The interpreter and dynamic compiler would be for testing/prototyping and when im done testing i use the static compiler.
Java has all of these - the stock Sun JVM has both an interpreter and dynamic compiler, and the GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ) can statically compile to machine code.
There are many.
One such language is Objective Caml. Let's check it against your requirements:
High-level language: Caml supports functional, object-oriented, and imperative styles of programming.
Interpreter: The ocaml system is a read-evaluate-print loop.
dynamic compiler: On platforms that support dynamic loading, ocamlrun can link dynamically with C shared libraries (DLLs).
static compiler: Available through the -linkall flag in the compiler.
Multimedia: There are libraries for 2-d graphics, 3-d graphics, audio, and video.
The bigger question is finding the best tool for your job. Many languages meet those requirements, but the most used languages have the best documentation and the most tested bindings to libraries. If you're going to use a language like Caml, there should be some overriding benefit to that language that can't be found in other languages.
Good luck!
The best option for you depends on the kind of your application. If it is a real-time program, then just stay with C++ (or ever with C) because no high-level language like Ruby/Perl/Python will beat them in this domain. But if the complexity of your future program is high enough, the best option I see in Python + PyOpenGL (for graphics) +PyOpenAL (for sound) and PyODE (for real-time physics). Actually, Python's VM is fast enough but you can also (with some efforts) compile it into a platform-dependent optimized code.
Alternatively you can use PyGame for 2D graphics and a way comfortable sound/music management.
Related
Suppose I have designed a new programming language for one of the managed code environments (.NET/JVM). Can I now implement it by simply writing a translator that translates the source code of this new language into the main language of the platform (C#/Java) and then letting the platform's compilers and other tools handle the rest of the process ? Are there any simple, proof of concept , examples of this approach ?
Yes, you can do that so long as the semantics map properly (care must be taken, for instance, in mapping JavaScript code to a language such as C# because the scoping rules are different).
It is not on a managed platform, but you could look at Vala. It is a C#-like language that compiles to C. Eiffel also compiles to C (and supports compiling to Java).
If you are on a managed platform, however, you may want to look in to emitting bytecode directly. Java bytecode is not difficult to emit, as the VM takes care of and provides instructions for the trickier pieces of compiling (such as managing stack frames) and the VM eliminates other hairy corners such as register allocation.
Yes, you can certainly do that. The main issue you're going to run into is that it's difficult to provide source level run-time diagnostics/debugging for your language.
Sure, the first C++ compiler I used translated the code to C and then used the system compiler and assembler to create the executable. I believe it was from Sun, but it's been a while. Really the C to assembly is doing the same thing.
I'm not sure if this is a good example or not: http://www.mozilla.org/rhino/jsc.html
I suggest 2 steps:
First, make a translator or compiler from your language to C# or Java.
Second, make a translator to .NET code (CIL or MSIL), or Java bytecode.
(another compiler & programming language design hobbyst)
I have a large program written with my own patched version of the GNU Eiffel (SmallEiffel) compiler. While I love the language I'm running into the problem that the compiler is O(n^2) or worse on the compiled system size. So I have to move soon.
ISE Eiffel the only alive Eiffel compiler is not an option for various reasons. Mostly because the compiled code runs way to slow.
I'm looking for a language which is:
imperative and OO
has generics/templates
compiles to native code and does not
require .NET/Java
statically typed (which means fast)
garbage collected
cross platform
not as ugly and braindead as C++
I couldn't come up with anything else then D but this looks a little bit to low level and non stable. Is there really none which satisfies this seven points?
OCaml, perhaps?
You could write in Java and compile to native-ish code with GCJ (it will be native code, but you'll need to link against a fair portion of code that makes up all the things Java needs at run-time. Your users will not need to install a JRE.)
Googling 'object oriented native code compiler' brings up Objective Caml before Eiffel.
If you're willing to take your chances on a research compiler, check out the Diesel language and the native-code Vortex compiler (written for Diesel in Diesel). It is a research project, but it is stable, and Craig Chambers is one of the best people in the business.
What about Python?
It is OO, scripted language, runs fast, has generic templates.
What are the programming languages that compile to native code and which have provided a comprehensive library with them?
Libraries that includes functionality such as Networking, File IO, RegEx, Database, Graphics, Multimedia, Win32 API bindings, File compression, etc.
I'll assume everyone has thought of C and C++.
Haskell is the obvious one here. In particular, if you want batteries included, you want the Haskell Platform.
OCaml fits this category, as well.
Go is a new player that has (most of) the feature you asked.
The D programming language with it's standard library Phobos.
Some Lisp dialects include a native compiler, like Common Lisp with its SBCL, CCL or ECL (to C) compilers.
Rust is a system programming language but doesn't include batteries but has crates ― to avoid stale standard library modules
Delphi meets all those requirements. This is a development environment based on the Object Pascal language.
Is Objective-C with Cocoa/CocoaTouch an acceptable answer?
You can use this pair for programming applications running on devices with restrictive constraints on batteries (laptops and mobile phones).
Swift by Apple, but now Open Source, compiles to native code and is available for OS X and Linux.
Batteries are completely included for Mac OS X and iOS through Apple's extensive libraries/APIs, and support for OS independence is on the way with the development of core libraries.
Hmmm. The funny thing is, most OSes have native APIs for all that stuff. So all you really need is a language that can link in OS calls. Pretty much any compiled language worth its salt will do that.
I am currently working with Qt.
http://doc.trolltech.com/4.5/index.html
Edit: a Nitpick..
A programming 'language' is a grammar and set of semantics and syntax. It contains NONE of the things you are asking about. What you want to know about is API's, not languages.
Can anyone point to programming language which has python-like syntax, but from the very beginning was designed to generate native code? I'm aware of Boo only, but it uses .net, not native code generation. Well, if nothing else than python-like languages which generate .net/java bytecode are fine too.
Cython might do -- the C code it generates is for Python extensions, but the whole thing can be packaged up and you'll be running native code throughout (after the 'import';-).
I must admit that I don't quite understand your question, for two reasons:
You are asking for a language with native code generation, but native code generation has nothing to do with the language, it is a trait of the implementation. Every language can have an implementation with native code generation. Several Python implementations have native code generation. There are C compilers that compile to JVM bytecode, CIL bytecode or even ECMAScript sourcecode. There are even C interpreters. There are also compilers that compile Java sourcecode or JVM bytecode to native code.
Why do you care about the syntax? It is probably the least important factor about choosing a programming language.
Anyway, Nim is a programming language which has an implementation which supports native code generation (or more precisely an implementation which supports C source code generation) and whose syntax is a hybrid between Wirthian style (by the looks of it the most important influences are Oberon and Delphi) and Python.
However, the fact that it has Pythonic syntax isn't going to help you at all if you don't like European style language design or Wirthian style OOP.
Also found today Delight applying Python syntax on a D back-end.
And Converge too.
Check out Cobra
It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C and other programming languages. It supports both static and dynamic typing. It has first class support for unit tests and contracts. Cobra provides both rapid development and performance in the same language.
shedskin compiles Python to C++
From shedskin project page
Shed Skin is an experimental compiler,
that can translate pure, but
implicitly statically typed Python
programs into optimized C++. It can
generate stand-alone programs or
extension modules that can be imported
and used in larger Python programs.
Genie which is part of the gnome project: http://live.gnome.org/Genie
I think it's exactly what you're looking for.
If you are happy with something that compiles down to Java bytecode you could have a look at Jython. Quoting from their FAQ:
JPython is an implementation of the Python programming language which is designed to run on the Java(tm) Platform. It consists of a compiler to compile Python source code down to Java bytecodes which can run directly on a JVM, a set of support libraries which are used by the compiled Java bytecodes, and extra support to make it trivial to use Java packages from within JPython.
I've not actually used it yet but am considering it on some projects where I have to integrate with existing an Java codebase.
HTH
PyPy is a project to re-implement Python in Python. One of it's goals is to allow the use of multiple back-ends, including C. So you can take a pure Python program, convert it to C and compile it to native code. It is still a work in progress, so probably not suitable for production code.
You can find all of the previously mentioned languages, plus some more, here: http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonImplementations
Nim is a statically typed compiled systems programming language. It combines successful concepts from mature languages like Python, Ada and Modula.
https://nim-lang.org/
You can also investigate IronPython - a python inplementation on the .NET framework
You can try Genie. It's the same like Vala, but with Python-like syntax. If you want to develop apps for Linux with GTK, and you want to compile it to native app, Vala or Genie is really good choice.
I'm looking for a programming language. It should be an easy language to learn, and should have a Garbage Collector. It should be a basic language with features like basic types (integer, boolean), arrays and etc, and I should write the framework.
It is for a game editor I want to write. The editor's designer will write the code of the UI in this programming language. The framework will be a 2D graphics and audio framework, and in the future it'll be 3D too.
I thought about the new Go language, but it doesn't have much support and theres no binding to OpenGL and etc.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
The obvious two are [C](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)) or C++. However, [D](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_(programming_language)) is closer to Java and C# given that it has a garbage collector in the standard, as well as an alternative standard library that is fairly closer to Java than the C++ standard library. The downside with D is that they tools are not as mature as C++ or C and the community isn't as large.
The obvious solution though it to look down the list of compiled languages on wikipedia and see which you like the look of.
Well, that's a fairly broad question and without more specific requirements it is difficult to give a focused answer, but it sounds like C (or C++) would fit the bill for you. The languages you described all owe their syntax to C. C will compile to native code. C is basic language in that there is not much to learn beyond the basic syntax and it has all the basic primitives that you require.
Now that you've added the requirement of a garbage collected language, I suppose that you could try Go, but that language is not mature and there's always a risk there.
If you don't want to manage memory all by yourself like C or C++, you can try the new Go language. It compiles to native code (albeit for Linux and MacOSX only for now) and comes with a basic framework that can be easily replaced with your own framework.
It has a very active user base, so IMO it is possible to mature quickly.
You may want to look at Lua.
Lua is a relatively tiny language which manages to be capable and universal with just a few concepts. The BNF specification for the whole language fits easily on one page. It has numbers, booleans, tables and functions, and surprisingly that's all the datatypes it needs. It can even work in an object-oriented fashion.
There's a compiler, Luac, that compiles Lua to bytecode.
Lua is already being used as a UI programming language for games. Addons for World of Warcraft and a few other games are programmed in Lua. I believe Lua is a very good fit for this kind of task.
You want OpenGL? OK... http://luagl.wikidot.com/ is an OpenGL library for Lua.
Since we don't know what you want to do, I don't know what are the chances we success. Therefor, what about a language where you have to set the probability of your statement to fail :
Meet GOTO++.
Don't say "thanks you", it's on me.
Enjoy a challenge?
Try go.
Here's a tech talk by rob pike, and here is a discussion group: http://groups.google.com/group/golang-nuts/topics
.
C++ is Great, it's not scripting lang, so you don't even need a scripting host.