Red (programming language)

Red is a <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">programming language</a> designed to overcome the limitations of the programming language <a href="/facts/Rebol/9ooWy78f">Rebol</a>. Red was introduced in 2011 by Nenad Rakočević, and is both an <a href="/facts/Imperative_programming/6b5dUnE1">imperative</a> and <a href="/facts/Functional_programming/cdxqPEIM">functional programming</a> language. Its syntax and general usage overlaps that of the interpreted Rebol language.
The implementation choices of Red intend to create a <a href="/facts/Solution_stack/rPE5Vp8c">full stack</a> programming language: Red can be used for extremely high-level programming as well as low-level programming (<a href="/facts/Operating_system/8XTuvMh2">operating systems</a> and <a href="/facts/Device_driver/rDYnHU1G">device drivers</a>). Key to the approach is that the language has two parts: Red/System and Red.

<ul><li>Red/System is similar to C, but packaged into a Rebol lexical structure – for example, one would write if x > y [print "Hello"] instead of if (x > y) {printf("Hello\n");}.</li>
<li>Red is a <a href="/facts/Homoiconicity/jNG51mrs">homoiconic language</a>, which is capable of meta-programming with Rebol-like semantics. Red's runtime library is written in Red/System, and uses a hybrid approach: it <a href="/facts/Compiled_language/WRqIRjFx">compiles</a> what it can deduce statically and uses an embedded <a href="/facts/Interpreter_(computing)/JB85fbyb">interpreter</a> otherwise. The project roadmap includes a <a href="/facts/Just-in-time_compilation/rEYDsd8l">just-in-time compiler</a> for cases in between, but this has not yet been implemented.</li></ul>
Red seeks to remain independent of any other <a href="/facts/Toolchain/SmlWCJhY">toolchain</a>; it does its own code generation. It is therefore possible to <a href="/facts/Cross_compiler/8hXgCWB9">cross-compile</a> Red programs from any platform it supports to any other, via a command-line switch. Both Red and Red/System are distributed as <a href="/facts/Open-source_software/HzTaB8E9">open-source software</a> under the <a href="/facts/Modified_BSD_license/XLtmLp5x">modified BSD license</a>. The runtime library is distributed under the more permissive <a href="/facts/Boost_Software_License/vGLGG51A">Boost Software License</a>.
As of version 0.6.4 Red includes a <a href="/facts/Garbage_collection_(computer_science)/j2vlIu7g">garbage collector</a> "the Simple GC".

Red (programming language) open-in-new

Red (programming language)