OpenEuphoria

1. [rant] Simple, Small, Superbe

• Posted by _tom (admin) Sep 06, 2018
• 1121 views

My latest propaganda on _OE Phix

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Simple, Small, Superbe. Make programming easier and faster with _OE and Phix.

Simple means everything is a value object which means either atom (any single value) or sequence (any list of values). Simple is a language works well with itself. For example, if + means add numbers, then + will add numbers even if you mix atoms and sequences together. For example, concatenation & takes two lists and makes one longer list, even if you mix lists of numbers and text. When things work the same, all the time, then it easier to learn and use a programming language--simple.

Small means no gotchas, no extra rules, no extra data-types, and no surprises. Conventional languages, popular languages, make programming more difficult than it should be. Instead choose to add lightness--simple, small.

Superbe means you can can interpret code during development and produce a compiled product when finished. Superbe means faster execution. Superbe means easy to write and read. Programming is hard work, so be nice to yourself--simple, small, superbe.

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The first programming to learn is _OE|Phix.

A "teaching language" is for teachers. A teaching language has dark corners; syntax rules are inconsistent; fancy advanced concepts; lots for teachers to test you on. A teaching language is not for students.

An "industrial language" is for cubicle works who must conform to a monster programming effort. Industrial languages are chosen by administrators, not programmers.

A "specialty language" is for technical computing. Once you can program, and have the need, these languages will make sense to you.

But, _OE and Phix are for programmers; a language that is simple, small, and superbe is perfect for learning, and yes, perfect for general computing. You will wonder why conventional languages are not as nice as _OE and Phix.

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The advantages of _OE|Phix can be quantified.

Simple	object data-type replaces upto a dozen conventional data-types.
Small	atom/sequence does the job of elaborate type/class/datatype systems
Lightness	download megabytes less stuff
Interpret and Compile	rapid development; easy distribution
Write and Read	freeform syntax without surprises
Fast	it took 25 years for jit systems to catch up

Nice		Not-Nice
OE Phix		teaching industrial specialty
	simple small lightness interpret and compile write and read fast
yes		no, maybe, sometimes

There is always more to learn in programming. Conventional languages are full of interesting ideas and solutions to real problems. That means _OE|Phix will not be your last programming language, just your favourite.

_tom