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The Avail Programming Language

availlang.org

54 pointswuschel27 comments

I'm one of the authors. If you're concerned that what we built is a mere natural language parsing engine, have a look here:

https://www.availlang.org/about-avail/documentation/faq.html...

That's a funny use of the word "mere"!

It was intended with humor, of course, but really creating a natural language syntax is a tiny capability of Avail. We're working on the details at the moment, but we're fairly certain that every programming language ever written can become a mere dialect of Avail. Except running on the same jitted VM. And trivially able to intermix with code in other languages, even in the same module. Even within a statement. The RPN calculator example might give you an idea of what we can do today. Also, "Quiz DSL.avail" might be of interest, since it's not just traditional programming languages that Avail is going to eat for breakfast. Brace yourself for what's coming.

I'm still a little unclear on what language extension looks like when you want to do things other than adding new procedures. Do you have any examples of manipulating evaluation order (like choosing to evaluate arguments right to left or left to right, or handling certain arguments lazily) or adding new binding forms or a custom type system?

At this exact moment, Avail can only evaluate expressions left-to-right, except of course for functions (block expressions, using [] notation resembling Smalltalk).

However, I'm close to completing the macro mechanism that will allow the same flexibility of syntax present in method names (keywords/operator tokens, argument positions, guillemet-enclosed repeated argument groups, etc), but for constructs that run at compile time with parse trees instead of values. The actual macro mechanisms have been working for some time, but were disabled until we were able to represent the ~dozen syntactic constructs of Avail purely as macros. Then any new syntax wouldn't be in conflict with existing syntax. When that's working we'll toss the existing compiler (the one that knows anything about Avail's current syntax, like statements and functions and variable declarations), and use the compiler that knows nothing about Avail – just how to parse methods and macros. Then we'll be able to support arbitrary evaluation orders, declaration syntax, treating some expressions as lazy, alternative scoping models, etc.

As for custom types, we're investigating ideas about carrying purity annotations through user-defined control structures. Kind of hard to describe in this forum, though.

In the articulate programming paradigm, a programmer undertakes a project by developing a domain-appropriate lexicon and phraseology which are leveraged directly to implement a solution that is readily accessible to domain experts and software experts alike. Articulate programming is nothing more, and nothing less, than using the right language and conceptual framework for the job.

I like what's being tried here. Many people like to be expressive and think while they talk. Is not unreasonable that they might want to program a system using the same social trait. Specially to get things done evading the hard dependency with programmers that have awful communication skills (close to toxic some times).

You can find plenty of programmers with excellent communication skills; you might just need to look in other places or offer more money. People who possess multiple valuable skills often demand a higher wage than people who possess only one.

As for the language, the general idea of English-like programming is far from new. Here are a few arbitrary historical examples, the most impressive of which is Inform, a language for writing interactive fiction:

http://inform7.com/learn/eg/bronze/source.html

https://cukes.info/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperTalk

http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/examples/Conditn/IterIf.htm

None of these revolutionized programming. The hard part of programming isn't learning to read a specialized notation. The first hard part of programming is learning how to think in a logical, step-by-step fashion without omitting even the most intuitively obvious details. The second hard part of programming is learning how to maintain a large, complex program as requirements change. Neither of these is made much easier by writing in a rigid, artificial dialect of English.

> the general idea of English-like programming is far from new

Indeed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL

IMHO the hardest part of programming is identifying and fulfilling the ephemeral requests of users who aren't sure what they want until they see the thing they told you to build for them and realize it's not what they had in mind.

To be honest, even though the concept of English-like programming is commonly berated across various circles, I think the REBOL language might have had potential to prove otherwise. Sadly, like Plan 9, its long-term unwieldy licensing killed its momentum.

Specially to get things done evading the hard dependency with programmers that have awful communication skills (close to toxic some times).

All the good programmers I know can communicate fine.

I feel like many of us are searching and probing around the same space. It definitely seems to be the case that existing programming languages are way too rigid, but that the current popular example of "just make the language whatever you desire" (Lisp) is not quite right, either. It's close, but just far enough away that it seems alien.

I'll definitely be paying closer attention to this as it agrees with a lot of hunches that I have about what's wrong with programming as we currently practice it.

Thanks so much for the link. I'm taking notes :)

EDIT: Anyone who likes Avail, and particularly the points made in the History section, should probably read CTM. [1]

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Techniques-Models-Computer-Pr...

In the web space, we're all actually looking for languages that are more rigid (rebelling against PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, etc.)

True, but in a language that's designed to quickly make other languages, the rigidity can be controlled by the system architects.

An example of a current language with this philosophy is actually Typescript. The gradual typing means that you, as a module designer, can choose to make rigid exactly what you wish (and choose how much rigidity you require). If the consumer of that module also uses Typescript, your rigidity requirements will be respected.

The reason we don't think of programming languages as being per-project, per-module, per-domain, etc, but rather as large global things is because we don't currently have a clue how to do that (and if we did, we don't have a clue how to make the tooling work). If and when we do, these types of conversations will seem quaint.

One can hope, anyway...

Ha, I saw this mentioned in the post from yesterday about creating your own language[1] and also went to check it out. It looks facinating, but I haven't had time to really dive into it yet.

Anyone have more experience with it and care to weigh in?

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9040029

Just to whet your appetite, consider this:

Method "_plus_" is [ a : number, b : number | a + b ]:number;

Print: 5 plus 6;

The entire language is built this way.

Looks like a static-typed version of AppleScript at first glance. It's hard to say who this is targeted at - people who really want the English-like syntax are going to squirm at things like "writer : [string]→⊤".

Total tangent, but could someone start a .lang tld? We have so many that are naming themselves this way, could be avail.lang, go.lang, rust.lang, nim.lang, ...

Awesome idea! Better ask these guys: http://www.iana.org/

Is there a language reference document? I didn't see one under the documentation link.

Unfortunately there's no guide to walk you through the library. However, we have code level documentation in a live searchable form here:

https://www.availlang.org/about-avail/documentation/stacks/l...

There is also a strong beginning of a "cookbook" of expressions here:

https://www.availlang.org/about-avail/documentation/expressi...

There's also coverage of a sizable chunk of Avail's type system here:

https://www.availlang.org/about-avail/documentation/type-sys...

I was listening to Avail, the band, today. Great band.

(wonder if anyone from the HN crowd has ever heard of them).

Other than that, interesting project!

Please note that the HN community takes a rather strict approach when moderating comments that contribute noise to the conversation. "Nice article!" comments are routinely downvoted. As is sarcasm, witticisms, memes, references and other styles of comments that occur frequently but do not contribute to the discussion. It's a knowingly doomed attempt to hold back the flood of noise that covers Reddit.

I agree with this approach.

Sorry about that

I just recently left Richmond, VA and drove down Lombardy St. every day on my way to/from work.

Deleted comment

I know it looks like a random and out of context comment now that I re-read it. But someone even somewhat familiar with the band he mentioned would probably understand why it was relevant.

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