language design

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A Language Feature to Rule Them All (Algebraic Effects)
2 months ago
- Monads are defined by a simple trait with two methods: 'new' (or 'pure') and 'and_then' (or 'bind'), enabling generic sequencing of callbacks.
- Do notation (syntax sugar) for monads lets developers implement features like async/await, generators, and checked exceptions as library code rather than language built-ins.
- Algebraic effects generalize exceptions with resumable handlers, separating the declaration of side effects from their execution.
- Effects can be implemented efficiently in compilers via evidence passing or by translating effectful functions into coroutines.
- Both monads and algebraic effects are extremely powerful but risk ecosystem fragmentation if widely exposed as user-facing features; they are best implemented internally in the compiler and optionally exposed under an experimental flag.
the core of rust
2 months ago
- Rust has a strong vision, similar to Uiua and Zig, with a smaller, cleaner language struggling inside.
- Learning Rust involves mastering many interwoven concepts simultaneously: first-class functions, enums, pattern matching, generics, traits, references, borrow checker, Send/Sync, and Iterators.
- A simple 20-line Rust file watcher program requires understanding closures, Result, generics, enums, pattern matching, iterators, Send/Sync, lifetimes, and move semantics.
- In contrast, an equivalent JavaScript program requires only first-class functions and nullability, highlighting Rust's complexity.
- Rust's interwoven design is intentional; features like enums with pattern matching, Result/Iterators with generics, and Send/Sync with borrow checker complement each other.
- The author refers to without.boats' concept of a 'smaller Rust'—a cohesive core of orthogonal features that compose well.
Five Questions about Language Design
2 months ago
- Programming languages are designed for people, not computers; they must accommodate human cognitive limitations.
- The best languages are often created by their authors for their own use, avoiding a condescending attitude toward programmers.
- Languages should grant programmers maximum control, as seen in Lisp's macros and openness, treating programmers as equal partners.
- Brevity in code and manuals is highly valued by skilled hackers, and should be a design goal.
- Hacking is like architecture, not a science; the aim is to create great programs, not necessarily publishable ideas.
- Server-based software allows any language to be used, requires support for frequent releases, and may benefit from continuations.
- Language design should be driven by a real application, be good for throwaway programs, and recognize that syntax and semantics are connected.
Succinctness is Power
2 months ago
- Succinctness equals power in programming languages; the main purpose of high-level languages is to make source code smaller.
- A better measure of code size is the number of elements (distinct nodes in syntax tree), not lines of code or characters.
- Brooks' observation: programmers produce similar lines of code per day regardless of language, so more succinct languages enable faster development.
- More powerful languages tend to have fewer bugs, which is critical in applications like network switches.
- The true test of a language is its ability to discover and solve new problems, not just predefined tasks.
- Restrictiveness in programming languages is mostly due to lack of succinctness, and readability improves with overall program conciseness.
Entropic Thoughts
2 months ago
- Ada breaks object-oriented programming into separate features like encapsulation, reuse, inheritance, abstract interfaces, type extension, and dynamic dispatch, allowing opt-in.
- In Ada, package specifications and bodies are separate, providing clear visibility and compile-time structure.
- Ada requires explicit declarations for type extension and null records, preventing implicit assumptions.
- Memory management in Ada uses controlled types with Finalize for automatic cleanup, similar to RAII in C++.
- Ada uses package-based visibility control instead of class-based visibility, allowing child packages to access parent internals.
- Constructors in Ada are functions returning objects, but can be problematic for inheritance; child packages or child functions can avoid primitive operation inheritance.
- The prefixed method call syntax in Ada is syntactic sugar; dynamic dispatch requires class-wide types, not the syntax itself.
- Ada competes with C, not Java, and offers safer and more expressive alternatives to C's memory management.
Modula-3 History Collection on Computer History Museum
2 months ago
- Modula-3 was designed in the late 1980s by Luca Cardelli, Jim Donahue, Mick Jordan, Bill Kalsow, and Greg Nelson, aiming to be safe and efficient for systems and application programming.
- Key features included interfaces, objects, generics, threads, isolation of unsafe code, garbage collection, exceptions, and subtyping, many of which were ahead of their time.
- The language originated from Modula-2+ and was refined through several revisions, with the definitive book 'Systems Programming with Modula-3' published in 1991.
- Two main implementations existed: Olivetti Modula-3 (short-lived) and DEC SRC Modula-3, which became the basis for all later distributions.
- Subsequent distributions included CM3, PM3, Cambridge Modula-3, and EZM3, with maintenance later taken over by Elego and then moved to GitHub.
- Modula-3 was used in significant projects such as the SPIN extensible operating system, CVSup version control tool, persistent object stores, and distributed virtual environments like COTERIE.
- The language's influence persisted through its concepts and the annotated archive maintained by editor Paul McJones.
I Redesigned English
2 months ago
- English has many irregularities that learners must memorize, such as irregular verbs, complex spelling, and arbitrary rules for articles and prepositions.
- World English is a redesigned version that eliminates these irregularities, making the language more regular and predictable while remaining legible as English.
- Key changes in World English include regularizing all verbs to use '-ed' for past tense, simplifying 'be' to three forms, using regular plurals, reducing articles to one, and removing do-support.
- The design prioritizes ease and clarity over nuance and idiom, aiming to show how simple English can be while still being understandable.
- The project is presented as a research effort to map English's difficulty, not as a campaign for adoption, highlighting that much of English's complexity doesn't aid communication.

language design

A Language Feature to Rule Them All (Algebraic Effects)

the core of rust

Five Questions about Language Design

Succinctness is Power

Entropic Thoughts

Modula-3 History Collection on Computer History Museum

I Redesigned English