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diff --git a/content/blog/2023-02-02-exploring-hare.md b/content/blog/2023-02-02-exploring-hare.md deleted file mode 100644 index 42d90aa..0000000 --- a/content/blog/2023-02-02-exploring-hare.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,171 +0,0 @@ -+++ -date = 2023-02-02 -title = "Exploring the Hare Programming Language" -description = "A retrospective on my first time using the Hare Programming Language." -+++ - -## A Quick Note - -By no means am I a professional developer, so this post will be rather -short. I won't be going into depth on the specification or anything -that technical. - -Instead, I will simply be talking about how I (a relatively basic -hobbyist programmer) have been playing with Hare and what intrigues me -about the language. - -## Hare - -The [Hare](https://harelang.org) programming language is a -straightforward language that should look familiar if you've ever -programmed with C, Rust, or other languages that aim to build software -at the system-level. - -The Hare homepage states the following: - -> Hare is a systems programming language designed to be simple, stable, -> and robust. Hare uses a static type system, manual memory management, -> and minimal runtime. It is well-suited to writing operating systems, -> system tools, compilers, networking software, and other low-level, -> high performance tasks. - -I have found this all to be true while playing with it for the first -time today. In the next few sections, I'm going to walk through my -installation and first program. - -### Installation - -I'm currently running Alpine Linux on my Thinkpad, so the installation -was quite easy as there is a package for Hare in the `apk` -repositories. - -```sh -doas apk add hare hare-doc -``` - -However, I was able to install Hare from scratch on Fedora Linux a short -while ago, which was also very easy to do. If you need further -instructions and Hare doesn't have a package on your system, take a -look at the [Hare Installation](https://harelang.org/installation/) -page. - -### Creating a Test Project - -In order to play with the language, I created -[hare-test](https://git.sr.ht/~cmc/hare-projects) and will be putting -any of my Hare-related adventures in here. - -> **Update:** I also created a simple Hare program for creating a file -> from user input: -> [files.ha](https://git.sr.ht/~cmc/hare-projects/tree/main/item/files/files.ha) - -Luckily, Hare doesn't require any complex set-up tools or build -environment. Once you have Hare installed, you simply need to create a -file ending with `.ha` and you can run a Hare program. - -I created a file called `rgb.ha` in order to test out the -random number generation and passing parameters between functions. - -```sh -nano rgb.ha -``` - -Within this file, I was able to easily import a few of the [standard -library modules](https://harelang.org/tutorials/stdlib/): -`fmt`, `math::random`, and `datetime`. - -With these modules, I created two functions: - -1. `main`: This function calls the `generate_rgb` - function and then prints out the returned values. -2. `generate_rgb`: This function uses the current Unix epoch - time to generate a pseudo-random value and uses this value to create - three more random values between 0 and 255. These three numbers - represent a color in RGB format. - -> **Note**: Some syntax coloring may look odd, as Zola currently -> doesn't have a syntax highlighting theme for Hare. Instead, I'm -> using the C theme, which may not be exactly accurate when coloring the -> code below. - -```c -use datetime; -use fmt; -use math::random; - -export fn main() void = { - const rgb = generate_rgb(); - fmt::printfln("RGB: ({}, {}, {})", rgb[0], rgb[1], rgb[2])!; -}; - -fn generate_rgb() []u64 = { - // Use the current Unix epoch time as the seed value - let datetime = datetime::epochunix(&datetime::now()); - - // Generate initial pseudo-random value - // You must cast the datetime from int to u64 - let x = random::init(datetime: u64); - - // Generate RGB values between (0, 255) using pseudo-random init value - let r = random::u64n(&x, 255); - let g = random::u64n(&x, 255); - let b = random::u64n(&x, 255); - - // Structure data as array and return - let rgb_array: [3]u64 = [r, g, b]; - return rgb_array; -}; -``` - -### Running a Program - -Once you have a Hare file written and ready to run, you simply need to -run it: - -```sh -hare run file.ha -``` - -You can also compile the program into an executable: - -```sh -hare build -o example file.ha -./example -``` - -### Initial Thoughts - -1. Documentation Improvements Would Help - - While I was able to piece everything together eventually, the - biggest downfall right now in Hare's documentation. For such a new - project, the documentation is in a great spot. However, bare - specifications don't help as much as a brief examples section - would. - - For example, it took me a while to figure out what the - `u64n` function was looking for. I could tell that it - took two parameters and the second was my max value (255), but - couldn't figure out what the first value should be. Eventually, I - inspected the `random.ha` file in the [Hare source - code](https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/hare/tree/master/item/math/random/random.ha) - and found the test suite that helped me discover that it needed an - `init()` value in the form of `&var`. - -2. More Basic Modules - - This is another point that comes from Hare being new and awaiting - more contributions, but there are some basic functions that I would - personally enjoy seeing in Hare, such as one to convert decimal - (base 10) values to hexadecimal (base 16). - - If I'm feeling comfortable with my math, I may work on the list of - functions I want and see if any can make it into the Hare source - code. - -3. Overall Thoughts - - Overall, I actually really enjoy Hare. It's not as tedious to get a - project up and running as Rust, but it's also simpler and more - user-friendly than learning C. I am going to continue playing with - it and see if I can make anything of particular value. |