Programming with Unicon [pdf]

by AlexeyBrin • 4 years ago

54 18 4 years ago

After a quick skim, it looks like Unicon is pretty much Icon (which had an unusual-for-the-time failure-driven control-flow option) + objects + "batteries included" libraries for graphics, networking, etc. Have I missed anything?

mananaysiempre2• 4 years ago

The different name was explicitly demanded by the original Icon developers[1]:

  We did not want to invent a new language at all, but are marketing Unicon as a new language at the insistence of the Icon Project.

[1] https://unicon.sourceforge.io/faq.html

djmips5• 4 years ago

I beg people to stop naming their tech using common words.

KineticLensman• 4 years ago

'Unicon' isn't a common word. It has a red-squiggly-line misspelling warning as I am typing this comment.

djmips5• 4 years ago

My bad. I autocorrected it in my mind.

mananaysiempre2• 4 years ago

I, on the other hand, would like people to stop naming their albums and songs using my Google search terms, but I suspect we’re both going to be disappointed :)

djmips5• 4 years ago

This^

mhd• 4 years ago

Given sufficient languages and pronunciations, any word is indistinguishable from a common one. ;)

Apart from what others already pointed out about this not being "Unico_r_n", what's the alternative? Acronyms? Names? Compound nouns? Any of that, plus a prefix? ("JSomeJavaSoftware", "iAmRidingOnApplesCoattails")

djmips5• 4 years ago

I was wrong about the name...

I'd like people to invent words or at least pick from ones not in everyday use.

benj111• 4 years ago

Ah yes unicon. That ultra common word. So common, that gets autoincorrected to unicorn on my phone.

djmips5• 4 years ago

My bad. I autocorrected it in my mind. I deserve the lashings.

open-source-ux• 4 years ago

This is the first time Unicon has made it to the HN front page. I find it interesting a language with more than 20 years of history is barely mentioned in HN discussions over the years. (Try a HN search to see yourself). Just an observation how some languages struggle with visibility.

One of the creator's of Unicon is Clint Jeffery who has published a recent book: Build Your Own Programming Language (Dec 2021)

https://www.packtpub.com/product/build-your-own-programming-...

uniconfan• 4 years ago

Clint is a good teacher. At the University of Idaho, compiler construction and design is a required course to get a computer science degree, and is the cause of many a delayed graduation. I wish I had studied seriously when I took his course, since his textbook includes garbage collection, but I did not and had to retake it with a different teacher who didn't include garbage collection (but still showed little mercy in other requirements for the compiler).

The University of Idaho Computer Science Department is full of professors who I feel should probably not be teaching at a state school in, well, Idaho, but probably do it because the campus is right next to some of the most beautiful wilderness in America and the satellite campus is right next to a Department of Energy lab, so those guys can teach classes part time.

This isn't even Clint's only hobby project. Check out his University webpage, he's done tons of interesting projects. That department is full of professors who, in no particular order:

* on a 2 person dev team got second place in the DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge, an AI/cybersecurity competition

* a professor who jointly runs a game dev studio with a biology professor to model adaptation in educational video games

* a cybersecurity professor who is probably a spook or spook-adjacent

* a digital forensics professor who has done exposes on spooks and got a house call from the FBI (best class I ever took was his host forensics course; dude was a wizard at it and, again, teaches at UI because it's the only university he can teach at part time due to proximity)

After studying there I'm not so quick to judge schools based on name recognition, because the degree requirements at UI seem harder than many other big name schools, and every professor in our department was just so damn interesting. I don't think I'll ever write a compiler again, except for fun, but now that it's over, I'm glad I did it.

teleforce• 4 years ago

It seems that this is the only book that covered compiler, interpreter and DSL in one book.

Kudos to University of Idaho, some of Computer Science schools are abandoning compiler design class and teach programming in Python.

nyankosensei• 4 years ago

The main webpage provides more info about the Unicon language:

http://www.unicon.org/

felixr• 4 years ago

Also https://btiffin.users.sourceforge.net/up/unicon.html#the-uni...

adam-a• 4 years ago

That homepage is straight outta 2002! Oh my

andsoitis• 4 years ago

Software designs are mathematical theorems, while programs are proofs that test those designs.

Programming with Unicon [pdf]

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