DEV Community: Ethan Olchik

Peregrine Update - The Python-like programming language that's as fast as C++

Ethan Olchik — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 22:31:09 +0000

"Blazing-Fast Language for the Blazing-Fast World" - Peregrine Motto

Introduction

Hey guys, it's been a long time! If you don't already know me, my name is Ethan and I'm one of a few Peregrine Programming Language developers. Over the past few months, we've managed to surpass the progress in the 1st write (code for the 1st write has been deleted) and add new features. This post will be discussing the progress that has been made.

About Peregrine

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 11 friends have been working on Peregrine for the past few months. Peregine's syntax is very similar to Python's, and it gets trans-compiled to C++, thus making it as fast as C++. Some of you may know Peregrine as the "Language that's as fast as C", however we've decided to trans-compile it to C++ instead of C.

New Language Features

Class

After a lot of work, classes have been added to Peregrine. They essentially act the same way you'd expect them to act in python. Here's a quick example:

class Vector3:
    x: int
    y: int
    z: int
    def __init__(self, x, y, z):
        self.x = x
        self.y = y
        self.z = z

def main() -> int:
    v: Vector3 = Vector3(1, 2, 3)
    printf("x=%d, y=%d, z=%d", v.x, v.y, v.z)
    return 0

This is pretty self-explanatory. If you put this code into python, you'd just have to change printf to print and change the string formatting and then it works like a charm.

Classes also have magic methods that allow operator overloading, iterators, context managers etc.

Enum

Enums have also been added to Peregrine. They work like any other enum in any other language.

enum RGB:
    RED = 144,
    GREEN,
    BLUE = 200,
    OTHER = GREEN+9,

Here, RGB.GREEN = 155, because the value is defaulted to the previous value + 1. RGB.OTHER = 164, because 155+9=164.

Union

Unions, like in C, C++ etc... are data types that allows the storage of different data types in the same memory location.

union abc:
    a: int
    b: int
    c: int

def main() -> int:
    _x: abc
    x: *abc = &abc
    x->a = 1
    x->b = 2
    x->c = 3
    return 0

NOTE: you don't have to create a pointer to a variable of type abc in order to assign and access it's fields.

custom decorators

Peregrine supports user-defined decorators, just like Python. Here's an example that's taken from can_comp.pe, but slightly modified to improve readability (that file is hardcoded):

type a = def(int)->int
type g = def(int)
def decorator(func: a) -> g:
    h: int = 9
    def value(c:int):
        h = 8
        printf("%d\n", h)
        printf("Answer is %d\n", func(c))
    return value

variable: int = 9

@decorator
def dec_test(x:int) -> int:
    return x*x

def main() -> int:
    dec_test(10)
    return 0

As you can see here, you must define a type for the function being decorated and a type for the return type of the decorator (should return a function).

The program would output Answer is 100.

You can find some more code examples in can_comp.pe

Planned features

Here are some features that are planned to be implemented into peregrine before the first release:

Structs
Python ecosystem in Peregrine
- You will be able to use any python module in Peregrine
Imports
Standard Library

Conclusion

Peregrine is planned to release version 0.0.1 sometime between March and April, 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!

Peregrine Rewrite - The python-like language that's as fast as C

Ethan Olchik — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 17:31:42 +0000

Hey guys!
My name is Ethan, and I'm one of 12 Peregrine developers. Some of you may already know what Peregrine is, some of you don't, but this article is going to explain the current state at where Peregrine is at.

What is Peregrine

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 12 other friends have been working on Peregrine for the past few months, starting as a hobby project. Peregine's syntax is very similar to Python's, and it gets trans-compiled to C, thus making it as fast as C.

Update on Peregrine's current status

Name

Peregrine's name has been getting more popular ever since I posted my last article, and a lot of things has been changed. The most noticeable thing that has changed is the name. A lot of people recommended a name change from Swallow, so it is now called Peregrine which we think suits the language more.

Rewrite

You probably already know this from the title - Peregrine is getting a rewrite. We are writing this in Python. The Lexer is already complete. We are going to rebuild the parser and codegen so it will be more efficient, and hopefully faster. This is all being done on a different branch.

Peregrine as a scripting language

Peregrine uses tcc as a secondary backend to allow it to be used as a scripting language. It uses vlibtcc which is a V wrapper for libtcc. It was implemented yesterday and is still at a very early stage. Some features do not work with it, so it is not recommended to use it at this stage, however it will be updated and fixed in the rewrite.

FAQ

Q: Is Peregrine a hobby project?

A: As of 9/10/2021, Peregrine is no longer a hobby project.

Q: Can I join the developer team?

A: Peregrine is not in need of new Developers at the moment, however you can always contribute to the repository.

Q: Is there a discord server?

A: Yes, you can join it by clicking here

Q: Why not contribute to Nim or Julia?

A: Peregrine has different goals than Nim and Julia. They also achieve different things in different ways.

Q: Will all python modules be compatible with Peregrine?

A: Yes, that's the plan. It will take a long time to implement as it is a difficult task, however it will be there.

Got any more questions that you would like to be answered?

You can open a new discussion that discusses your questions. You can also email saptakbhoumik@gmail.com, or join our discord server

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. Please make sure you contribute to the rewrite branch, as we are going to replace the main branch with the rewrite.

Thanks so much for reading <3!

The Peregrine programming language - A Python-like language that's as fast as C.

Ethan Olchik — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 05:45:39 +0000

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.

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!

DEV Community: Ethan Olchik

Peregrine Update - The Python-like programming language that's as fast as C++

Introduction

About Peregrine

New Language Features

Class

Enum

Union

custom decorators

More

Planned features

Conclusion

Peregrine Rewrite - The python-like language that's as fast as C

What is Peregrine

Update on Peregrine's current status

Name

Rewrite

Peregrine as a scripting language

FAQ

Q: Is Peregrine a hobby project?

A: As of 9/10/2021, Peregrine is no longer a hobby project.

Q: Can I join the developer team?

A: Peregrine is not in need of new Developers at the moment, however you can always contribute to the repository.

Q: Is there a discord server?

A: Yes, you can join it by clicking here

Q: Why not contribute to Nim or Julia?

A: Peregrine has different goals than Nim and Julia. They also achieve different things in different ways.

Q: Will all python modules be compatible with Peregrine?

A: Yes, that's the plan. It will take a long time to implement as it is a difficult task, however it will be there.

Got any more questions that you would like to be answered?

Conclusion

The Peregrine programming language - A Python-like language that's as fast as C.

About

Peregrine

Python

Peregrine:

Python:

What's new?

Type Inference

if/else/match

New-ish Features

Ccode

Inline Assembly

More

Planned Features

Conclusion