When the lexer encounters an invalid character, it now explicitly sets the current token's type to TOKEN_ERROR and its length to 0. Previously, the token retained the previous token's type, which could cause the compiler to get stuck in an infinite loop in certain code paths. Also improves the error message for non-ASCII invalid bytes by showing the raw hex value instead of attempting to display the character, since the lexer operates on raw bytes without UTF-8 decoding. Adds regression test for issue #428 that was crashing the compiler with an out-of-bounds memory access due to this loop.
Wren is a small, fast, class-based concurrent scripting language
Think Smalltalk in a Lua-sized package with a dash of Erlang and wrapped up in a familiar, modern syntax.
System.print("Hello, world!")
class Wren {
flyTo(city) {
System.print("Flying to %(city)")
}
}
var adjectives = Fiber.new {
["small", "clean", "fast"].each {|word| Fiber.yield(word) }
}
while (!adjectives.isDone) System.print(adjectives.call())
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Wren is small. The VM implementation is under 4,000 semicolons. You can skim the whole thing in an afternoon. It's small, but not dense. It is readable and lovingly-commented.
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Wren is fast. A fast single-pass compiler to tight bytecode, and a compact object representation help Wren compete with other dynamic languages.
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Wren is class-based. There are lots of scripting languages out there, but many have unusual or non-existent object models. Wren places classes front and center.
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Wren is concurrent. Lightweight fibers are core to the execution model and let you organize your program into an army of communicating coroutines.
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Wren is a scripting language. Wren is intended for embedding in applications. It has no dependencies, a small standard library, and an easy-to-use C API. It compiles cleanly as C99, C++98 or anything later.
If you like the sound of this, let's get started. You can even try it in your browser! Excited? Well, come on and get involved!