"emerging languages" entries

Emerging languages spotlight: Elm

Evan Czaplicki on breaking the HTML-CSS-JavaScript blockade with functional reactive programming.

Over the next few months I’ll be taking a look at new and emerging programming languages. The following piece is the first in this series.


The Elm Programming Language, created by Evan Czaplicki, tackles web interaction and takes on the big three — HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Czaplicki to talk about why he decided to take on this daunting project and how Elm could revolutionize web programming.

Czaplicki was working on a front-end web project and he was thinking about how is it that web development can be “so frustrating in a way it didn’t have to be.” That was the day Elm was born (he talks about that moment in this segment of our video interview).

Today’s websites bear virtually no resemblance to those from 10 years ago, so why are we using the same tools? Cyclical upgrades to HTML, CSS and JavaScript have certainly enhanced and improved upon older versions. HTML5 has taken some great leaps forward. But we’re still using the core.

Coming from a functional programming background led Czaplicki to think about web programming from the perspective of functional reactive programming. What is functional reactive programming? It takes away the idea that interaction between a website and user is static — updating only at certain moments or clicks — and inserts the capability to update as events happen, like mouse movements. Czaplicki gives more detailed insight here. Read more…

Top stories: July 18-22, 2011

Google+ is a social backbone, how to fix the patent mess, and programming well with others.

This week on O'Reilly: We examined the deeper and broader implications of Google+, four solutions to the patent quagmire were offered up, and we learned about the "art of mass organizational manipulation."

Emerging languages show off programming’s experimental side

Alex Payne previews the OSCON 2011 Emerging Languages track.

Alex Payne, organizer of OSCON's Emerging Languages track, discusses language experimentation and whether these efforts are evolutionary or revolutionary. He also reveals the one language whose continued popularity surprises him most.

Emerging languages show off programming's experimental side

Alex Payne previews the OSCON 2011 Emerging Languages track.

Alex Payne, organizer of OSCON's Emerging Languages track, discusses language experimentation and whether these efforts are evolutionary or revolutionary. He also reveals the one language whose continued popularity surprises him most.

Why a JavaScript hater thinks everyone needs to learn JavaScript in the next year

JavaScript is now a necessity.

JavaScript is everywhere: servers, rich web client libraries, HTML5, databases, even JavaScript-based languages. If you've avoided JavaScript, this is the year to learn it. And if you don't, you risk being left behind.

Poetry of code

New expressive languages pursue simplicity, consistency and play.

In the final post in his Emerging Languages Camp series, John Labovitz examines the new wave of expressive languages. These are the programming forms that encourage openness, a sense of play and a pleasure of work.

New languages get pragmatic

Safety and reliability are hallmarks of many upstart programming languages.

Safety, security and reliability were common themes at the recent Emerging Languages Camp. In this piece, John Labovitz examines the thread of pragmatism that runs through many of the new programming languages discussed at the camp.

Parsing signals from the Emerging Languages Camp

From concurrency to communications: A look at the concepts shaping new programming languages.

Map/reduce, concurrency and communications were among key concepts that consistently popped up during OSCON's Emerging Languages Camp. In this post, John Labovitz digs into these concepts and he considers the unique legacy of languages: influence, not application, is often the footprint.

The next wave of programming languages

Alex Payne previews the first Emerging Languages Camp.

The upcoming OSCON conference will showcase a host of new programming languages in the first Emerging Languages Camp. Alex Payne, BankSimple co-founder and the Camp's co-organizer, explains why new languages emerge and he reveals which languages have captured his attention.

Does the world need another programming language?

Rob Pike on how and why Google's new Go language was developed.

In this Q&A, Google principal engineer Rob Pike discusses development of Go, a new programming language. He also looks at the current state of programming languages and explains why we're in the midst of a language "renaissance."