature and limited software library ultimately led to its decline, making it a fascinating footnote in computing history.
HN commenters discuss Modula-2's strengths, primarily its clarity and strong typing, which fostered maintainable code. Some fondly recall using it for various projects, including operating systems and embedded systems, praising its performance and modularity. Others compare it to Oberon and discuss Wirth's design philosophy. Several lament its lack of widespread adoption, attributing it to factors like Wirth's resistance to extensions and the rise of C++. The lack of garbage collection and the complexity of its module system are also mentioned as potential downsides. Several commenters mention Wirth's preference for simpler systems and his perceived disdain for object-oriented programming. Finally, there's some discussion of alternative historical paths and the influence Modula-2 had on later languages.
Pascal for Small Machines explores the history and enduring appeal of Pascal, particularly its suitability for resource-constrained environments. The author highlights Niklaus Wirth's design philosophy of simplicity and efficiency, emphasizing how these principles made Pascal an ideal language for early microcomputers. The post discusses various Pascal implementations, from UCSD Pascal to modern variants, showcasing its continued relevance in embedded systems, retrocomputing, and educational settings. It also touches upon Pascal's influence on other languages and its role in shaping computer science education.
HN users generally praise the simplicity and elegance of Pascal, with several reminiscing about using Turbo Pascal. Some highlight its suitability for resource-constrained environments and embedded systems, comparing it favorably to C for such tasks. One commenter notes its use in the Apple Lisa and early Macs. Others discuss the benefits of strong typing and clear syntax for learning and maintainability. A few express interest in modern Pascal dialects like Free Pascal and Oxygene, while others debate the merits of static vs. dynamic typing. Some disagreement arises over whether Pascal's enforced structure is beneficial or restrictive for larger projects.
Stefan Karpinski's talk highlights Julia's multiple dispatch as a powerful paradigm for code organization and performance. He demonstrates how multiple dispatch allows functions to be defined for specific combinations of argument types, leading to elegant and extensible code. This allows generic algorithms to be written once and automatically applied to various data types, enabling performant specialized implementations without manual type checking. He emphasizes that this approach leads to better code readability, maintainability, and composability compared to single-dispatch or other approaches like visitor patterns, showcasing examples with various algorithms and data structures. Ultimately, Karpinski argues that multiple dispatch contributes significantly to Julia's effectiveness in scientific computing and general-purpose programming.
HN users largely praise Julia's multiple dispatch system, highlighting its elegance and power for code organization and performance. Several commenters share their positive experiences using it for tasks involving different data types or algorithms, contrasting it favorably with single-dispatch object-oriented approaches. Some discuss the potential learning curve, but emphasize the long-term benefits. A few comments delve into the technical details of how Julia implements multiple dispatch efficiently. The overall sentiment expresses appreciation for how multiple dispatch simplifies complex code and contributes to Julia's effectiveness in scientific computing.
OCaml offers compelling advantages for machine learning, combining performance with expressiveness and safety. The Raven project aims to leverage these strengths by building a comprehensive ML ecosystem in OCaml. This includes Owl, a mature scientific computing library offering efficient tensor operations and automatic differentiation, and other tools facilitating tasks like data loading, model building, and training. The goal is to provide a robust and performant alternative to existing ML frameworks, benefiting from OCaml's strong typing and functional programming paradigms for increased reliability and maintainability in complex ML projects.
Hacker News users discussed Raven, an OCaml machine learning library. Several commenters expressed enthusiasm for OCaml's potential in ML, citing its type safety, speed, and ease of debugging. Some highlighted the challenges of adopting a less mainstream language like OCaml in the ML ecosystem, particularly concerning community size and available tooling. The discussion also touched on specific features of Raven, comparing it to other ML libraries and noting the benefits of its functional approach. One commenter questioned the practical advantages of Raven given existing, mature frameworks like PyTorch. Others pushed back, arguing that Raven's design might offer unique benefits for certain tasks or workflows and emphasizing the importance of exploring alternatives to the dominant Python-based ecosystem.
Elvish is a scripting language designed for both interactive shell use and writing larger programs. It features a unique combination of expressive syntax, convenient features like namespaces and built-in structured data, and a focus on performance. Its interactive mode offers a modern, user-friendly experience with features like directory listing integration and navigable command history. Elvish aims to be a powerful and productive tool for a variety of tasks, from simple command-line automation to complex system administration and application development.
HN users discuss Elvish's unique features, like its structured data pipeline, concurrency model, and extensibility. Some praise its elegant design and expressive syntax, finding it a refreshing alternative to traditional shells. Others question its practicality and adoption potential, citing the steep learning curve and limited community support compared to established options like Bash or Zsh. Several commenters express interest in specific features, such as the editor and namespace features, while some share their personal experiences and configurations. Concerns about performance and Windows compatibility are also raised. Overall, there's a mixture of curiosity, enthusiasm, and skepticism regarding Elvish's place in the shell landscape.
A new Common Lisp implementation, named ALisp, is under development and currently supports ASDF (Another System Definition Facility) for system management. The project aims to create a small, embeddable, and efficient Lisp, drawing inspiration from other Lisps like ECL and SBCL while incorporating unique ideas. It's being developed primarily in C and is currently in an early stage, but the Savannah project page provides source code and build instructions for those interested in experimenting with it.
Hacker News users discussed the new Common Lisp implementation, with many expressing interest and excitement. Several commenters praised the project's use of a custom reader and printer, viewing it as a potential performance advantage. Some discussion revolved around portability, particularly to WebAssembly. The project's licensing under LGPL was also a topic of conversation, with users exploring the implications for commercial use. Several users inquired about the motivations and goals behind creating a new Common Lisp implementation, while others compared it to existing implementations like SBCL and ECL. A few comments touched on specific technical aspects, such as the choice of garbage collection strategy and the implementation of the condition system. Some users offered helpful suggestions and expressed a desire to contribute.
Zig's comptime is powerful but has limitations. It's not a general-purpose Turing-complete language. It cannot perform arbitrary I/O operations like reading files or making network requests. Loop bounds and recursion depth must be known at compile time, preventing dynamic computations based on runtime data. While it can generate code, it can't introspect or modify existing code, meaning no macros in the traditional C/C++ sense. Finally, comptime doesn't fully eliminate runtime overhead; some checks and operations might still occur at runtime, especially when interacting with non-comptime code. Essentially, comptime excels at manipulating data and generating code based on compile-time constants, but it's not a substitute for a fully-fledged scripting language embedded within the compiler.
HN commenters largely agree with the author's points about the limitations of Zig's comptime, acknowledging that it's not a general-purpose Turing-complete language. Several discuss the tradeoffs involved in compile-time execution, citing debugging difficulty and compile times as potential downsides. Some suggest that aiming for Turing completeness at compile time is not necessarily desirable and praise Zig's pragmatic approach. One commenter points out that comptime is still very powerful, highlighting its ability to generate optimized code based on input parameters, which allows for things like custom allocators and specialized data structures. Others discuss alternative approaches, such as using build scripts, and how Zig's features complement those methods. A few commenters express interest in seeing how Zig evolves and whether future versions might address some of the current limitations.
Pike is a dynamic programming language combining high-level productivity with efficient performance. Its syntax resembles Java and C, making it easy to learn for programmers familiar with those languages. Pike supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming paradigms. It boasts powerful features like garbage collection, advanced data structures, and built-in support for networking and databases. Pike is particularly well-suited for developing web applications, system administration tools, and networked applications, and is free and open-source software.
HN commenters discuss Pike's niche as a performant, garbage-collected language used for specific applications like the Roxen web server and MUDs. Some recall its history at LPC and its association with the LPC MUD. Several express surprise that it's still maintained, while others share positive experiences with its speed and C-like syntax, comparing it favorably to Java in some respects. One commenter highlights its use in high-frequency trading due to its performance characteristics. The overall sentiment leans towards respectful curiosity about a relatively obscure but seemingly capable language.
The author reflects positively on their experience using Lua for a 60k-line project. They praise Lua's speed, small size, and ease of embedding. While acknowledging the limited ecosystem and tooling compared to larger languages, they found the simplicity and resulting stability to be major advantages. Minor frustrations included the standard library's limitations, especially regarding string manipulation, and the lack of static typing. Overall, Lua proved remarkably effective for their needs, offering a productive and efficient development experience despite some drawbacks. They highlight LuaJIT's exceptional performance and recommend it for CPU-bound tasks.
Hacker News users generally agreed with the author's assessment of Lua, praising its speed, simplicity, and ease of integration. Several commenters highlighted their own positive experiences with Lua, particularly in game development and embedded systems. Some discussed the limitations of the standard library and the importance of choosing good third-party libraries. The lack of static typing was mentioned as a drawback, though some argued that good testing practices mitigate this issue. A few commenters also pointed out that 60k lines of code is not exceptionally large, providing context for the author's experience. The overall sentiment was positive towards Lua, with several users recommending it for specific use cases.
This blog post reflects on four years of using Jai, a programming language designed for game development. The author, satisfied with their choice, highlights Jai's strengths: speed, ease of use for complex tasks, and a powerful compile-time execution feature called comptime. They acknowledge some drawbacks, such as the language's relative immaturity, limited documentation, and single-person development team. Despite these challenges, the author emphasizes the productivity gains and enjoyment experienced while using Jai, concluding it's the right tool for their specific needs and expressing excitement for its future.
Commenters on Hacker News largely praised Jai's progress and Jonathan Blow's commitment to the project. Several expressed excitement about the language's potential, particularly its speed and focus on data-oriented design. Some questioned the long-term viability given the lack of a 1.0 release and the small community, while others pointed out that Blow's independent funding allows him to develop at his own pace. The discussion also touched on Jai's compile times (which are reportedly quite fast), its custom tooling, and comparisons to other languages like C++ and Zig. A few users shared their own experiences experimenting with Jai, highlighting both its strengths and areas needing improvement, such as documentation. There was also some debate around the language's syntax and overall readability.
Janet's PEG module uses a packrat parsing approach, combining memoization and backtracking to efficiently parse grammars defined in Parsing Expression Grammar (PEG) format. The module translates PEG rules into Janet functions that recursively call each other based on the grammar's structure. Memoization, storing the results of these function calls for specific input positions, prevents redundant computations and significantly speeds up parsing, especially for recursive grammars. When a rule fails to match, backtracking occurs, reverting the input position and trying alternative rules. This process continues until a complete parse is achieved or all possibilities are exhausted. The result is a parse tree representing the matched input according to the provided grammar.
Hacker News users discuss the elegance and efficiency of Janet's PEG implementation, particularly praising its use of packrat parsing for memoization to avoid exponential time complexity. Some compare it favorably to other parsing techniques and libraries like recursive descent parsers and the popular Python library parsimonious, noting Janet's approach offers a good balance of performance and understandability. Several commenters express interest in exploring Janet further, intrigued by its features and the clear explanation provided in the linked article. A brief discussion also touches on error reporting in PEG parsers and the potential for improvements in Janet's implementation.
C3 is a new programming language designed as a modern alternative to C. It aims to be safer and easier to use while maintaining C's performance and low-level control. Key features include optional memory safety through compile-time checks and garbage collection, improved syntax and error messages, and built-in modularity. The project is actively under development and includes a self-hosting compiler written in C3. The goal is to provide a practical language for systems programming and other performance-sensitive domains while mitigating common C pitfalls.
HN users discuss C3's goals and features, expressing both interest and skepticism. Several question the need for another C-like language, especially given the continued development of C and C++. Some appreciate the focus on safety and preventing common C errors, while others find the changes too drastic a departure from C's philosophy. There's debate about the practicality of automatic memory management in systems programming, and some concern over the runtime overhead it might introduce. The project's early stage is noted, and some express reservations about its long-term viability and community adoption. Others are more optimistic, praising the clear documentation and expressing interest in following its progress. The use of Python for the compiler is also a point of discussion.
This blog post explores upcasting in Rust using the Any trait. It demonstrates how to safely cast a trait object back to its original concrete type using Any::downcast_ref, highlighting that this is safe and efficient because it's only a type check, not a conversion. The author explains how this mechanism, combined with trait objects, facilitates runtime polymorphism while maintaining Rust's static type safety. The post concludes by suggesting that upcasting to Any, despite seemingly going against its intended direction, offers a practical solution for storing and retrieving different types within a homogenous collection, effectively simulating inheritance for operations like shared functionality invocation.
HN commenters largely discuss the complexity of Rust's Any trait and its upcasting mechanism. Several express that while powerful, it introduces significant cognitive overhead and can be difficult to grasp initially. The concept of fat pointers and vtables is mentioned as crucial to understanding Any's behavior. Some question the necessity of such complexity, suggesting simpler alternatives or improvements to the learning resources. One commenter contrasts Rust's approach with Go's interfaces, highlighting the trade-offs between performance and ease of use. The overall sentiment seems to be a mix of appreciation for the power of Any and a desire for more accessible explanations and potentially simpler solutions where applicable. A suggestion is made that improvements to the compiler's error messages could significantly enhance the developer experience when working with these features.
Koto is a modern, general-purpose programming language designed for ease of use and performance. It features a dynamically typed system with optional type hints, garbage collection, and built-in support for concurrency through asynchronous functions and channels. Koto emphasizes functional programming paradigms but also allows for imperative and object-oriented styles. Its syntax is concise and readable, drawing inspiration from languages like Python and Lua. Koto aims to be embeddable, with a small runtime and the ability to compile to bytecode or native machine code. It is actively developed and open-source, promoting community involvement and contributions.
Hacker News users discussed Koto's design choices, praising its speed, built-in concurrency support based on fibers, and error handling through optional values. Some compared it favorably to Lua, highlighting Koto's more modern approach. The creator of Koto engaged with commenters, clarifying details about the language's garbage collection, string interning, and future development plans, including potential WebAssembly support. Concerns were raised about its small community size and the practicality of using a niche language, while others expressed excitement about its potential as a scripting language or for game development. The discussion also touched on Koto's syntax and its borrow checker, with commenters offering suggestions and feedback.
MilliForth-6502 is a minimalist Forth implementation for the 6502 processor, designed to be incredibly small while remaining a practical programming language. It features a 1 KB dictionary, a 256-byte parameter stack, and implements core Forth words including arithmetic, logic, stack manipulation, and I/O. Despite its size, MilliForth allows for defining new words and includes a simple interactive interpreter. Its compactness makes it suitable for resource-constrained 6502 systems, and the project provides source code and documentation for building and using it.
Hacker News users discussed the practicality and minimalism of MilliForth, a Forth implementation for the 6502 processor. Some questioned its usefulness beyond educational purposes, citing limited memory and awkward programming style compared to assembly language. Others appreciated its cleverness and the challenge of creating such a compact system, viewing it as a testament to Forth's flexibility. Several comments highlighted the historical context of Forth on resource-constrained systems and drew parallels to other small language implementations. The maintainability of generated code and the debugging experience were also mentioned as potential drawbacks. A few commenters expressed interest in exploring MilliForth further and potentially using it for small embedded projects.
Xee is a new XPath and XSLT engine written in Rust, focusing on performance, security, and WebAssembly compatibility. It aims to be a modern alternative to existing engines, offering a safe and efficient way to process XML and HTML in various environments, including browsers and servers. Leveraging Rust's ownership model and memory safety features, Xee minimizes vulnerabilities like use-after-free errors and buffer overflows. Its WebAssembly support enables client-side XML processing without relying on JavaScript, potentially improving performance and security for web applications. While still under active development, Xee already supports a substantial portion of the XPath 3.1 and XSLT 3.0 specifications, with plans to implement streaming transformations and other advanced features in the future.
HN commenters generally praise Xee's speed and the author's approach to error handling. Several highlight the impressive performance benchmarks compared to libxml2, with some noting the potential for Xee to become a valuable tool in performance-sensitive XML processing scenarios. Others appreciate the clean API design and Rust's memory safety advantages. A few discuss the niche nature of XPath/XSLT in modern development, while some express interest in using Xee for specific tasks like web scraping and configuration parsing. The Rust implementation also sparked discussions about language choices for performance-critical applications. Several users inquire about WASM support, indicating potential interest in browser-based applications.
The Go blog post announces the deprecation of the go/types package's core types in favor of using standard Go types directly. This simplifies type checking and reflection by removing a separate type system representation, making code easier to understand and maintain. Instead of using types.Int, types.String, etc., developers should now use int, string, and other built-in types when working with the go/types package. This change improves the developer experience by streamlining interactions with types and aligning type checking more closely with the language itself. The blog post details how to migrate existing code to the new approach and emphasizes the benefits of this simplification for the Go ecosystem.
Hacker News commenters largely expressed relief and approval of Go's reversion from the proposed coretypes changes. Many felt the original proposal was overly complex and solved a problem most Go developers didn't have, while introducing potential performance issues and breaking changes. Some appreciated the experiment's insights into Go's type system, but ultimately agreed the added complexity wasn't worth the purported benefits. A few commenters lamented the wasted effort and questioned the decision-making process that led to the proposal in the first place, while others pointed out that exploring such ideas, even if ultimately abandoned, is a valuable part of language development. The prevailing sentiment was satisfaction with the return to the familiar and pragmatic approach that characterizes Go.
Jakt is a statically-typed, compiled programming language designed for performance and ease of use, with a focus on systems programming, game development, and GUI applications. Inspired by C++, Rust, and other modern languages, it features manual memory management, optional garbage collection, compile-time evaluation, and a friendly syntax. Developed alongside the SerenityOS operating system, Jakt aims to offer a robust and modern alternative for building performant and maintainable software while prioritizing developer productivity.
Hacker News users discuss Jakt's resemblance to C++, Rust, and Swift, noting its potential appeal to those familiar with these languages. Several commenters express interest in its development, praising its apparent simplicity and clean design, particularly the ownership model and memory management. Some skepticism arises about the long-term viability of another niche language, and concerns are voiced about potential performance limitations due to garbage collection. The cross-compilation ability for WebAssembly also generated interest, with users envisioning potential applications. A few commenters mention the project's active and welcoming community as a positive aspect. Overall, the comments indicate a cautious optimism towards Jakt, with many intrigued by its features but also mindful of the challenges facing a new programming language.
Autology is a Lisp dialect designed for self-modifying code and introspection. It exposes its own interpreter and data structures, allowing programs to analyze and manipulate their own source code, execution state, and even the interpreter itself during runtime. This capability enables dynamic code generation, on-the-fly modifications, and powerful metaprogramming techniques. It aims to provide a flexible environment for exploring novel programming paradigms and building self-aware, adaptive systems.
HN users generally expressed interest in Autology, a Lisp dialect with access to its own interpreter. Several commenters compared it favorably to Rebol in terms of metaprogramming capabilities. Some discussion focused on its potential use cases, including live coding and creating interactive development environments. Concerns were raised regarding its apparent early stage of development, the lack of documentation beyond the README, and the potential performance implications of its design. A few users questioned the practicality of such a language, while others were excited by the possibilities it presented for self-modifying code and advanced debugging tools. The reliance on Python for its implementation also sparked some debate.
Niri is a new programming language designed for building distributed systems. It aims to simplify concurrent and parallel programming by introducing the concept of "isolated objects" which communicate via explicit message passing, eliminating shared mutable state and thus avoiding data races and other concurrency bugs. This approach, coupled with automatic memory management and a focus on performance, makes Niri suitable for developing robust and efficient distributed applications, potentially replacing complex actor models or other concurrency paradigms. The language is still under development, but shows promise for streamlining the creation of complex distributed systems.
Hacker News users discussed Niri's potential, focusing on its novel approach to UI design. Several commenters expressed excitement about the demo, praising its speed and the innovative concept of manipulating data directly within the interface. Concerns were raised about the practicality of text-based interaction for complex tasks and the potential learning curve. Some questioned the long-term viability of relying solely on a keyboard-driven interface, while others saw it as a powerful tool for experienced users. The discussion also touched upon comparisons to other tools like spreadsheets and the potential benefits for specific use cases like data analysis and programming. Some users expressed skepticism, finding the current implementation limited and wanting to see more concrete examples of its capabilities.
This 1987 paper by Dybvig explores three distinct implementation models for Scheme: compilation to machine code, abstract machine interpretation, and direct interpretation of source code. It argues that while compilation offers the best performance for finished programs, the flexibility and debugging capabilities of interpreters are crucial for interactive development environments. The paper details the trade-offs between these models, emphasizing the advantages of a mixed approach that leverages both compilation and interpretation techniques. It concludes that an ideal Scheme system would utilize compilation for optimized execution and interpretation for interactive use, debugging, and dynamic code loading, hinting at a system where the boundaries between compiled and interpreted code are blurred.
HN commenters discuss the historical significance of the paper in establishing Scheme's minimalist design and portability. They highlight the cleverness of the three implementations, particularly the threaded code interpreter, and its influence on later languages like Lua. Some note the paper's accessibility and clarity, even for those unfamiliar with Scheme, while others reminisce about using the techniques described. A few comments delve into technical details like register allocation and garbage collection, comparing the approaches to modern techniques. The overall sentiment is one of appreciation for the paper's contribution to computer science and programming language design.
Gleam v1.9.0 introduces improved error messages, specifically around type errors involving records and incorrect argument counts. It also adds the gleam echo command, a helpful tool for debugging pipelines by printing values at different stages. Additionally, the release includes experimental support for Git integration, allowing Gleam to leverage Git information for dependency resolution and package management. This simplifies workflows and improves dependency management within projects, especially for local development and testing.
Hacker News users discussed the Gleam v1.9.0 release, largely focusing on its novel approach to error handling. Several commenters praised the explicit and exhaustive nature of error handling in Gleam, contrasting it favorably with Elixir's approach, which some found less strict. The discussion also touched upon the tradeoffs between Gleam's stricter error handling and potential verbosity, with some acknowledging the benefits while others expressed concerns about potential boilerplate. A few comments highlighted the language's growing maturity and ecosystem, while others inquired about specific features like concurrency and performance. One commenter appreciated the clear and concise changelog, a sentiment echoed by others who found the update informative and well-presented. The overall tone was positive, with many expressing interest in exploring Gleam further.
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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44124808
HN users generally expressed interest in the simplicity and offline capability of Tiki. Several compared it favorably to Blockly, highlighting Tiki's more text-based approach as a bridge to traditional programming. Some saw potential in educational settings, particularly for introducing programming concepts to beginners. Concerns were raised about the limited scope of the language, questioning its practical application beyond basic tutorials. The lack of clear information on the project's licensing and development status also prompted questions, with some desiring more transparency from the author. Several users requested the addition of features like nested loops, suggesting potential areas for improvement. There was a clear desire for more advanced functionalities within the language, to push it beyond its initial beginner focus.
The Hacker News post "Simple programming language with offline usable browser IDE" discussing Tiki programming language and its IDE sparked a variety of comments focusing on its simplicity, potential use cases, and comparisons to other similar projects.
Several commenters appreciated the simplicity and ease of use of Tiki, particularly for beginners. One user highlighted its potential as a good introductory language for teaching programming concepts, comparing it favorably to other beginner-friendly languages like Blockly or Scratch. They emphasized the value of a simple, self-contained environment for learning.
Another commenter drew parallels between Tiki and Smalltalk, praising its live coding environment and the potential for interactive exploration and experimentation. This user saw potential in Tiki for rapid prototyping and creative coding.
The offline functionality of the IDE was also a point of discussion, with some users expressing interest in its potential for educational settings or situations with limited internet access. This feature was seen as a significant advantage over cloud-based coding platforms.
However, some users expressed concerns about the long-term viability and practicality of Tiki. One commenter questioned its usefulness beyond basic tasks and its ability to scale for more complex projects. Another user raised concerns about the limited scope of the language and the potential for users to outgrow its capabilities quickly.
A few commenters also discussed the trade-offs between simplicity and power, acknowledging that while Tiki's simplicity is attractive for beginners, it might limit its applicability for more experienced programmers. They pondered the potential for future development and the possibility of expanding the language's features while maintaining its ease of use.
Comparisons were also made to other similar projects like Blockly and Pharo, with commenters discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. One commenter highlighted the similarities between Tiki's visual programming aspects and Blockly's block-based interface.
Finally, there was a discussion about the importance of documentation and community support for a language's success. Some users expressed the desire for more comprehensive documentation and a larger community to help foster growth and adoption of Tiki.