🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <pecora-1704960936190001@lou-pecora.nrl.navy.mil>,
Louis M. Pecora <pecora@zoltar.nrl.navy.mil> wrote:
>In article <Dpyro4.8o9@news.hawaii.edu>, phinely@Hawaii.Edu (Peter Hinely)
>wrote:
>
>[cut]
>> Some languages have typing systems that don't fit in the conventional molds.
>> 
>> For example in Dylan:
>> 
>>   define variable *my-variable* = 0;
>> 
>> binds *my-variable* to the integer object 0.
>> 
>> The binding of *my-variable* can be later be changed to refer to an 
>> object of any class (i.e. floating point numbers, strings, collections, even 
>> classes and functions).
>> 
>> You can however specify type information for variables that you declare, 
>> which limits their type:
>> 
>>   define variable *my-variable* :: <integer> = 0;
>> 
>> In this case, the binding of *my-variable* can be only be changed to refer 
>> to another integer.
>> 
>> 
>> This type system allows Dylan programs to be prototyped rapidly without
>> type information.  Type information can later be added in, which the
>> compiler can use to optimize the program better, giving you the best of 
>> both worlds:  rapid development and good performance in your final program.
>
>All very nice. And truly Dylan sounded great when I read a short article
>about it in Byte.  But isn't it dead?  What will happen to all those
>Apple/IBM generated languages (Dylan, Denali, others?) as Java heats up? 
>Only OpenDoc sounds viable (and very interesting).
>
>-- 

At Apple, Dylan is a state of limbo, though they have given Digitool 
(developers of Macintosh Common Lisp) a contract to make the Apple Dylan 
Technology Release development environment PowerPC-native.  The 
PowerPC-native version of the Apple Dylan TR is expected to be released 
in August.  (Note:  The Apple Dylan TR already generates PowerPC-native 
code, it's just the development enviroment that is not native.)

Harlequin and Carnegie Mellon University are still hard at work on their 
versions of Dylan.  Harlequin is expected to release their Windows NT/95 
DylanWorks within the next few months.  The release of CMU's Gwydion 
project (for Unix) is farther away.

As to what will become of Dylan, I cannot predict.  Perhaps if Sun and 
Apple merge someday, they will outfit Dylan for the web and rename it 
Java II.  ;-)