Ginger Version 0.9

Query Operators

The following query operators have been implemented:

  • P & Q

  • P // Q

  • Q where C

  • Q do S

  • Q finally S

  • Q while S then E

Naked Queries and Conditional Queries

In addition to the main uses of queries in for-loops, ‘naked’ queries have also been implemented. This allows you to write declarations like these.

::

i := 99; ### Declares the variable 99. j from 80 where j.isprime; ### j is the smallest prime number > 80.

Queries can also be used inside if-statements. These ‘if’-queries execute their then-part if the match succeeded or the else-part if the match failed.

Escapes

We have implemented the most important category of exceptions - namely escapes. These are a form of ‘tagged’ return statement that need to be handled or they escalate into more serious exceptions.

Math: Bigintegers, Rationals, Analytical Functions and TransDoubles Implemented

We have adopted James Anderson’s transreal arithmetic as the basis for floating point arithmetic in Ginger. This adds three transreal numbers +infinity, -infinity and nullity and ensures that arithmetic operators are defined everywhere (including division by zero etc.)

We have implemented arbitrary precision integer arithmetic and rational arithmetic.

We have also implemented analytical functions for:

  • divmod

  • log

  • log2

  • log10

  • sin

  • cos

  • tan

  • min, minAll

  • max, maxAll

  • sqrt

  • cbrt

  • hypot

  • unary +

Constants E and PI have been added.

Bug Fixes

  • file2gnx enhanced to handle single-expression files properly.

  • All components now print the GPL correctly.

  • ginger -q: the quiet startup flag is now honoured.

  • <if/> now parsed correctly as legitimate expression.

Refactorings

  • We have eliminated all the compilation warnings on OS X. These were caused by the upgrade to XCode 4.6.3.

  • The use of *.inc files to define system functions has been entirely retired in favour of self-registering definitions.

  • The C++ code has finally been moved into its own namespace. This was a low priority but implemented to make writing the API cleaner.

  • We have consistently renamed “Machine” as “Engine” throughout the code and documentation. The distinction between the virtual machine and its engine is unusual but important.

  • Engines now self-register, so adding new engines is much more straightforward.

  • CppLite2 now the basis of C++ unit testing.

Experimental / In-Progress Features

  • New Dockerfile added for easy experimentation and to ensure a clean build process.

  • New vagrant scripts have been included for experimenting with Ginger and rapidly getting test deployments working.

  • An initial implementation of co-processes (aka first class VMs) have been added to the core but not exposed to the application programmer.