L is a programming language invented by Oscar Bonilla, Tim Daly, Jr., and [Larry McVoy] from [COMPANY: BitMover]. L is a compiled-to-byte-code language compiling to Tcl byte codes and thus leveraging the entire Tcl runtime. L is designed to peacefully coexist with Tcl. L functions may call Tcl procs and vice versa. They may also coexist in the same source file. L is a static weakly typed language with int, float, string, struct, array, and hash as first-class objects. The L syntax is reminiscent of C with a tiny bit of C++ thrown in. '''Home Page''': http://l.bitmover.com/ (redirects to the L wiki) '''Paper''': http://www.bitmover.com/lm/papers/l.pdf (November 2006) '''Mailing List''': http://lists.bitmover.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l (recently this has mostly carried automated messages from the BitKeeper repository; some months there has been a lot of spam; other traffic is low) ---- Getting L: * first download and build the BitKeeper free client ''bkf'' from http://www.bitkeeper.com/Hosted.Downloading.html * then follow the instructions at http://l.bitmover.com/wiki.cgi/17 - use bkf to fetch the public release The command bkf clone bk://tcl.bkbits.net/tcl_with_L tcl copies the source code to directory ''tcl'' After building Tcl, check the version with set tcl_patchLevel and build a compatible version of Tk. On 2008-01-01 the public release was still based on Tcl 8.5b2. ---- [AMG]: Has anyone played with L who would like to share his or her experiences? [RLH] Is there anything in L that we can co-opt for Tcl? [AMG]: Wasn't it the other way around? :^) Seriously, it should be very possible to embed L in a [Tcl] script, similar to how [C] can be embedded using [critcl]. And since L compiles down to the same [bytecode]s as Tcl, it should be able to [eval] a Tcl script. Tcl quoting is easier to use than C quoting, so let's hope that L has a Tcl quote mechanism, or else it could be quite difficult to embed a script. (I know; I've made the mistake of writing Tcl script inside C double quotes.) [slebetman]: What about top level byte-code compilation? L not only does this but for L to work Bitmover modified their Tcl interpreter to also do top level byte-code compilation. Any reason why this isn't done in the regular Tcl core? Bitmover's version of Tcl already does it. Interestingly the L interpreter is also a full Tcl interpreter. All they've done is added a second parser/compiler without removing the Tcl parser. The interpreter looks at the file extension to decide whether to start in Tcl or L mode. But you're allowed to switch to either mode explicitly in your programs by using the pseudo-comments ''#lang L'' and ''#lang tcl'' (in earlier versions these were ''#lang(L)'' and ''#lang(tcl)''). L looks and feels a lot like C with some Perl thrown in. ''I'm not sure about the Perl, but it was specifically designed to look and feel a lot like C. I believe Larry's goal is to create a language that gives the power and flexibility of Tcl/Tk, but in a form factor that can more easily be read by a C programmer. '' [Zarutian] 1. jan 2008 01:30 UTC: ''.. read by a C programmer.''. Why is that an essential requirement, please? Answer: Because that is the language Larry likes best. He spends a majority of his time reviewing code rather than writing code so he wants a language he can easily read. ---- '''Feb 9, 2007''' [Arlie L. Codina] Where can I download/get L? Will it run on MS Windows? Please email me at arlie_bcx@yahoo.com. [PT] You can obtain pre-built [tclkit] binaries that include L support from [http://www.patthoyts.tk/tclkit/tclkit.html#withell]. Look for Lkit binaries in the downloads. ---- [MJ] - In this google age, L might not be the best name for the language. Are there any plans for changing the name? ---- [stevel] - how about "ttl8" ? ;-) ---- !!!!!! %| [Category Language] |% !!!!!!