Hey guys!
I'm Ethan, I'm one of 10 Peregrine developers. This post is gonna be about some updates we've added into Peregrine lately.
About
If you know Python, you know how easy it is. However, it also comes with a big downgrade. Python is slow, and I'm pretty sure every python developer knows this by now. This is kind of annoying. That's where Peregrine comes in. Me and 8 other friends have been working on Peregrine for the past few months. Peregines syntax is very similar to Python's, and it gets trans-compiled to C, thus making it as fast as C. Below I've written 2 programs, one in Peregrine and one in Python.
Peregrine
def fib(int n) -> int :
if n <= 0:
return 1
return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)
def main():
count = 0 # Peregrine has type inference!
int res = 0
while count < 40:
res = fib(count)
count++
function return types can be omitted.
Python
def fib(n):
if n <= 0:
return 1
return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)
res = 0
for c in range(0, 40):
res = fib(c)
These two programs are almost the same, which makes it so easy for Python users to switch to. Now, you might be asking: "How much faster is Peregrine?" Well, to answer your question, here are the results:
Peregrine:
Executed in: 1.06 secs
Python:
Executed in: 32.30 secs
As you can see, Peregrine is significantly faster than Python. It is around 30x faster than python, without optimization when running this program.
What's new?
Here are some of Peregrine's newest features:
Type Inference
Type Inference is one of Pergrine's newest features. This allows Peregrine code to be written with simplicity.
if/else/match
Although this may seem like a standard feature in any programming language, it does take time to add these features which is why I'm acknowledging it. Not much to say about it since it's in every programming language.
New-ish Features
Let's talk more about the features that are currently available in Peregrine.
Ccode
Ccode allows C code to be ran in Peregrine. Here is an example:
def main():
x = 1
Ccode x++; Ccode
print("{x}\n") # prints 2
As you can see, any variables declared outside the Ccode block can be used within Ccode and vice versa. This also means you can import any C library through Ccode and use it in Peregrine.
Inline Assembly
You can also have inline assembly in Peregrine. Here is an example:
def main():
int arg1 = 45
int arg2 = 50
int add = 0
print("It should add 45 and 50 using asm and print it\n")
asm("addl %%ebx, %%eax;" : "=a" (add) : "a" (arg1) , "b" (arg2))
printf("%lld", add)
This prints 90, as expected.
More
You can find some more examples in the Peregrine test folder
Planned Features
- Structs
- More decorators for different purposes
- Python ecosystem in Peregrine
- You will be able to use any python module in Peregrine
Conclusion
Peregrine is planned to release version 0.0.1 sometime in March, so make sure to show some support by starring the repo and make sure to press on the "Watch" button so you don't miss any updates.
We would greatly appreciate any contributions, so if you find something that you can improve, open a pull-request! You can also check out our open issues
Thanks so much for reading!
Oldest comments (97)
looks very interesting
did you develop a GC or how are you handling memory?
Quick question Gui and swallow using python libs like tkinter etc... Will this come around with the planed feature of python ecosystem? If so I can see my self adopting this for a project I am working on at the moment😎
Hey cool Project, but why are you using the V?
can you also support
x:intsince you haveint xthoughxcan be inferred. That way all that I'd need to convert python to swallow is main method. 🙏I came here to say this. With python already supporting a syntax for types there isn't much point rolling your own.
Nim language project seems to be very similar to your goals.
Have you looked into that project? Wouldn't Nim's metaprogramming engine be able to reproduce the planned features in your project?
The difference between Nim and Python syntax-wise is approximately same as difference between the given examples of Swallow compared to Python. Yes, variable and procedure declaration is slightly different, but type signature syntax in Nim is more similar to Python's compared to Swallow.
The main question here is why is there a need for new programming language, when a very similar, more mature project exists? It would be more fruitful to improve an already existing project and that would bring greater good to programmers looking for Python like C language.
But of course, if the project's main motivation is learning about language design, parsing, compiling and just for fun, then it makes more sense. Since developing and launching a new language is a very challenging and risky task that will take years of maintenance and improvements, and even then it most likely will not get the traction between programmers to stay alive.
I have heard of Nim but to be honest I have not tried it. Seeing swallow, I think it is much more like C. It is as if I am writing C but sugar coated with python. I am writing C using python syntax (This sounds better). That is how I see it. I don't know much about language design, parsing, compiling or the rest but I have used python and JavaScript more as a back-end developer. So looking at Swallow (python-coated-C), it would stay alive, maybe in a small niche but it will still stay alive if it will revolve around python - for that I can say. I stand to be corrected.
Nim also compiles to C, so it's same as Swallow in that manner. Besides Nim is already released language where as Swallow isn't past v1 yet.
Also Nim can compile to JS too.
A python like language where you can seamlessly integrate assembly and c!? That's incredible I'm looking forward to trying this out!
Ethan please change the name if you only know that naming is important.
Please change it Rubik I love ruby since Ruby is dynamic if you add it the letter K will signify as for statice type language
Like Ruby(dynamic typed) Rubik or Rubyk(static typed).
We are discussing name changing right now
Because swallow is not marketable like , Shawshank redemption the movie, everyone agrees the movie is one of the best movies of all time, but the name killed the movie.
Since the comparison, I would have call it Cobra XD.
But yeah you need a name and file extension that are marketable.
There is a comment on this post that recommend to change the name, I am not a native English speaker, on my lang, that doesn't sound good, I am agree with that comment. Now, I guess to know what's the philosophy of your lang? I mean, what is the lang targeting to?