Release beta

[dzikoysk]

According to:

• Releases Roadmap
• Summary of indev phase

Requirements:

• Reimplemented, magic-free internals
• Normalized type system
• Stable modules
• Missing basic structures
  • Generic types
  • Anonymous types
  • Lambdas
  • Bitwise operations
  • Basic macro engine
• Simplified exception handling
• Reimplemented assignation parser
• Confirmed visibility keywords
• Primary constructor implementation
• Nullable values wrapping
• Better docs and coverage with examples

Anyway I can help? I have been watching this repo for a while and it seems interesting, so I want to contribute. This is my first time contributing here and I wanted to help with some simple issues to get my feet wet.

[dzikoysk]

Hey :) Well, at this moment I'm developing quite breaking rework of packages and modules as you can see: #617, so I don't recommend contributing to this repo until I finish it (1 or 2 weeks I think).

If you want to start I'm pretty sure you could start with detecting and fixing problems that affects the language environment such as installer:

• https://github.com/panda-lang/installer - there is no panda.cmd that could be associated with console, there is literally no error handling, lack of support for linux and mac.
• https://github.com/panda-lang/panda - you can try to test the language by just writing some code in panda. I'm pretty sure you will spot some issues. You can also try to write some tests (panda-utilities module is not affected by GH-615 Rework package system and update modules #617), there is a little mess, and e.g. they don't follow the groovy should naming convention.
• https://github.com/panda-lang/hub - spring app, the whole repo should be cleaned up after converting sources from java to kotlin
• You can even try to improve the panda website and its guide, just to become a little more familiar with the language

By saying all of it I mean there is just a lot of work and small details that should be fixed in literally every repository.

Hi, and thanks for the suggestions. I'm not sure if I can start testing Panda quite yet... But I have a couple of questions...

• Is Panda going to be a mainstream style language, with frequent updates and made for writing big applications?
• What niche does Panda fill?

[dzikoysk]

Panda is my hobbyist side project developed for a few years. I had some ups and downs, but in the end it is still moving forward. The purpose of the language is to fill the scripting languages area around the JVM and to provide convenient tools for other DSL implementations (example: Light).

You have to be aware of a fact, that it is not just another implementation of a compiler that converts some kind of "new revolutionary syntax" to bytecode with a fancy sdk and in the end the internals does not really matter. Developing such a language is kinda boring and there is a bunch of projects like that. Panda is written from the ground up, so besides the interpreter, there is also a new runtime abstraction.

Thanks to the JVM flexibility, Panda should be quite good complement for any application that requires some kind of extension system (tests, plugins, dsl, etc.) without any need of generating bindings for the whole API. At this moment that's a Groovy kingdom, but I'm looking for something more suitable for scripts and a much safer. The second niche is just a full-scripted environment powered by the dedicated package manager, where we can just launch a compilation-free, interpreted application (just like e.g. node with npm).

Nice ! So this language is a hobbyist language that is designed to sort-of "compete" with Groovy.
Yes, building from the ground up allows you to add any amount of minute controls to the interpreter.

About the compiler bit, If you want to build a good language but can't build good parsers (like me), you can just strap an ANTLR frontend to an ASM + Java backend. That is what I did with my language Cylvre (which is currently under active development). I wish to take Cylvre to the mainstream as a language that is simple to use.

I feel like we are going off topic. I think I may be able to help Panda after the breaking changes are done.

[dzikoysk]

Groovy is just the closest language that may be even considered as an alternative at this moment to be honest. I'm aware of tools such as ANTLR or LLVM, it's just not a subject of my interests. The most interesting process is to develop these internals - the language is just a side effect of their proper implementation. I've tested some crazy ideas during the indev phase, and I'm pretty sure it broadened my horizons and knowledge related to the topic 😛

As far as I have seen, Panda looks like a simplified and revamped Java 😃 .
Update: does Panda have a function for System.err.println() ?

[dzikoysk]

Yup, the log statement appends output to the environment logger.

Is it too early to help by providing IDE support for Panda?

[dzikoysk]

Well, it depends. The general shape of the language is pretty stable right now and any updates related to some already implemented features should be cosmetic. In the past I was playing around IDE concept: Lily

At this moment I don't maintain such projects, just because it doesn't contribute to the development of Panda directly. The discussion about the IDE support is important and I think it might be a good idea to at least try to provide some simple tools that integrates with VSC or IntelliJ.

I can help by providing IntelliJ support. Personally, I think that IDE support is crucial in the early stages. It helps with the adoption of the language and early adoption is crucial for language to get of the ground.

Sorry to bring this up again and sorry if I sound rude, but why didn’t you reply when I asked if you could help me with Cylvre?