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diff --git a/comp/lucas-standen-NEA/writeup/coverpage.ms b/comp/lucas-standen-NEA/writeup/coverpage.ms index 871bc27..2820eb4 100644 --- a/comp/lucas-standen-NEA/writeup/coverpage.ms +++ b/comp/lucas-standen-NEA/writeup/coverpage.ms @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ .TL -NEA coverpage +NEA cover page .AU Lucas standen .AI @@ -8,73 +8,127 @@ Lucas standen .NH 1 Analysis .NH 2 -Overview +The current problem .PP -.B Zippy -.B LANG +For general small and simple projects, I write in C. However this leads to hours of debugging due to segfaults, and memory leaks. +Due to the languages manual memory management the programmer is required to know so much information about the hardware they write for, +and the second anything goes wrong, it is vague on how to fix things. + +.B "I need a language that stops me from shooting myself in the foot" + +C has been standard for many decades now and its age is showing, it lacks many modern features like OOP, or higher level function abstractions, that have become common +in modern years due to there helpfulness. This is not to fault C's achievements either, the language is my personal choice for most projects for a reason, +it's fast and powerful; any solution I make should not cut that away. + +.NH 2 +A solution +.PP +.BI "Zippy LANG" + +A next generation language, for general use. Designed for keeping code simple, neat and readable. +It will be similar to functional languages, known for there strict ability to keep code safe and practical. +The language should be interpreted like python, perl and lisp, to allow for easy debugging tools. + +The goal of Zippy is to make codding easier, while remaining fast, with a interpreter writen in C. + +.NH 2 +Clients +.PP +In a project of this nature, the Client is every programmer alive; which is a pretty large scope. To narrow this down as much as possible, I will interview a small handful +of people throughout the project, of different skill levels. + +.NH 3 +Client 1, Amy C +.PP +My first client is a friend of mine, Amy C, she is a confident programmer who has completed many complicated projects. I am choosing her as a client as she can give me +technical feed back on my project and its function/utility. +.NH 3 +Client 2, a technical user, but not a programmer +.PP +some stuff about this person. +.NH 3 +Client 3, a normie .PP -A next generation language, for general use. Designed for keeping code simple, neet and readable. - Zippy will be a modern functional language. It will be interpreted like python/perl and lisp. Its syntax should be similar to lisp. +some stuff about how the normie finds the completed project. +.NH 3 +Client 4, myself .PP -Some interesting features that Zippy will have is treating everthing in functions, scopes that allow for manual but safe memory management, and interoperablity with C - libarys +I've wanted to take out a project like this for a long long time, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so, I will be assessing myself along the way of this, +building the project to my personal specification. + .NH 2 Examples of similar projects .PP -Since Zippy is a high level programming language it should be compared to other languages. +As Zippy will be interpreted, I should compare it to other such languages; trying to compare it to C++/rust/go, isn't helpful as they are so very different in the way they +function. -Since it is interpereted, i should compare it to other such languages. - -Zippy is by far not the first language, and I'm only one person, so I can't expect to beat others in everything. However a few small goals will give the project a good scope. +Zippy is by far not the first language, and I'm only one person, so I can't expect to beat others in everything. +However a few small goals will give the project a good scope. .NH 3 Python .PP -Python is a high level OOP language that was designed in 1991. It was made to make programming easy whie still being able to use some of C's functions. - Although it has become standard for many usecases, it is slow and inefficent, and very bloated. +Python is a high level OOP language that was designed in 1991. It was made to make programming easy while still being able to use some of C's functions. +Although it has become standard for many use cases, it is slow and inefficient, and very bloated. + +https://www.python.org/ .NH 3 Lisp .PP Lisp is the second ever programming language, developed at MiT, it is the first functional language, creating many common features like higher order functions, - recursion, and garbage collection. It is generally not used anymore as it feels old compared to other functional languages, like ocaml or haskell. +recursion, and garbage collection. It is generally not used anymore as it feels old compared to other functional languages, like ocaml or haskell. + +https://lisp-lang.org/ .NH 3 Perl .PP -Perl is scripting lang designed for use in linux, when bash is too slow, or not suited for the job. - Perl is often described as the glue of the universe (see xkcd https://3d.xkcd.com/224/). Its syntax is quite strange however and it is slow. Making it poorly suited for general use. +Perl is scripting language designed for use in linux, when bash is too slow, or not suited for the job. +Perl is often described as the glue of the universe (see xkcd https://3d.xkcd.com/224/). Its syntax is quite strange however and it is slow. +Making it poorly suited towards general use. + +https://www.perl.org/ + .NH 2 -Questionares +Questionnaires +.PP +It is important to get feedback from end users, so I will take multiple questionnaires throughout the project. I will then use them to slightly edit the requirements of my +project this should make the final outcome more helpful and what people want. + +In the section bellow you will find questionnaires from the analyses stage of my project. .NH 3 -Questions 1 for Amy C +Questionnaire 1 for Amy C + +.BI "[30th April 2024]" +.BI "answered by amy, see pull request she left" .NH 4 -What do you find the most important in a languge? (eg: speed, readablity) +What do you find the most important in a language? (eg: speed, readability) .PP Speed, readability, debugging ease and disk space efficiency. .NH 4 -What tools are important for a language to have? (eg: pkg-manager, ide integration) +What tools are important for a language to have? (eg: pkg-manager, IDE integration) .PP IDE integration (things like tab complete and debugging tools), a package manager, and the ability to interact with the user through the command line easily. .NH 4 -What features do you like from other languages (eg: advanced memory managment, haskells terse syntax) +What features do you like from other languages (eg: C's advanced memory management, haskell's terse syntax) .PP -The ability to pass the memory reference of an object or function and a collection of built-in or standard functions like "print", "split", or "sort" +The ability to pass the memory reference of an object or function and a collection of built-in or standard functions like "print", "split", or "sort". .NH 4 What do you want to program in this language (eg: websites, low level systems) .PP -Lightweight command line tools and web backends. +Lightweight command line tools and web back ends. .NH 4 Do you intend to use graphics in the programs you write? .PP -No +No. .NH 4 -Would you prefer a languge that focuses on ease of use, or power of the code? +Would you prefer a language that focuses on ease of use, or power of the code? .PP I like a good balance between the two. .NH 4 -What were your last 3 projects? (could they have been written in zippy?) +What were your last 3 projects? (could they have been written in Zippy?) .PP -A website, a small command-line tool and a midi keyboard (program runs on a Raspberry Pi Pico) +A website, a small command-line tool and a midi keyboard (program runs on a Raspberry Pi Pico). .NH 4 -How many languages would you use on a single project? (could zippy be used in your codebase?) +How many languages would you use on a single project? (could Zippy be used in your codebase?) .PP I try to use as little languages in a project as possible, so likely not in an existing project. .NH 4 @@ -82,9 +136,127 @@ Do you care for low level control, or would you prefer high level abstractions? .PP I think low-level control is very important, but high-level abstractions are convenient, so a good balance between the two is best. .NH 4 -Would you be happy to develop libaries for things that aren't already implemented (eg: an sql lib) +Would you be happy to develop libraries for things that aren't already implemented (eg: an SQL library) .PP Potentially if it is simple enough to implement new things. + +.NH 3 +Notes from questionnaire 1 +.PP +Some of the key things that I'm taking away from this first questionnaire, are my client/users initial needs and use cases. +I think it's clear my language can be of assistance to my client, Zippy will be a good language for web back ends and small command line tools, which my client expressed +interested in. + +I find the fact my client is worried by executable size interesting, however I doubt it will be an issue; a ballooning code-base is unlikely as only one person +is writing the project. + +I am also taking on the fact that my client wants good command line tools, so a pkg-manager and bundler should be a priority, perhaps they could be written in Zippy after +the interpreter is done. + +.NH 3 +The first elements of the project +.PP +At this stage I can say that I'm confident in my project and its scope. I have a goal in mind for it. + +.B "The key things to take away from this section are:" + +.B ---- +Make a high level language with a useable set of features, to replace C in many situations. + +.B ---- +Keep the language readable and easy, with powerful tools available. + +.B ---- +Ensure the language is well supported with tools like a pkg-manager. + +.NH 2 +Abstract data structures and there implementations +.PP +In larger projects, when a programmer needs a data structure that the language they are writing in doesn't provide, they will need to make their own. + +Bellow are a few examples of these data structures that C doesn't already provide. +.NH 3 +Linked lists +.PP +this is an alternative implementation of a list, where you store some data, and the memory address to the next node. Then you can move through the list by reading the data +then reading the data of the next node, and then repeating until the 'next' part of the node is empty. + +In C this is easy to implement as you can find a memory address very easily with '&' to find where a bit of data is stored. I will need to use a 'struct', which is a bit like +a class in C (however you can't attach a function to it). A simple implementation looks like this: + +typedef struct ll { + + void *data; // the data of the node + + ll *next; // the next node + +} ll; + +The pro's of a linked list are the fact that they can have data appended to the start or end easily by changing the root node, or the next node. + +Linked lists have a few downsides, for example you can't move through them backwards, and unless you store it on its own, you cant find the length of it in a fast way. + +In my project I would like to use linked list in the AST (see later sections for info), and to store lists in the language. +.NH 3 +Dictionaries +.PP +A dictionary is a simple data structure that just stores, a bit of data, and a number or string to identify it. +A dictionary like a linked list can be implemented with a struct in c like so: + +typedef struct dict { + + void *data; // the data of the dict + + int id; // the id of the dict + +} dict; + +In my project I think I could use a linked list represent a zippy variable and an ID that i can use to identify it, this could make execution faster as i can compare ID's +rather than string values + +.NH 2 +Prototyping hard features +.NH 3 +Abstract Syntax Trees (AST) theory +.PP +In a programming language many abstract data types will be used to allow the code to execute, however I think the hardest part of this is an abstract syntax tree. +This is a data structure that holds the code in an ordered form that can be analysed and executed in a simple way. It is a tree structure, with the top node being a root +and all lower nodes being things needed to calculate the root. It can be used not only for code but also for mathematical expressions. I think the easiest way to show it +is via a mathematical example + +Take the follow expression for example: + +(1 + 10 * (3 - (2 * 4))) + +We know that this is equal to -49 + +However for a computer this is far harder to understand. This is because it has no understanding of order of operation + +To solve this we use an AST (abstract syntax tree) + +When you solve that expression you know to start with (2 * 4), then 3 - the answer to that and so on + +We can represent the steps as a tree like so: + +.PSPIC ast.ps + +.PP +As you can see, you need to evaluate the expression in the most brackets first, then the next, and so on, working you way up + +You can evaluate code in a similar way, treating each operation (such as +-*/) as functions, doing the most deeply nested function first, then working up. +Each expression can be represented in this tree, then to show a whole program you can create a list of trees + +.NH 3 +Implementing AST's +.PP +As a prototype i will make a program that can take mathematical expressions and evaluate them, and allowing for functions (in the form f(x)). +It will do this via AST's + +Talk about the code + +show the code + + .NH 1 Design .NH 1 |