> Will Red get direct access to Android's (and IOS later) camera, location, gyroscope, etc features?
> Absolutely, our GUI engine already features a camera widget (in our Windows backend). The work on Android backend in 0.6.x version will bring wrappers to all the common hardware features.
So yeah, I guess the plan would be to support all mobile features.
The current compiler was written with the aim of quick development till 1.0 is reached (because in the initial development phase, there are obviously many other important things to focus on). So, yeah the toolchain has some issues, eg. there are very few (if any) optimizations. Also, only 32 bit is supported.
There are AFAIK no plans to add 64 bit support before bootstrapping phase because the current toolchain architecture isn't that great and will be heavily improved during 1.x cycle.
Right now, it only compiles to 32 bit binaries (which can run on both 32 and 64 bit OS).
64 bit support will come after the compiler is bootstrapped.
> and cross compiles
Yup, easy cross compilation. You do not need different cross compilers for different platforms a la llvm and gcc, a single 1 mb binary can produce binaries for all supported platforms.
> No timeframe until we find someone to work on it. Though, we should be presenting Red at the GNOME global conf in China on October, so I hope we can find someone motivated and skilled enough there to work on it.
Sorry, i haven't looked at the website yet, so what I may be asking might be pretty vague and far from reality.
Is the bots api available over http (get/post/whatever)? If no, will it be possible to have one? It will allow a whole lot of programming languages to be used. Just authenticate your bot using some token generated by the website, and then run the bot on your own pc or some server. It will allow us to play with the website with our favourite programming language even if you guys don't officialy support it.
For eg. currently my favourite programming language is Red. It is still in alpha, and is relatively unknown to people, so I don't think that there are any chances to get it supported on the website. But api over http would allow me to play with it as well.
The current 0.6.0 release contains only Windows GUI. Linux and OSX support are a work in progress. Lots of stuff implemented, lots still missing. You can download qtxie's branch with the WIP code here -
https://github.com/qtxie/red/tree/MacOSX-GUI?files=1
Read the Readme file for instructions on how to compile red code using sources. For any questions -
https://gitter.im/red/red
1) Red - Small in size; Readable, compact and concise code. Its a powerful All-in-One Package with lots of great features as well as easy for newcomers. It can be used for low level as well as high level programming.
2) Rust - Its powerful concepts of borrowing and ownership, and its tight security features are just great. But its kinda verbose.
3) Nim - Clean, readable code. Fast compile times as well as compiled code. Lots of good ideas in it. Different gc's for different use cases are great.
Elixir is great. Simple and powerful. I just wish the size of the Erlang distribution was small so that I could use Elixir for desktop apps as well, as currently it would require a 100 mb VM for people to run even a 10 line script.
I have not used Elixir for anything big. I would really love to try elixir someday for bigger apps. Is there a Elixir-to-JS compiler somewhere? Nodejs is much smaller in size than BEAM. So distributing Elixir apps would be easier.
Yes, most of the examples look very limited compared to Lisp but there is Rebol / Red (http://www.red-lang.org/) which is atleast as powerful as Lisp in terms of homoiconicity (as well as in other things), if not more. Red/Rebol don't use sexps, don't look like this (((())))), are highly dynamic and homoiconic.
> RE the learning curve: Do you think the APL family can exist without the terse syntax?
So yes, I think that the APL family could exist without the terse syntax, but well hey, everything has its tradeoffs and all this is subjective - everyone has his own thinking - there might be someone in this world who in love with the APL syntax :D
Yes it was true. But not in this sense. The current IO support is minimal and temporary (IO is scheduled for 0.7.0). Also, the gui support is currently windows only (more OSes to come soon). So dockimbel and others meant that we should avoid over-exposure else it would lead to negative attention as there is a large bunch of devs on Linux and OSX platforms as well. The point is that lots of planned features are missing right now.
Although my personal opinion is that it is a good time to jump into Red because it is expected that Red 1.0 release date near about 1 year. So, learning Red, and finding bugs in it is gonna help you and both the project to advance further quickly and get ready for prime time action.
As rebolek said, yes, there is a layer. The blog states that
`Flexible backend support that can be mapped to virtually any kind of UI library.`
which means that the abstractions used are good enough to support different OS.
There are plans to support View (gui) on each platform (desktop/mobile) that Red supports. But it's going to take some time. Lots of other features to be added as well :D .
Red/Rebol is basically LISP without parentheses (highly dynamic and homoiconic). Syntax is weird but easy to grasp. Red/Rebol is basically a All-in-One Package as a tiny executable contains a lots of useful functions for which you would require the use of big, heavy libraries in C/C++.
Red/Rebol allows for very clean (subjective term!), short and concise code, which allows for easy long term maintenance and also leads to more work done in less amount of time.
The syntax is a big deviation than the imperative C-Style languages people are used to. But if you ask me, then well, it is for the good.
Red 0.6 featuring support for creating GUI's on Windows is going to be released soon. So, you can wait for that. Or else just download the automated build from http://www.red-lang.org/p/download.html and try the GUI. For any help, just join the Gitter room https://gitter.im/red/red .
> Will Red get direct access to Android's (and IOS later) camera, location, gyroscope, etc features?
> Absolutely, our GUI engine already features a camera widget (in our Windows backend). The work on Android backend in 0.6.x version will bring wrappers to all the common hardware features.
So yeah, I guess the plan would be to support all mobile features.