Merge branch 'develop-0.5' into env-data-map
Chris Pressey
5 years ago
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History of Robin
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================
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Robin 0.5 (Sep 2019)
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Robin 0.5 (Late Sep 2019)
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---------
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* The `define-if-absent` top-level form was added.
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* Allowed the reference implementation to run under Hugs,
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in part by providing a `HugsMain.hs` which only includes the
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facilities that are supported by Hugs.
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* Modelled environments with their own algebraic data type
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(`Env`). Experimented with implementing them with
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`Data.Map.Strict`, with limited success (Robin's semantics
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define an environment to be able to shadow old bindings.)
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Robin 0.4 (Early Sep 2019)
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---------
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Overview
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--------
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**Robin** is a functional programming language with
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**Robin** is an [excessively principled](doc/Rationale.md)
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functional programming language with
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[eager evaluation, latent typing, and a homoiconic syntax](#scheme),
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based on a [radically simple core semantics](#forth) in which
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[the macro, rather than the function, is the fundamental abstraction](#picolisp).
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In this document, "Robin" refers to the Robin programming language
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version 0.5.
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Robin is excessively principled
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-------------------------------
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Many times I have encountered some badly designed corner of a
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programming language or system and have said to myself, "No!
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This is categorically wrong. Programming languages should never
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do this. A correct design would..." et cetera, et cetera.
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Robin is, in some sense, the result of recording various
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instances of this and putting them together in a single
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language. (Plus some random stuff that I'm not sure how it
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ended up in here.)
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How well does the result cohere? Not really.
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It started off as an idea for how I would like to design an
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operating system based on [Pixley][]. It is no longer an
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operating system design, but the reactive portion of it is
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still reminiscent of that.
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Macro as fundamental abstraction
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--------------------------------
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</td></tr>
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</table>
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[Pixley]: https://catseye.tc/node/Pixley
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