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What do I want?

I want a language that Java programmers will feel home using, that doesn't have all the nasty "!= null" checks, that also has the ease-of-use that I love about Ruby.

Note: This is a very early stage WIP

What works

  • function declaration
  • if statements
  • while loops
  • assignments
  • class definition and instance creation
  • method chaining: "a".append("p").append("p").append("end") --> "append"

What doesn't work that you would otherwise expect to

  • no newline at the EOF
  • pretty much everything else

Sample Aluminum Code:

Source

def print_hello() do
	print("hello")
end

i = 0
while(i < 10) do
	print_hello()
	i = i + 1
end


print("done")

Output

hello
hello
hello
hello
hello
hello
hello
hello
hello
hello
done

While in this initial development stage, ensure.al will have test cases that show the features of the language.

Philosophies/Features

  • Static typing
  • Inferred typing where possible
  • Optimize for programmer happiness (I want keywords like unless and ?)
  • Pattern matching
  • Functions are first-class objects
  • Small boilerplate, fast to create new applications
  • Incorporate Contract Programming and unit testing methodology
  • Be able to build lightweight, standalone programs
  • Nested Functions
  • Functions literals
  • Automatic memory management
  • Unit tests as a first priority
  • Exceptions
  • Protected by default (like Java, not Swift)
  • English words as keywords: and, or, etc

Inspiration

  • Scala's maybe
  • Ruby's unless
  • Java's generics
  • Swift's type system
  • I like the ! in ruby functions to say "make this work or error" and have it be more lenient otherwise
  • I like the _ in swift for I don't care about this variable