By reboltutorial
via c2.com
Published: Jul 05 2009 / 14:47
Especially considered in historical context, each of the languages and language creators listed here had a unique insight that changed the way we thought about programming.
Rebol: A multi-paradigm (symbolic, functional, OO) messaging language; designed for the semantic exchange of information between people and machines. Draws some concepts and features from other languages: Duality of code and data (Lisp), complete extensibility (Forth), raw usability and light syntax in a functional language (Logo). It is a meta-language like Forth, but with full reflective capabilities (it is a meta-circular language). Supports 40+ datatypes, including things like email, url, money, pair, and more. These are not classes or objects, they are native types recognized directly by their lexical form. In support of the messaging concept, REBOL contains a function called parse which you can use to build dialects (embedded languages). Parse, itself, uses a BNF-like dialect to specify grammars and you can use any of REBOL's datatypes as tokens to be recognized. The concept of pseudo-types, different than inheritance, is unique as well (AFAIK).
Add your comment