Arc (programming language): Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Open-source programming language}}

{{Distinguish|ARC Macro Language}}

{{Infobox programming language

| name = Arc

| logo = <!-- Filename only -->

| logo sizecaption =

| screenshot = <!-- Filename only -->

| paradigm =

| screenshot caption =

| released = {{start date and age|2008}}

| paradigms = [[Multi-paradigm programming language|Multi-paradigm]]: [[Functional programming|functional]], [[Metaprogramming|meta]], [[Procedural programming|procedural]]

| family = [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]]

| designer = [[Paul Graham (programmer)|Paul Graham]]

| developers = Paul Graham, Robert Morris,<br />Arc [[Community of practice|community]]

| latest release version = 3.2 / {{Start date and age|2018|10|28|df=yes}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://arclanguage.org/item?id=20772|title=Arc Forum {{!}} Tell Arc: Arc 3.2|website=arclanguage.org|access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref>

| released = {{startStart date and age|2008|01|29|df=yes}}

| typing = [[dynamic typing|dynamic]]

| latest release version = 3.2

| influenced =

| latest release versiondate = 3.2 / {{Start date and age|2018|10|28|df=yes}}<ref>{{Citecite web |url=http://arclanguage.org/item?id=20772 |title=Arc Forum {{!}}: Tell Arc: Arc 3.2 |website=arclanguageArclanguage.org |access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref>

| license = [[Artistic License|Artistic License 2.0]]

| latest preview version =

| website = {{URL|http://arclanguage.org/}}

| latest preview date = <!-- {{Start date and age|201Y|MM|DD|df=yes}} -->

| typing = [[dynamicDynamic typing|dynamicDynamic]]

| scope =

| programming language = [[Racket (programming language)|Racket]], [[Common Lisp (programming language)|Common Lisp]]

| platform = [[IA-32]], [[x86-64]]

| operating system = [[Linux]]

| license = [[Artistic License|Artistic License]] 2.0]]

| file ext = .arc

| file format = <!-- or: | file formats = -->

| website = {{URL|http://arclanguage.org/}}

| implementations = Arc, Anarki, Arcadia, Rainbow

| dialects =

| influenced by = [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]]

| influenced =

}}

'''Arc''' is a [[dialectprogramming language]], a [[Dialect (computing)|dialect]] of the language [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], developed by [[Paul Graham (computer programmer)|Paul Graham]] and [[Robert Tappan Morris|Robert Morris]]. It is [[free and open-source software]] released under the [[Artistic License]] 2.0.

== History ==

In 2001, [[Paul Graham (computer programmer)|Paul Graham]] announced that he was working on a new [[dialectDialect (computing)|dialect]] of [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] named "''Arc"''. Over the years since, he has written several essays describing features or goals of the language, and some internal projects at Graham's [[Startup company|startup]] [[business incubator]] named [[Y Combinator]] have been written in Arc, most notably the [[Hacker News]] web forum and news aggregator program. Arc itself is written in [[Racket (programming language)|Racket]].<ref>{{Citecite web |url=http://arclanguage.org/install |title=Arc Forum {{!}}: install |website=arclanguageArclanguage.org |access-date=2018-11-07}}</ref>

==Motives==

In the essay ''Being Popular''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paulgraham.com/popular.html |title=Being Popular |last=Graham |first = Paul |date=May last2001 |website=PaulGraham.com Graham|access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref> Graham describes a few of his goals for the language. While many of the goals are very general ("Arc should be hackable", "there should be good [[Library (computing)|libraries]]"), he did give some specifics. For instanceexample, he believes that it is important for a language to be terse:

{{Quote | It would not be far from the truth to say that a hacker about to write a program decides what language to use, at least subconsciously, based on the total number of characters he'll have to type. If this isn't precisely how hackers think, a language designer would do well to act as if it were.}}

He also stated that it is better for a language to only implement a small number of "''axioms"'', even when that means the language may not have features that large organizations want, such as [[Object-oriented programming|object-orientation]] (OO). In factFurther, Graham feelsthinks that OO is not useful as its methods and [[Software design pattern|patterns]] are just "good design", and he seesviews the language features used to implement OO as partiallypartly mistaken.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.paulgraham.com/noop.html |title=Why Arc Isn't Especially Object-Oriented |last=Graham |first = Paul | last website= GrahamPaulGraham.com | accessdateaccess-date= 20132018-0112-2305}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.paulgraham.com/arcfaq.html |title= Arc FAQ |last=Graham |first =Paul | last website= GrahamPaulGraham.com | accessdateaccess-date=20132018-0112-2305}}</ref> At Arc's introduction in 2008, Graham stated one of its benefits was its brevity.<ref>{{cite webmagazine |urllast=Huber |first=Mathias |date=2008-02-08 |url=http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Arc-Makes-Programs-Shorter |title=Arc Makes Programs Shorter |magazine=Linux newspaperMagazine |___location=Lawrence, Kansas |publisher=Linux magazineNew Media USA |access-date=2018-11-25}}</ref>

A controversy among Lisp programmers is whether, and how much, the [[Ss-expression]]s of the language should be complemented by other forms of [[syntax]]. Graham feelsthinks that additionaladded syntax should be used in situations where pure Ss-expressions would be overly verbose, saying, "I don't think we should be religiously opposed to introducing syntax into Lisp." Graham also feelsthinks that efficiency problems should be solved by giving the programmer a good [[profilingProfiling (computer programming)|profiler]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paulgraham.com/langdes.html |title=Five Questions About Language Design |last=Graham |first=Paul |date=May 2001 |website=PaulGraham.com |access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref>

=== Reception ===

UponWhen its releasereleased in 2008, Arc generated mixed reactions, with some calling it simply an extension to Lisp or [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]] and not a programming language in its own right. Others applauded Arc for stripping Lisp down to bare essentials. Shortly after its release, Arc was ported to [[JavaScript]], asand well aswas being supported by ''Schemescript'', an [[integrated development environment]] (IDE) based on [[Eclipse (IDEsoftware)|Eclipse]].<ref>{{cite web | work = The Register |url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/07/lisp_arc_challenge/ |title=Web datepioneer hits critics with Lisp gauntlet |website=The Register |date=2008-02-07 | place = [[United Kingdom|UK]] | title= Web pioneer hits critics with Lisp gauntlet}}</ref>

== Examples ==

[["Hello, World!" program|Hello world]] in Arc :

<sourcesyntaxhighlight lang="lisp">

(prn "Hello, World")

</syntaxhighlight>

</source>

A program used by Paul Graham toTo illustrate Arc's terseness.<ref>{{cite, web|url=Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/arcchallenge.htmluses |title=a Take the Arc Challenge | first = Paul | last = Graham}}</ref>brief program. It produces a form with one field at the url "/said". When the form is submitted, it leads to a page with a link that says "click here", which itselfthen leads to a page with the value of the original input field.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paulgraham.com/arcchallenge.html |title=Take the Arc Challenge |last=Graham |first=Paul |date=February 2008 |website=PaulGraham.com |access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref>

<sourcesyntaxhighlight lang="lisp">

(defop said req

(aform [onlink "click here" (pr "you said: " (arg _ "foo"))]

(input "foo")

(submit)))

</syntaxhighlight>

</source>

==Versions==

===Official version===

The first publicly released version of Arc was made available on 29 January 2008,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.paulgraham.com/arc0.html |title=Arc's Out |last=Graham |first = Paul |date=29 lastJanuary 2008 |website=PaulGraham.com Graham|access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref> implemented on top of [[Racket (programming language)|Racket]] ("named PLT-Scheme" at that timethen). The release comes in the form of a [[Tar (computing)|.tar archive]] archive, containing the Racket [[source code]] for Arc. A tutorial<ref>{{Citation|last=|first=|title=Arccite web Tutorial|volume=|pages=|contribution=Tutorial|contribution-url=http://www.arclanguage.org/tut.txt |title=Arc Tutorial |author=<!-- Unstated. --> |date=<!-- Unstated. --> |publisherwebsite=Paul Graham |access-date=2018-12-05}}.</ref> and a discussion forum<ref>{{cite web |url= http://arclanguage.org/forum |title=Arc Forum |workwebsite= Arc language}}</ref> are also available. The forum uses the same program that [[Hacker News]] does, and is itself written in Arc.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

=== Unofficial versions ===

Due to lack of updates in the official Arc branch, some members of the Arc [[Community of practice|community]] started unofficialtheir own repositories with unofficial emendationsmodifications, extensions, and libraries. One version, '''Anarki''',<ref>{{cite web |url= https://github.com/arclanguage/anarki |title=Anarki work |last= Arc languageRapp |first=Kenneth title(kennethrapp) |date=14 Anarki|November publisher2018 |website=GitHub |access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref> permitted<ref>{{cite web |url= http://arclanguage.org/item?id=17707| work =Arc Forum | title = Announcement: anarki is no longer world-committable |last=Agaram publisher|first=Kartik (akkartik) |date=27 May 2013 |website=Arc Forum |publisher=Arc language |access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref> anyone to submit changes to the project and has a community managed wiki.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://sites.google.com/site/arclanguagewiki |title= Arc Lang Wiki| publisher |author=<!-- GoogleUnstated. --> |date=<!-- workUnstated. =--> |website=Sites |access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref>

''Rainbow''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/conanite/rainbow |title=Rainbow |last=Dalton |first=Conan (conanite) |date=12 October 2010 |website=GitHub |access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref> is an implementation of Arc in [[Java (programming language)|Java]].

'''Rainbow'Arcadia''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/conanitekimtg/rainbow| workArcadia |title= ConaniteArcadia |last=Kim title |first=Taegyoon Rainbow(kimtg) |date=19 publisherAugust =2018 |website=GitHub |access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref> is an implementation of Arc in [[JavaC (programming language)|JavaC]].

'''Arcadia'Arc++''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/kimtg/ArcadiaArcpp |title=Arcpp work |last= KimtgKim |first=Taegyoon title(kimtg) |date=13 Arcadia|August publisher2023 |website= GitHub |access-date=2023-08-13}}</ref> is an implementation of Arc in [[C (programming language)|C++]].

===Timeline of LISP Dialects===

{{Lisp}}

==References==

{{reflist Reflist|64em}}

==External links==

*{{Official website|arclanguage.org}}

*[http://www.arclanguage.org/tut.txt Tutorial]

*{{GitHub|arclanguage/anarki|Anarki}}

{{Lisp programming language}}