98 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
98 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
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Bolt
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====
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⚠️ This compiler is experimental and might have breaking changes with each update.
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💬 Got some questions or feedback? Just open an issue and we'll be glad to respond!
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Bolt is a new strictly-evaluated functional programming language in the making
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that aims to make writing complex applications dead-simple. It ships with some
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nice goodies, including:
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- **Static type checking** will catch hundreds of bugs before a single line of
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code is actually run.
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- **Garbage collected**, freeing you from worrying about memory management.
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- **Tuples, match-expressions and hygienic macros** make your code more
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readable and concise.
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- **Cross-platform standard library**, allowing you to write your code for the
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web and the desktop at the same time.
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## Core Principles
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Bolt has a few fundamental design principles that we hope in time will make it
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stand out from other programming languages.
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- **Do it right.** From Hindley-Milner to algebraic effects, decades
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of research has made it possible to write programming languages that can be
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way more secure and performant than would have been possible in 70s.
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Wherever possible, we try to make use of these awesome discoveries.
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- **Do it once.** Bolt aims to save development time. Type-based abstractions,
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a macro system, and a platform that works on both desktop and the web has to
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ensure that you don't waste time writing the same logic in a slightly
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different form.
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- **Do not constrain the user.** Given that the perfect programming language
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theory has yet to be discovered, real-world programs may require the
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programmer to e.g. mutate a variable. Don't make the developer jump through
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hoops unless the benefits clearly outweigh the costs.
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## FAQ
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### When will the compiler be ready to use?
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We hope to have a working compiler by the start of 2023. Currently, we are
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working hard to get the type-checker fully operational. After that work will
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continue on the code generator and garbage collector.
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### Why yet another programming language?
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Granted, there are a lot of programming languages, but oddly enough I found
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myself in the situation where I was still not completely satisfied. For
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example, Rust is a fantastic programming language, but writing web applications
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in it feels a little cumbersome due to its manual memory management. On the
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other hand, functional programming languages like Haskell and Idris look like
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they come straight out of the future, but sometimes have unpredictable run-time
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performance and force you to do weird things when all you want to do is mutate
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a variable. Bolt aims to solve these two issues, while not giving in on
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performance or correctness.
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### Why should I choose Bolt over JavaScript?
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First of all, let me tell you that if you've never heard of a functional
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programming language, learning Bolt will take some time. However, I assure you
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that it is worth it.
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- Correctness, because Bolt has a type system that is far superior to
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JavaScript's. No more member accesses into `undefined` or other weird error
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messages.
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- Performance, because the language has been designed to leave room for a lot
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of optimisations. The garbage collector is one of the few overheads that the
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language requires.
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- Scalability, because just like Rust, Bolt takes a functional approach to
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software design using type traits, favouring composition over inheritance.
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### What happened to the old compiler?
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The old repository has been archived and has been replaced with this one. I
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doubt there will be much interest in this older software artifact. If you want
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to check it out nonetheless, you can still do it [by following this link][1].
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[1]: https://github.com/boltlang/BoltJS
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### What's the difference between the old Bolt programming language and this language?
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I redesigned the language from the ground up to be more functional, terser, and
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with very straightforward extensions for writing complex HTML. It is by no
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means done, but I do hope to have struck a good balance between readability and
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ease of use.
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## License
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Bolt was initially licensed under the GNU GPL, version 3. I decided to release this new
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version under the more permissive MIT license. In the end, I hope that this
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piece of software may inspire other projects and may improve the quality of new
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and existing software.
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