Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

[Dave Allison]

Oh no, not another "check out my cool new language" posting :-)

For about 5 years now, I have been developing a scripting/prototyping language
that is now available on the net. It's called Aikido and was born in Sun Labs, but
has been released as open source. I no longer work for Sun, but am continuing
to use and develop it.

The language has a syntax similar to C++ and Java but is aimed at adhoc and
prototyping tasks. Unlike other scripting language, the idea of Aikido is to make
it easy for the programmer who is familiar with the C/C++/Java syntax
to pick it up and get started immediately.

The language is interpreted and has some interesting features:

* Dynamically typed, with large number of builtin types (string, vector, map, etc)
* Lexically scoped, a la Pascal, Ada, etc.
* Object oriented, single inheritance with packages, classes and interfaces
* Multithreaded, with Java and Ada style monitors
* Builtin stream operations
* Operator overloading
* enumerated types
* powerful string manipulation with regular expressions
* ability to call out to C functions with no additional interface code
* partial Java object model

It runs on Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X and is available from www.sun.com/coolstuff.
I will put it on Source Forge or Bitkeeper when I have a chance.

If you find yourself in need of a programming language that is easy to use
and readable, please have a look at it.

Cheers,

Dave

[Christopher Benson-Manica]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

In comp.lang.c Dave Allison <david.allison@ comcast.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Oh no, not another "check out my cool new language" posting :-)[/color]

Nothing inherently wrong with it, except that few on the groups you've
posted this to will care. Try being topical next time.
[color=blue]
> If you find yourself in need of a programming language that is easy to use
> and readable, please have a look at it.[/color]

When I need a language that's easy to use and readable, I turn
directly to C. Don't let me stop you, though.

--
Christopher Benson-Manica | I *should* know what I'm talking about - if I
ataru(at)cybers pace.org | don't, I need to know. Flames welcome.

[Larry Hazel]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

Christopher Benson-Manica wrote:
[color=blue]
>
>
> When I need a language that's easy to use and readable, I turn
> directly to C. Don't let me stop you, though.
>[/color]

C? Easy to read? You have got to be kidding.

[Victor Bazarov]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

"Larry Hazel" <lhhazel@otelco .net> wrote...[color=blue]
> Christopher Benson-Manica wrote:
>[color=green]
> >
> >
> > When I need a language that's easy to use and readable, I turn
> > directly to C. Don't let me stop you, though.
> >[/color]
>
> C? Easy to read? You have got to be kidding.[/color]

C to a C[++] programmer is no more difficult than Chinese to
an educated Chinese person. I, on the other hand have no
idea how to read Chinese. But I don't exclaim "you've got
to be kidding" when somebody says that Chinese is possible
to read.

[Richard Heathfield]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

Larry Hazel wrote:
[color=blue]
> Christopher Benson-Manica wrote:
>[color=green]
>>
>>
>> When I need a language that's easy to use and readable, I turn
>> directly to C. Don't let me stop you, though.
>>[/color]
>
> C? Easy to read? You have got to be kidding.[/color]

Compared to the other languages in this crosspost? Damn right it's easy to
read! :-)

I mean yes, okay, I know what you mean. Any sufficiently advanced IOCCC
entry is indistinguishab le from line noise. But not /all/ C programs are
IOCCC entries!


--
Richard Heathfield : binary@eton.pow ernet.co.uk
"Usenet is a strange place." - Dennis M Ritchie, 29 July 1999.
C FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
K&R answers, C books, etc: http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton

[Unforgiven]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

Dave Allison wrote:[color=blue]
> It's called Aikido[/color]

As an aikidoka, I object to that.

I wonder if the Aikikai Hombu Dojo (or someone else) owns the rights to the
name aikido? Probably not, though, considering all the different styles out
there.

--
Unforgiven

[Les Cargill]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

Larry Hazel wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Christopher Benson-Manica wrote:
>[color=green]
> >
> >
> > When I need a language that's easy to use and readable, I turn
> > directly to C. Don't let me stop you, though.
> >[/color]
>
> C? Easy to read? You have got to be kidding.[/color]

'C' is a right-regular language, with good orthogonality of
operators. That literally means "easy to read" - or at least
having the capacity to be writrten in a fashion that is easy
to read.

If you've ever seen any deep Perl code, you'd understand :)

--
Les Cargill

[Jack Klein]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

On 5 Feb 2004 14:13:43 -0800, david.allison@c omcast.net (Dave Allison)
wrote in comp.lang.c:
[color=blue]
> Oh no, not another "check out my cool new language" posting :-)[/color]

Oh no, not another "cross posted to four groups and off-topic in all
of them" posting :-(

--
Jack Klein
Home: http://JK-Technology.Com
FAQs for
comp.lang.c http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
comp.lang.c++ http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/
alt.comp.lang.l earn.c-c++

http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~ajo/docs/FAQ-acllc.html

[David Allison]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

Jack Klein wrote:[color=blue]
> On 5 Feb 2004 14:13:43 -0800, david.allison@c omcast.net (Dave Allison)
> wrote in comp.lang.c:
>
>[color=green]
>>Oh no, not another "check out my cool new language" posting :-)[/color]
>
>
> Oh no, not another "cross posted to four groups and off-topic in all
> of them" posting :-(
>[/color]

Yeah, yeah. That's what I get for not posting anything for ten
years I suppose. How one forgets...

I would disagree that it's off-topic though, since it's a language
that is derived from the others. Where should I have posted
it?

Apologies for the faux-pas folks.

[Jack Klein]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 20:29:59 -0800, David Allison
<david.allison@ comcast.net> wrote in comp.lang.c++:
[color=blue]
> Jack Klein wrote:[color=green]
> > On 5 Feb 2004 14:13:43 -0800, david.allison@c omcast.net (Dave Allison)
> > wrote in comp.lang.c:
> >
> >[color=darkred]
> >>Oh no, not another "check out my cool new language" posting :-)[/color]
> >
> >
> > Oh no, not another "cross posted to four groups and off-topic in all
> > of them" posting :-(
> >[/color]
>
> Yeah, yeah. That's what I get for not posting anything for ten
> years I suppose. How one forgets...
>
> I would disagree that it's off-topic though, since it's a language
> that is derived from the others. Where should I have posted
> it?
>
> Apologies for the faux-pas folks.[/color]

news:comp.progr amming would be one place to start.

--
Jack Klein
Home: http://JK-Technology.Com
FAQs for
comp.lang.c http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
comp.lang.c++ http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/
alt.comp.lang.l earn.c-c++

http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~ajo/docs/FAQ-acllc.html

[Victor Bazarov]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

"David Allison" <david.allison@ comcast.net> wrote...[color=blue]
> Jack Klein wrote:[color=green]
> > On 5 Feb 2004 14:13:43 -0800, david.allison@c omcast.net (Dave Allison)
> > wrote in comp.lang.c:
> >
> >[color=darkred]
> >>Oh no, not another "check out my cool new language" posting :-)[/color]
> >
> >
> > Oh no, not another "cross posted to four groups and off-topic in all
> > of them" posting :-(
> >[/color]
>
> Yeah, yeah. That's what I get for not posting anything for ten
> years I suppose. How one forgets...
>
> I would disagree that it's off-topic though, since it's a language
> that is derived from the others. Where should I have posted
> it?[/color]

You could have posted a request to create a special newsgroup "just
for your new cool interpreted language". All others seem to have at
least one, right? I believe your language deserves it. Besides,
having a newsgroup adds weight to the results of your labour.

Or you could have posted to comp.programmin g or [heavens forbid] to
one of them newsgroups with "announce" in the name. Nah!

You see, posting your message about a new language in an existing
language newsgroup sounds more like "Look here, folks, stop wasting
your time on this old <insert_existin g_language_name _here>, and turn
to my new and improved one! It's so much better 'cause I tool the
best from all of your old and now obsolete languages..." Of course,
I exaggerate. To deliver the point.

Ah, beating a dead horse here, time for me to go do something useful
for a change. Sorry for the noise...

[Preben Randhol]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

["Followup-To:" header set to comp.lang.ada.]
On 2004-02-06, Les Cargill <lcargill@world net.att.net> wrote:[color=blue]
>
> 'C' is a right-regular language, with good orthogonality of
> operators. That literally means "easy to read" - or at least
> having the capacity to be writrten in a fashion that is easy
> to read.[/color]

This is simply not true. How come there are so many buffer overflow
security problems then? However, let us not start a language war again
(as usually happens each time somebody crosspost between several
language newsgroups).
[color=blue]
> If you've ever seen any deep Perl code, you'd understand :)[/color]

And if you had seen Ada95 code you would understand that C[++] isn't
readable. Especially with huge projects.

--
"Saving keystrokes is the job of the text editor, not the programming
language."

[Joona I Palaste]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

Richard Heathfield <dontmail@addre ss.co.uk.invali d> scribbled the following
on comp.lang.c:[color=blue]
> Larry Hazel wrote:[color=green]
>> Christopher Benson-Manica wrote:[color=darkred]
>>>
>>> When I need a language that's easy to use and readable, I turn
>>> directly to C. Don't let me stop you, though.[/color]
>>
>> C? Easy to read? You have got to be kidding.[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> Compared to the other languages in this crosspost? Damn right it's easy to
> read! :-)[/color]
[color=blue]
> I mean yes, okay, I know what you mean. Any sufficiently advanced IOCCC
> entry is indistinguishab le from line noise. But not /all/ C programs are
> IOCCC entries![/color]

I find C harder to read than Java, and easier to read than C++. I
don't know about Ada, as I've never seen it. But C and C++ are a
breeze compared to the likes of Perl, Python and Lisp. They look like
C looked while I was still a BASIC programmer: a random jumble of
punctuation marks.

--
/-- Joona Palaste (palaste@cc.hel sinki.fi) ------------- Finland --------\
\-- http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste --------------------- rules! --------/
"Nothing lasts forever - so why not destroy it now?"
- Quake

[Frank J. Lhota]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

"Joona I Palaste" <palaste@cc.hel sinki.fi> wrote in message
news:bvvjqj$4fb $1@oravannahka. helsinki.fi...[color=blue]
> ... But C and C++ are a
> breeze compared to the likes of Perl, Python and Lisp.[/color]

I find Perl particularly obtuse. Perl reminds me of those comics where
obscene language is replaced by a string of random puctuation characters.
Frankly, I don't understand how Perl has caught on when there are more
powerful, and more readable, string processing languages available.

[Martijn Lievaart]

Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 14:49:40 +0000, Frank J. Lhota wrote:
[color=blue]
> "Joona I Palaste" <palaste@cc.hel sinki.fi> wrote in message
> news:bvvjqj$4fb $1@oravannahka. helsinki.fi...[color=green]
>> ... But C and C++ are a
>> breeze compared to the likes of Perl, Python and Lisp.[/color]
>
> I find Perl particularly obtuse. Perl reminds me of those comics where
> obscene language is replaced by a string of random puctuation characters.
> Frankly, I don't understand how Perl has caught on when there are more
> powerful, and more readable, string processing languages available.[/color]

I find C particularly obtuse. C reminds me of those comics where
obscene language is replaced by a string of random puctuation characters.
Frankly, I don't understand how C has caught on when there are more
powerful, and more readable, processing languages available.

Not trying to be funny, but your description made me immediately think of
my first introduction to C, and now I'm (trying to be) a Perl hacker. I
guess what is readable is very much in the eye of the beholder.

M4