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Arc/Nu (github.com)
7 points by Pauan 4629 days ago | 12 comments


2 points by Pauan 4629 days ago | link

Arc/Nu is Lite Nu + other features. At the time of this post, those additional features include:

* redef/remac/extend

* defcall

* `var` for accessing global variables (I will probably change the name)

* implicit parameters

* utilities for inspecting/manipulating paths, such as cwd, dirname, basename, etc.

* an `import` macro for easily loading files

There are also some libraries in the lib/ subdirectory, and applications I've written in the app/ subdirectory.

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Why yet another branch on GitHub? I have three major projects right now:

1. The Nu compiler, which is used for Lite Nu and Arc/Nu. It's intended to be very compatible with Arc 3.1 while fixing bugs and making it possible to add additional features.

2. Arubic, which is my language based loosely on Arc.

3. arc2js which intends to allow you to execute Arc/Arubic code in the browser.

To put it another way, the three projects are essentially: Arc 3.1, Arubic, and JS. Arc/Nu is a part of project #1, but I got tired of implementing Arubic and arc2js, so I decided to add some convenience libraries on top of Lite Nu, which is a lot easier to do.

So now project #1 is split into two separate sub-projects: Lite Nu and Arc/Nu. Lite Nu is for people who just want Arc 3.1, period. No conveniences, no new features. Just Arc 3.1. Arc/Nu is for people who want Arc 3.1, but also want some shiny new features.

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2 points by kinleyd 4628 days ago | link

Just a suggestion, though I'm not sure what work it will involve: fwiw, why don't you let Arc/Nu be the pure Arc version and lite-nu be the extended version. The name Arc/Nu better reflects the closeness to Arc itself.

Great job on the two - I enjoyed testing and writing them up on Arc Lang Wiki. : )

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1 point by Pauan 4628 days ago | link

Because "lite" implies a lacking of something. I'm not entirely against changing the names, but simply swapping them won't work. Anybody have any suggestions for a name for the more "full featured" version of Nu?

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3 points by kinleyd 4628 days ago | link

A few wild ideas:

Extended Arc series: x-nu, x/nu ax-nu, ax/nu xa-nu, xa/nu xarc-nu, xarc/nu arcx-nu, arcx/nu

Others: a+-nu, a+/nu arc+-nu, arc+/nu

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2 points by rocketnia 4627 days ago | link

Gesundheit. ^_^ I think this arrangement might make it easier to compare your ideas:

     x-nu     x/nu
  
    xa-nu    xa/nu
    ax-nu    ax/nu
    a+-nu    a+/nu
  
  xarc-nu  xarc/nu
  arcx-nu  arcx/nu
  arc+-nu  arc+/nu
Of these, I think I like "xarc-nu" the best (or possibly "Xarc/Nu," for consistency with Arc/Nu), but I admit I find them all a bit confusing.

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2 points by kinleyd 4627 days ago | link

Thanks, Rocketnia. I had actually placed each pair on its own line with a carriage return, but the text editor kept removing it upon posting.

I came up with this list keeping Arc/Nu as the proposed name for the pure Arc implementation, and then was left with the '/Nu' slice as the only way to keep the product association. So that left only the Arc component to play with. My personal preference is ax/nu: a -> Arc and x -> extended. Ax/Nu also has the benefit of brevity, IMHO.

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1 point by akkartik 4627 days ago | link

Sounds like Xanadu.

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1 point by kinleyd 4628 days ago | link

I'll see if I can suggest a few names - have set my subconscious to search mode. :)

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2 points by kinleyd 4629 days ago | link

That's a great update, @Pauan. I will include the same in the Arc Lang Wiki.

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1 point by kinleyd 4624 days ago | link

@Pauan: I'm not sure what's changed, but when I select branch lite-nu, or arc/nu (and probably the other repos as well), and then click download, I get this message: "Sorry, there aren't any downloads for this repository."

The download as zip/tar.gz options appear to download only the master branch. This wasn't the case when I tried it earlier, and is likely to be problematic for new users.

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1 point by Pauan 4624 days ago | link

That's because there is no download. You're expected to clone the repo using git. But I'll see if I can fix that or something, thanks for the heads up.

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2 points by Pauan 4624 days ago | link

Strange... the only thing I changed was to add an Issues tab[1]. I'm not sure why it worked before (I never tried to download the repo, only clone it), or why it broke. I agree that downloading a zipped file can be easier than cloning a repo (not by much, though). In that case, I may need to start a new GitHub repo, where the master branch is Arc/Nu (or whatever I want to call it). That would also be the time to do the rename.

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* [1]: Yes, akkartik, it is possible, I figured it out not too long ago. :P

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