Introduction Of Arc Programming Language
Did you know there are many programming languages, but they are unknown due to not many people knowing them? There are even many dialects of other programming languages to create new programming languages. Many of the dialects of programming languages are to improve and further the language for users. My programming language is Arc which is shrouded in mystery. Arc programming language is very underrated to the public, so not much is known about it. In this research paper, I will talk about Arc and show you what I learned about it.
History of Arc
Arc programming language is a dialect of Lisp, another programming language built for organizing multiple sentences of information into a list. Thus computers can process this information into human reasoning. Arc is designed for exploratory programming, which is where you decide what to write by writing it. The Arc, Paul Graham, and Robert Morris developers first made the appearance of Arc in 2001. Arc was officially announced to be a new programming language by Paul Graham in 2008. Paul Graham used the foundation of common Lisp to help him pave the way for Arc. Paul wanted to make it similar to Lisp by making the programming language simple as well.
Arc composes many of the same components used in Lisp, such as the MzScheme. MzSchemes are a name for a core virtual machine used for containing packages of many related elements together. Arc uses the numeric and mathematical operations that are the same used for the programming language Lisp. As you can see, Arc has become another member of the Lisp family. Thus, many people see it as another copy of Lisp but as an unknown version to the world.
In the design of Arc, the programming language, Paul was struggling to decide whether or not to include an added syntax of the s-expression. Because in Lisp, the s-expression is commonly used for coding. An s-expression is a nested list of data. Paul Graham imagined that adding in the s-expression would be excessively used and expressed much more than needed. Thus having to write or type down way more than you should be doing. Therefore it would cause Arc not to be simple and brevity anymore, making it counter the goal of Arc to be easy to use. So, in the end, Paul Graham decided not to add the s-expression, creating one of the unique features of Lisp not included in the program.
After the release of Arc, there were a lot of mixed opinions and thoughts about it. Some people would label Arc as another supplement of Lisp or Scheme, which is another programming language. Many people would not even consider Arc its programming language, which is quite sad because the developers worked hard for the users. But others would have good opinions about Arc. Saying it stripped down Lisp to the bare essentials. In other words, Arc had the bare minimum of Lisp. Which means it would be straightforward and less uncomplicated than Lisp.
Benefits of Arc
The developers of Arc wanted anybody and everybody to be able to use Arc. So they made the Arc programming language an open source where it’s accessible to everyone. Since they wanted many people to use Arc, the developers would even invite hackers to use this programming language. This being a good design because, in this way, they can collect data about Arc and how hackers would use it. And for that reason having an open-source is beneficial because, with the basic knowledge, you can quickly write a code without it being challenging.
Another good thing about Arc is how simple it is, just like Lisp. The developers of arc, Paul Graham, and Robert Morris’s goals for the language were to make Arc uncomplicated to design and use. Making it easier for programmers and him. Paul stated that when language features, it is better to have a small number of axioms. Axioms are math concepts for logic used for helping to make a starting point for logical reasoning. Arc utilizes its simplicity and brevity to help programmers utilize it better and draw more attention. That being so allowed even for beginners to try and learn to program without it being fairly demanding.
An additional benefit that Arc has is that it’s suitable for people who love freedom. What I mean by this is Arc was designed and programmed to allow users to have a lot of control over the program. Thus it would permit users to enjoy experimenting with the programming language. Therefore this programming language would be best for people who want and need more control over the program design. For that reason, users would have a more creative program that they can use without it limiting their abilities and talents.
Downsides of Arc
One of the many downsides of Arc is that it is unknown. Therefore it’s sometimes hard for people to know about it since it’s not very popular. Around the same time as Arc Python was released. Python has been very popular and well known, causing people not to know much about Arc. So, therefore, Arc has a very small community, and only a group of people are passionate about it. This is a downside because Arc does not have many people in their community using the programming language. Thus they are unable to expand their project.
Another downside of Arc is that Arc lacks libraries. Libraries are kind of like a library storing data. Libraries are a collection of retaining data even if there is a break in the power supply resources. Libraries can include many things such as configuration data, documentation, and help data. It can also store message templates, pre-written code, subroutines, classes, values, or type specifications.
Astonishingly, Arc needs libraries since even the developers Paul Graham, and Robert Morris has mentioned that new programming languages should have libraries. Even Paul Graham has said that libraries are an essential component of a programming language. So for Arc to be lacking libraries is not very helpful for the users who are using it but only sets them back. Since Arc is a dialect of Lisp and built off it, it makes Arc even worse since it’s based on Lisp. Because Lisp also lacks in the Libraries department and not many Lisp programmers use it as well.
An additional downside of Arc is that it runs at a slow performance. Even the algorithms, such as the methods and patterns in Python, are reasonably slow. Despite being one of the most popular programming languages out there. And Arc makes it not any better since they are even slower than most programming languages out there. Even though the processing speed may not be critical, it’s still helpful in the program. Having a lot of momentum in the programming languages helps the users. Since it’s easier to manage and you’ll have better control over the program.
Examples of Arc Programming Code
The Arc Programming code resembles many different other codes in different programming languages. For instance, in Python, to get the desired output of “Hi,” you would say “print(‘Hi’), but in Arc, to get the desired output of “Hi,” you would type “prn(‘Hi’)”. That being so, in Python, you would have to type the whole word for ‘print’, but in Arc, you would have to write some of the words such as ‘prn’. As you can see, Arc is very similar to python, with a less minimum amount of work used for the code.
Something that makes the Arc programming language unique is the word “foo”. This word is used by a lot of programmers using Arc. Foo is fundamentally used as a value of a placeholder, but that can transmute. So, as a result, Arc has its unique way of working with other programming languages incorporated but very different at the same time.
Versions of Arc
There are not many updates in the unofficial release or version of Arc, which makes sense since they already released an official version. Users are also allowed to add and remove extensions within the program. Another thing they can do is also modify the libraries as well. Anarki allowed everybody and anybody to change this unofficial version of Arc. Thus the unofficial had much freedom for the users since they could update and modify things themselves.
In the official release of Arc, it was first put into effect on Racket. Racket is just like Arc, where it is a dialect of Lisp and Scheme. Racket is good for the exploration of ideas and rapid prototyping. The Arc programming language release comes in an arrangement of a tar archive, which holds the source code of Arc. A tar file is widely used for archiving many files and sharing many files over the web. The official version of the Arc programming language provides a tutorial on how to use Arc. They also made a forum available to everyone who wants more information on Arc and those who wish to write their opinion about the programming language.
Takeaway on Arc
Overall, Arc is unknown to many people and not used by a lot of users either. So, therefore, Arc is not very popular despite it being very simple to utilize. Since the launch of Python, Arc has been undermined due to the popularity of Python. Even though everybody is welcome to use Arc, it does not receive many people. There are many downsides to Arc, such as lacking libraries and even running at a slow performance. Since Arc has so many more drawbacks than positive information, few people are willing to utilize this programming language. It is leading to Arc becoming shrouded in mystery, causing the Arc community to die out slowly.
