The Meta REBOL dialect
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Arnold
Feb 28, 2023, 7:31:05 AM2/28/23
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Hi all,
Recently Kaj de Vos has released the Meta programming language.
Sure he will post all details as well in this Rebol Google Group later.
In the meantime you can find all information at this website:
Kaj de Vos
Feb 28, 2023, 4:35:17 PM2/28/23
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There is currently a trend that older, usually interpreted languages from the nineties and early 2000's get new, compiled implementations that are much more efficient, faster and safer. There are for example attempts at compiled versions of Python, but there is also Crystal loosely inspired by Ruby, or even V inspired by Go.
There is a need for these languages, because Moore's law is running into its limits. Slow languages can't expect ever faster hardware anymore. Languages need to compete on speed again.
On the other hand, fast hardware has solved the disadvantage compilers used to have over interpreters. There still are slow compilers, but with care, it is possible to write compilers that are so fast on modern hardware, that they can compile programs about as fast as an interpreter can start them.
Meta is such a new language, inspired by REBOL and currently written as a dialect in REBOL 3:
Like Crystal is to Ruby, Meta is not meant to be strictly compatible with REBOL, but it aims to be close while optimising the language for compilation.
Meta is in its third year of development. REBOL is a magnificent target to match, so we are not there yet, but Meta is quite usable in its own right. In the past half year, Arnold van Hofwegen has helped test it, greatly improving Meta's quality, so it is now a good time to introduce it further to the REBOL community.
Earlier introduction has happened on the REBOL Forum:
Discussion and development on Meta happens on its own web chat forum:
This forum is partly written in Meta itself, and loosely inspired by AltME, REBOL's old chat system written in REBOL itself.
If you want to talk about REBOL, we also run a channel for that:
One of the REBOL features Meta doubles down on is cross-platform support. Meta is currently released for popular PC platforms: Windows, Apple Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. Meta programs can also run on bare metal PC's, without an operating system. Meta's extreme efficiency also allows it to support Atari 8-bit home computers. We intend to support many more platforms in the future.
Meta programs can also run in web browsers. To get started as easily as possible, we provide a web console in which you can edit and run Meta programs:
As you know, REBOL is a special language, and so is Meta. It's not always easy to explain it to those who are already used to other languages, and we haven't had time to write extensive documentation and tutorials yet. Therefore, Meta is currently most suitable for those who know REBOL, or are willing to learn it.
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Kaj de Vos
Feb 28, 2023, 4:35:26 PM2/28/23
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pd
Jul 19, 2023, 9:46:55 PM7/19/23
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El martes, 28 de febrero de 2023 a las 22:35:17 UTC+1, Kaj de Vos escribió:
Meta is such a new language, inspired by REBOL and currently written as a dialect in REBOL 3:Like Crystal is to Ruby, Meta is not meant to be strictly compatible with REBOL, but it aims to be close while optimising the language for compilation.Meta is in its third year of development. REBOL is a magnificent target to match, so we are not there yet, but Meta is quite usable in its own right. In the past half year, Arnold van Hofwegen has helped test it, greatly improving Meta's quality, so it is now a good time to introduce it further to the REBOL community.
Awesome, it's always interesting to see new languages coming into the arena specially when are rebol like ;-)
and how it compares to Red? red is also compiled and rebol based or rebol like
best regards
iArnold
Jul 21, 2023, 5:19:55 PM7/21/23
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Hi Pd,
Kaj asked me to reply, for some unfortunate reason regarding this group his posts are not coming through.
====
Hello Pep,
I helped launch Red and wrote extensions for it for many years. Eventually, it turned out not to deliver what it promised.
For
Meta, I loosened up compatibility with REBOL to optimise the language
for compilation. Meta is several hundred times faster than compiled Red
and a few thousand times faster than interpreted Red. Meta's executables
are much smaller and can run on platforms that Red doesn't support,
such as 64-bit and 8-bit.
Red
takes an exceptionally long time to implement useful functionality.
Meta is implemented in an order to provide usable functionality as
quickly as possible.
====
As a Meta user myself I can only confirm this. The release cycle of #f00 as I call it nowadays is unpredictable to say the least. Meta is comparable to C as speed concerns, see my Queens problem solution in Meta for that, something I could not say for #f00 executables. But for my ordinary use my hardware is fast enough for me and my usecases to not be of any real concern.
Kaj de Vos
Jul 27, 2023, 3:28:59 AM7/27/23
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Hello Pep,
I helped launch Red and wrote extensions for it for many years. Eventually, it turned out not to deliver what it promised.
For Meta, I loosened up compatibility with REBOL to optimise the language for compilation. Meta is several hundred times faster than compiled Red and a few thousand times faster than interpreted Red. Meta's executables are much smaller and can run on platforms that Red doesn't support, such as 64-bit and 8-bit.
Red takes an exceptionally long time to implement useful functionality. Meta is implemented in an order to provide usable functionality as quickly as possible.
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