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+ it's an ML-style language yay
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+ Darklang is a statically-typed, functional/imperative hybrid programming language designed primarily for building cloud-based backend services. Its functional aspects draw inspiration from languages like OCaml, Elm, and Rust, emphasizing simplicity, type safety, and productivity while avoiding complex functional programming concepts like monads or category theory.
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+ Immutability:
+ Darklang embraces immutability, a core functional programming principle. Values in Darklang are immutable by default, eliminating race conditions in concurrent execution and making programs easier to reason about.
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+ No Exceptions, Use of Results and Options:
+ Instead of exceptions, which can complicate reasoning in functional programming, Darklang uses Result and Option types to handle errors and optional values. This approach, inspired by languages like Rust and OCaml, ensures explicit error handling and avoids issues associated with nulls or unchecked exceptions.
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+ First-Class Functions and Pipelines:
+ Darklang supports first-class functions, enabling functions to be passed as arguments, returned from other functions, and assigned to variables, a standard feature in functional languages.
+ It makes heavy use of pipelines (similar to F# or Elm), allowing developers to chain function calls in a readable, declarative way. For example, operations like List::map are used to transform collections functionally
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+ Implicit Returns:
+ Like many functional languages (e.g., Elm or Haskell), Darklang uses implicit returns, where the last expression in a function is automatically its return value. This reduces boilerplate and aligns with functional programming’s focus on expressions over statements.
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+ Simple Type System with Records and Enums:
+ Darklang employs a straightforward type system based on Records and Enums (also known as variants or sum types), similar to Rust, Elm, or OCaml. These types are expressive enough to model complex data structures while remaining simpler than object-oriented class hierarchies.
+ For example, a Url type might be defined as a record with fields like scheme, domain, and port, while a UrlError enum could represent possible errors like InvalidScheme or EmptyDomain. This approach avoids the complexity of inheritance and aligns with functional programming’s preference for algebraic data types.
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+ Functional/Imperative Hybrid:
+ While primarily functional, Darklang is described as a functional/imperative hybrid, drawing from OCaml, Elm, and Rust rather than purely functional languages like Haskell. This hybrid nature makes it accessible to developers familiar with imperative or object-oriented languages, avoiding esoteric functional concepts like monads, lenses, or combinators.
+ The language prioritizes developer productivity by allowing imperative-style code where needed, but its functional core ensures type safety and immutability.
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+ Asynchronous Programming Without await:
+ Darklang’s runtime is fully asynchronous, but it avoids the explicit await keywords common in languages like JavaScript or TypeScript. Instead, it uses data dependencies to manage concurrency, a functional approach that ensures operations wait for their inputs without exposing threading complexity.
+ This design eliminates race conditions (due to immutability) and simplifies concurrent programming, aligning with functional programming’s emphasis on declarative concurrency models.
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+ Unicode-Aware Strings:
+ Darklang’s string handling is designed for modern applications, using Extended Grapheme Clusters to represent characters (e.g., emojis like 👨👩👦👦 are treated as single characters). This functional approach to string representation avoids the pitfalls of byte-based or UTF-16 strings in older languages, ensuring predictable behavior in text processing.
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+ Reliability: Static typing and immutability ensure that compiled code is robust, a critical feature for cloud backends.
+ Concurrency: Immutability and data-driven async execution simplify concurrent programming, a key requirement for scalable backend services.
+ Productivity: Features like pipelines, implicit returns, and gradual typing make functional programming accessible and efficient, aligning with Darklang’s goal of simplifying backend development.
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