Nu (programming language)
| Paradigm | structured, imperative, object-oriented |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Tim Burks |
| Developer | Tim Burks |
| First appeared | 2007 |
| Stable release | 0.4.0
/ November 17, 2009 |
| Typing discipline | dynamic |
| License | Apache License, v. 2.0 |
| Website | Programming Nu |
| Influenced by | |
| LISP, Objective-C, Ruby | |
Nu is an interpreted object-oriented programming language, with a LISP-like syntax, created by Tim Burks as an alternative scripting language to program Mac OS X through its Cocoa API. Implementations also exist for Linux, and iPhone.
The language was first announced at C4[1], a conference for indie Mac developers held on August 2007.
Although being for the moment confined as a niche tool, possibly because of its LISP-like syntax[2], it is generally considered stable[3], and is notable as part of a recent rise in functional programming languages[4].
Example code
This Nu code defines a simple complex numbers class.
(class Complex is NSObject
(ivar (double) real
(double) imaginary)
(- initWithReal:(double) x imaginary:(double) y is
(super init)
(set @real x)
(set @imaginary y)
self))
The example is a basic definition of a complex number: it defines the instance variables, and a method to initialize the object. It shows the similarity between the Nu code and the equivalent Objective-C code; it also shows the similarity with Ruby.
(unless @prefix
(set @prefix
"#{((((NSProcessInfo processInfo) arguments) 0) dirName)}.."))
(unless @icon_files
(set @icon_files
(array "#{@prefix}/share/nu/resources/nu.icns")))
This snippet, from the nuke tool bundled with Nu, also shows the influence of Objective C, LISP, and Ruby in the design of the language.
See also
References
- ^ "Burks: Bridges and Beyond". Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ^ Paul Graham. "Being Popular". (section 7. Syntax). Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ^ Jason Grossman. "Nu Seems Stable". Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ^ Brandon Werner. "The Rise Of Functional Programming: F#/Scala/Haskell and the failing of Lisp". Retrieved 2011-04-11.