https://github.com/darius/cant
A programming argot
https://github.com/darius/cant
hack language scheme silly
Last synced: 2 days ago
JSON representation
A programming argot
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/darius/cant
- Owner: darius
- License: agpl-3.0
- Created: 2015-08-02T14:00:14.000Z (over 9 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2024-04-10T20:31:26.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-11-07T14:41:43.371Z (5 months ago)
- Topics: hack, language, scheme, silly
- Language: Scheme
- Homepage:
- Size: 3.44 MB
- Stars: 58
- Watchers: 8
- Forks: 3
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
- awesome-programming-languages - Cant - a programming language descended mainly from E and Scheme. (Uncategorized / Uncategorized)
README
# Cant, a message-oriented language
This is a hobby project: a programming language descended mainly from
[E](http://erights.org/) and Scheme. Nowadays there are at least two
more-direct E descendants, in a much more useful state: [Secure
EcmaScript](https://github.com/Agoric/SES) and
[Monte](https://monte.readthedocs.io/en/latest/).
Why make this, then? I've long wanted a [computing
system](https://github.com/darius/cant/blob/master/system-goals.md)
that's completely explained, simple enough to grasp in full detail
without getting bored or overwhelmed, and powerful enough that I'd
actually use it. Wirth's Oberon is one inspiring example of such a
system. I'm aiming at another according to my own taste and
idiosyncrasies. Call it a learning project, or outsider art.
### So the message is "buzz off"?
Just don't expect any stability, at least anytime soon.
## How to run it?
Install [Chez Scheme](https://cisco.github.io/ChezScheme/). Then run
`./incant` (in Unix; if don't have a Unix shell, then adapt your
invocation from that script).
If you use Emacs and want a language mode, then also install
[plug-ins/cant-mode.el](https://github.com/darius/cant/blob/master/plug-ins/cant-mode.el);
see the comments there.
## What's done so far?
A new Lisp dialect with a molasses-slow interpreter and an
almost-useless debugger. On the bright side, it's pretty close now to
enforcing [capability
security](http://habitatchronicles.com/2017/05/what-are-capabilities/),
and I'm sometimes pleased with the syntax and the library. I think
it's more concise than Scheme without becoming more cryptic, once you
get familiar.
### Example code?
```
$ ./incant
-> (out .say "Hey, world.\n")
Hey, world.
-> (to (fib n) (if (< n 2) 1 (+ (fib (- n 1)) (fib (- n 2)))))
#
-> (fib 10)
89
->
```
### Any *interesting* example code?
You can try browsing
[examples/](https://github.com/darius/cant/tree/master/examples) and
[library/](https://github.com/darius/cant/tree/master/library). See
[examples/games](https://github.com/darius/cant/tree/master/examples/games) and
[examples/automata](https://github.com/darius/cant/tree/master/examples/automata)
for maybe-fun starting points.
To run a source file from the shell:
```
$ ./incant examples/automata/game-of-life.cant
```
Or from the listener:
```
$ ./incant
-> (load "examples/automata/game-of-life.cant")
#} {~ show #} {~ grid<-picture #} {~ r-pentomino #}>
-> (run r-pentomino 1)
O
O O
O O
#
->
```
### Documentation?
There's a start at
[guide.md](https://github.com/darius/cant/blob/master/guide.md).
### Thanks
Of course, this project would not exist without Scheme or E. It's
pretty likely to get more like E, because so far I've been consulting
my decades-old memory instead of the sources, and E probably did
things better.
Thanks to Kragen Sitaker for early discussions about the language.