ape

A dynamic, general-purpose programming language

Why?

This is a recreational project, so the main goal is having fun, studying language design and exploring various subjects related to it.

Features

Here a few snippets documenting the feature set of the ape programming language.

Variables and types

let age = 1;
let name = "Ape";
let result = 10 * (20 / 2);

Arrays

let array = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
array[0] // => 1

Maps (Hashes)

let person = {"name": "John", "age": 25};
person["name"] // => "John"

Functions

let sum = fn(a, b) { return a + b; };
sum(1, 2);

Functions (implicit return)

let prod = fn(a, b) { a * b; };
prod(1, 2);

Functions (real-world example)

let fibonacci = fn(n) {
  if (n == 0) {
    0
  } else {
    if (n == 1) {
      1
    } else {
      fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2);
    }
  }
};

Functions (higher-order)

let twice = fn(f, x) {
  return f(f(x));
};

let increment = fn(x) {
  return x + 1;
};

twice(increment, 5); // => 7

Status

Currently the lexer, ast, parser and an interpreter are implemented. A full-fledged compiler is currently in the works.

Editor Support

Currently the only editor supporting Ape is the one I am using for developing it. To add support to VSCode for Ape, install the official Ape Lang extension.

Requirements

This project requires zero external dependencies, except the Go language compiler if you ever want to build it.

Benchmark

Compiling the benchmark util

go build -o benchmark.out ./benchmark

Running benchmarks

compiler + vm

./benchmark.out

interpreter

./benchmark.out -engine=eval

Contributing

As this language is still being actively designed and developed, contribution would not be practical. That said, fixes and improvements are always welcome.