Aphid is a unique multiparadigm language that can be interpreted or compiled. Although it began as an embedded scripting language for the .NET framework, over the years it grew into a standalone .NET language, as well as the ability to be compiled into other languages such as Python, PHP, and Verilog.
Despite its growth beyond what was originally envisioned, Aphid still retains many of the properties typically specific to such languages. Namely, Aphid's entire implementation is a white-box, with its internals represented as a clean and easy to work with object model. This means that not only can new compilers and interpreters be created with ease, but Aphid programs can actually alter the semantics of the language at runtime.
The Aphid REPL can be run by launching the main executable without any arguments.
c:\Aphid>Aphid.exe
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Aphid Programming Language 0.6.6685.4918 ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
>>>using System
>>>Console.WriteLine('Hello world')
Hello world
>>>
Aphid scripts can be passed via command-line argument. Several samples are included in the \Samples folder.
c:\Aphid>type Samples\HelloWorld.alx
#'Std';
print('Hello, world');
c:\Aphid>Aphid.exe Samples\HelloWorld.alx
Hello, world
The samples range from the traditional hello world, as seen above, to more advanced language features. The custom operator example demonstrates how Medusa, Aphid's white-box capabilities, can be used to implement the safe navigation operator (?.) in one line.
c:\Aphid>type Samples\CustomOperatorExample.alx
#'Std';
#'Meta';
@?. (lhs, rhs) lhs != null ? lhs.{frame(1).exp().rhs().id()} : null;
var foo = {
bar: {
x: 10
}
};
foo?.bar?.x |> print;
foo.bar = null;
foo?.bar?.x |> print;
foo = null;
foo?.bar?.x |> print;
c:\Aphid>aphid Samples\CustomOperatorExample.alx
10
null
null
Builds of multiple other Aphid dialects are included. They are as follows:
- Boxelder: Aphid to Python
- Coywolf: Aphid to PHP
- AphidHdl: Aphid to Verilog
- Mantispid: Lexer/Parser Generation
These frontends demonstrate how a few hundred lines of code can not only offer an alternatve syntax to the target language, but extend the semantics in significant ways as well, enabling features like partial functiona application.
Boxelder allows for writing concise C-style functional code that is executed by the Python interpreter.
c:\Aphid\Aphid2Python>type HelloWorld.alx
#'BoxelderQuery';
items =
range(0, 100)
@where(@(x) x < 10 || x > 50)
@select(@(x) x * 2)
@selectMany(@(x) [ x, x * x ]);
items |> print;
f = @(x) { items |> x |> print; };
items @first(@(x) x > 100) print;
items @all(@(x) x > -1) print;
items @all(@(x) x > 10) print;
items |> count |> print;
items @take(4) print;
items @skip(4) @take(4) print;
items @concat([ 111, 222]) print;
[ 'foo', 'ba', 'r' ] |> addAll |> print;
'0x%x' % (0x10 << 4) |> print;
c:\Aphid\Aphid2Python>be.exe HelloWorld.alx
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Boxelder 0.5.6686.28404 ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
[i] Parsing 'HelloWorld.alx'
[+] File successfully parsed
[i] Compiling to Python
[+] Compilation successful, Python written to 'HelloWorld.py'
c:\Aphid\Aphid2Python>type HelloWorld.py
def var_func_00000008(x):
return (x > 10)
def var_func_00000007(x):
return (x > -1)
def var_func_00000006(x):
return (x > 100)
[...]
items = (lambda var_00000000:selectMany(var_func_00000003, var_00000000))((lambda var_00000001:select(var_func_00000004, var_00000001))((lambda var_00000002:where(var_func_00000005, var_00000002))(range(0, 100))))
print(items)
def f(x):
print(x(items))
print((lambda var_00000003:first(var_func_00000006, var_00000003))(items))
print((lambda var_00000004:all(var_func_00000007, var_00000004))(items))
print((lambda var_00000005:all(var_func_00000008, var_00000005))(items))
[...]
Coywolf offers several enhancements to PHP, such as a unified concat/addition operator (+), automatic closure capture, and automatic gator emit encoding.
c:\Aphid\Aphid2Php>type HelloWorld.alx
<%
#'CoywolfQuery';
square = @(x) x * x;
[ 0, 1, 3, 4 ] @select(square) @concat(', ') |> echo;
%>
c:\Aphid\Aphid2Php>cw.exe HelloWorld.alx
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Coywolf 0.5.6686.28404 ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
[i] Parsing 'HelloWorld.alx'
[+] File successfully parsed
[i] Compiling to PHP
[+] Compilation successful, PHP written to 'HelloWorld.php'
c:\Aphid\Aphid2Php>type HelloWorld.php
<?php
if (!function_exists('__add')) {
function __add($lhs, $rhs) {
return gettype($lhs) == 'string' || gettype($rhs) == 'string' ?
$lhs . $rhs :
$lhs + $rhs;
}
}
?><?php
[...]
$concat = function ($separator, $source) use (&$aggr, &$x, &$y) {
return call_user_func(
(function($id_00000003) use (&$aggr, &$x, &$separator, &$y) { return $aggr(function ($x, $y) use (&$separator) {
return __add(__add($x, $separator), $y);
}, $id_00000003); }),
$source);
};
$iter = function ($action, $source) {
foreach ($source as $x){
$action($x);
}
};
$square = function ($x) {
return ($x * $x);
};
echo call_user_func(
(function($id_00000004) use (&$concat) { return $concat(", ", $id_00000004); }),
call_user_func(
(function($id_00000005) use (&$select, &$square) { return $select($square, $id_00000005); }),
[0, 1, 3, 4]));
?>
The other dialects offer similar enhancements to their target languages.
Beyond compiler frontends, an early version of a Visual Studio extension can be found at VisualStudioExtension\AphidPackage.vsix. This package should be compatible with the full range of Visual Studio editions from 2012 to 2017. Note that the plugin is considered an early Alpha, and currently only offers syntax highlighting, error checking, and limited intellisense.
- Added lock keyword for thread synchronization.
- Added REPL namespace autocomplete for using statements.
- Updated REPL autocomplete to show property type in relevant results.
- Improved autocomplete performance, decreased flickering.
- Added interop support for user-defined implicit and explicit type conversion operators.
- Added REPL autocomplete max list size.
- Fixed REPL autocomplete bug in Windows 7 and prior.
- Made pipe operator context aware, so it can be used as a bit-wise or, or a pipeline depending on the operands.
- Added Aphid export stub compiler which adds export keyword support. When applied to an aphid function along with optional return and param type annotations, the compiler generates strongly typed stubs to further simplify CLR to Aphid interop.
- Major overhaul to AphidObject with improved type enforcement, interop compatibility, and serialization support.
- Significant improvements to AphidShell language inference.
- Restructured AphidShell remote script execution so results are buffered back on a per-command basis.
- Added quote preprocessor directive.
- Made process header console output conditional.
- Added CodeDom header, which offers idiomatic mappings and fluent interfaces for .NET CodeDom.
- Added machine header for collection system specs and resource usage.
- Updating remoting to behavior to save original connection details.
- Updated test loop script to support passing command-line args to target script.
- Fixed test loop script bug caused by detection of changes in files containing tilde in name.
- Fixed mutator coverage gap in extension declarations.
- Fixed strict-mode compliance issues.
- Fixed AphidShell remoting regression.
- Fixed bug in arg parsing.
- Cleaned up Mantispid error handling.
- Fixed var initialization bug.
- Fixed several serialization bugs and tweaked output formatting.
- Fixed extension resolution bug caused by interop member collision edge case.
- Fixed member resolution error message.
- Fixed struct instantiation bug.
- Fixed bugs in XML header.
- Improved support for sharing resources across thread-boundaries.
- Direct type references are now supported, so typeof(StringBuilder) can instead be written as StringBuilder. This feature was added while retaining support for both System.Type instance members and type declared static members. For example, File.GetMethods() works as expected, as does File.ReadAllText(),
- Added support for explicit generics, so classes like List and Dictionary<TKey, TValue> can be instantiated without using reflection.
- Extensive type conversion updates, including the ability to automatically pass Aphid functions as .NET delegates without any explicit type information.
- Rewrote type system, adding powerful type inference with support for generics.
- Major updates to REPL, including syntax highlighting and extensive autocomplete.
- Overhauled extension support with static extension methods, extension properties, extension constructors, and dynamic extension members.
- Added shell support, with command-line style syntax, PowerShell Cmdlet interop, and remoting.
- C#-style using statements are now supported for handling IDisposable instances.
- Added support for hundreds of new custom operators.
- Support for block-level performance profiling.
- Optional strict mode that requires variables be explicitly declared using the var attribute.
- Replaced Common Compiler Infrastructure-based ILWeave with Medusa-based view-model compiler for far more concise view-model definitions.
- Added remoting, with ability to serialize abstract syntax trees and lexical state to send over the wire.
- Added tools to build executables without Visual Studio or other external tools.
- Added Medusa, powerful new metaprogramming/white-box language system.
- Improved runtime error checking.
- Several fixes and updates to serialization.
- Improved array interop support.
- Added debugging and syntax highlighting extension for Visual Studio Code.
- Several updates to Visual Studio Plugin, including support for Visual Studio 2013 to 2017.
- Numerous fixes to lexical scope support.
- Major performance improvements due to optimizations that include rewritten hot paths and type memoization.
- Overhauled .NET interop support, making Aphid closer to a first class .NET language.
- Added REPL to aphid.exe.
- Added implicit args to functions ($_ = first arg, $args = arg array).
- Added custom unary and binary operator support.
- Added stack information to exception objects.
- Added id() directive for dynamic identifiers.
- Improved for support to make 'in' optional.
- Added 'for' statement modifier.
- Added 'continue' support for loops.
- Numerous bug fixes.
- Fixed document mode.
- Added several sample projects.
- Added function composition support.
- Added support for try/catch without exception arg.
- Added class support to Coywolf.
- Added ofType() to Coywolf query library.
- Added try/catch/finally support to Boxelder.
- Improved exception handling.
- Fixed conditional operator support in Boxelder.
- Fixed single line comment parser bug.
- Fixed conditional operator support in Boxelder.
- Fixed __BUILD__ const.
- Numeric equality fix.
- Added winform sample.
- Exception handling improvements.
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