dyon

A rusty dynamically typed scripting language

Tutorial
Dyon-Interactive
Dyon Snippets
/r/dyon

Dyon script files end with .dyon.

To run Dyon script files from command line, type:

cargo install --example dyonrun dyon

Then, to run a script file you type:

dyonrun <file.dyon>

Editor-plugins

Dyon for Atom
Dyon for Vim
Dyon for Visual Studio Code

List of features

Array arr := [a, b, c] with lookup arr[0] and lookup with array of indices arr[[0, 0]]
Object obj := {x: a, y: b}
Number (f64) n := 5.3
Boolean t := true
Link link { 1 2 "hi" false }
Custom Rust objects using Arc<Mutex<Any>>
Functions without return fn foo() { ... } and with return fn foo() -> { ... return x }
Functions as mathematical expresisons f(x) = x / (x - 1)
Optional namespaces with shared aliases ns program::example::test
Lifetime checker (no garbage collector is needed) fn foo(mut a, b: 'a) { a.x = b }
Return lifetime fn id(x: 'return) -> { return x }
Mutability checker fn foo(mut a) { bar(mut a) }
Checks type at runtime when mutating variable a = 2.0 // ERROR: Expected assigning to number
Objects inserts new key with a.x := 0 and checks existence and type with a.x = 0
Named argument syntax based on snake case foo(bar: b) is equal to foo__bar(b)
If expression a := if b < c { 0 } else { 1 }
For loop for i := 0; i < 10; i += 1 { ... }
Short For loop for i 10 { ... } and with offset for i [2, 10) { ... }
Infer range from loop body for i { println(list[i]) }
Packed loop for i, j { println(list[i][j]) }
∑/sum, ∏/prod, min, max, sift, ∃/any, ∀/all loops
Secrets derived from loops why(any i { list[i] > 3 })
Link loop
Infinite loop loop { ... }
Unlabeled break loop { break } and unlabeled continue loop { continue }
Labeled break 'a: loop { break 'a } and labeled continue 'a: loop { continue 'a }
Use return as a variable without exiting return = 8
Dynamic modules m := unwrap(load("script.dyon")) then call(m, "main", [])
Import to module prelude m := unwrap(load(source: "script.dyon", imports: [window, graphics]))
Add a custom Rust function using Module::add
Option values with none() or some(x)
Result values with ok(x) or err(x)
? operator to propagate errors, e.g. x := foo()?, maps option to result automatically
unwrap(x) prints trace of propagated error
functions() returns sorted list of all available functions in a module
Optional type system fn could(list: []) -> f64
Ad-hoc types fn players() -> [Player str] { ... }
Current objects fn render() ~ world { ... }
Go-like coroutines with go thread := go foo()
In-types concurrency receiver := in foo with for-in loops for x in a {print(x[0]}
Closures \(x) = x + 1
Grab expressions \(x) = (grab a) + x
4D vectors with f32 precision (x, y, z, w)
4D matrices with f32 precision mat4 {1,2,3,4; 5,6,7,8; 9,10,11,12; 13,14,15,16}
Un-loop for 4D vectors vec4 i f(i)
Unpack 4D vectors f(xy v)
Swizzle 4D vectors (yxz v, 1)
HTML hex colors #fab3ee
Meta parsing
Macros for embedding in Rust dyon_fn!{fn say_hello() { println!("hi!"); }}

Why the name Dyon?

Dyon is a hypothetical particle predicted by several grand unified theories in physics with both electrical and magnetic charge. See this Wikipedia article for more information.

The name Dyon fits because, just like the particle, there are things that are yet to be discovered about language design. However, this language was not born out of a grand new vision, but is the result of exploring and testing new ideas.

Motivation and goals

Sven Nilsen started this project in early 2016. The idea was to make a simple, but convenient scripting language that integrated well with Rust.

During the first week of coding, a way to do lifetime checking on function arguments was discovered
A different approach to code organization was explored by adding the ability to dynamically load modules
For nice error handling, added option, result and ? operator
To test the design of the language, created a demo for interactive coding
Mutability check to improve readability
Short For loop to improve readability and performance
Mathematical loops and Unicode symbols to improve readability
Go-like coroutines to add multi-thread support
4D vectors with unpack and swizzle to make 2D and 3D programming easier
Html hex colors to make copying colors from image editors possible
Optional type system to help scaling a project
Ad-hoc types for extra type safety
Current objects to improve prototyping and tailored environments
Macros for easier embedding with Rust
Secrets to automatically derive meaning from mathematical loops
Closures that can be printed out, use current objects and grab from closure environment
Type safety for secrets, easy load/save of Dyon data
Link loop for easier and faster code generation and templates
In-types for easy cross thread communication

Main goals:

Integrate well with Rust
Flexible way of organizing code

Performance will be optimized for the cycle:

coding -> parsing -> running -> debugging -> coding

Sub goals:

Safety

Non-goals:

Rust equivalent performance
Replace Rust to build libraries
Interfacing with other languages than Rust

License

Licensed under either of

Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) at your option.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.