Nu (programming language)
| Paradigm(s) | structured, imperative, object-oriented |
|---|---|
| Appeared in | 2007 |
| Designed by | Tim Burks |
| Developer | Tim Burks |
| Stable release | 2.0.1 (September 2, 2011) |
| Typing discipline | dynamic |
| Influenced by | Lisp, Objective-C, Ruby |
| License | Apache License, v. 2.0 |
| Website | programming.nu |
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 application programming interface (API). Implementations also exist for Linux, and iPhone.
The language was first announced at C4,[1] a conference for indie Mac developers held in 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 use of functional programming languages.[4]
Contents |
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". http://www.viddler.com/explore/rentzsch/videos/13. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ^ Paul Graham. "Being Popular". (section 7. Syntax). http://www.paulgraham.com/popular.html. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ^ Jason Grossman. "Nu Seems Stable". http://programming.nu/posts/2009/12/09/stability. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
- ^ Brandon Werner. "The Rise Of Functional Programming: F#/Scala/Haskell and the failing of Lisp". http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brandonwerner/archive/2008/09/16/the-rise-of-functional-programming-f-scala-haskell-and-the-failing-of-lisp.aspx. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
