cola — combined lambda/object architecture

cola (aka Idst, Jolt, the SODA languages, &c.) is an ongoing project to create a springboard for investigating new computing paradigms. Everything in it is late-bound, the intention being that any paradigm (existing or yet to be invented, formal complexity notwithstanding) be easily and efficiently mapped to it and made available to the user. It is a small part (the implementation vehicle) of the reinventing computing project.

The system is slowly evolving towards version 1.0 which

is completely self-describing (from the metal, or even FPGA gates, up) exposing all aspects of its implementation for inspection and incremental modification;
treats state and behaviour as orthogonal but mutually-completing descriptions of computation;
treats static and dynamic compilation as two extremes of a continuum;
treats static and dynamic typing as two extremes of a continuum; and
late-binds absolutely everything: programming (parsing through codegen to runtime and ABI), applications (libraries, communications facilities), interaction (graphics frameworks, rendering algorithms), and so on.

The source code is hosted in a Subversion repository. To obtain the latest version:

svn co http://piumarta.com/svn2/idst/trunk idst

Otherwise you might prefer to:

Download a recent snapshot of the source code: idst-20070918.tar.gz
Browse a recent snapshot of the source code: idst-20070918

There is some (often slightly stale, or at the very least incomplete) documentation available for:

the id-based object language
the 'pre-scheme'-like function language
the theory of how the two complement and complete each other as a COLA
the id object model on which it is all based
a trivial extension that adds support for Leiberman prototypes to the id object model
an evolving device-independent canvas abstraction and its superjacent UI model.

There is a mailing list for the insatiably curious.

idst (cola, whatever you want to call it) is distributed under the MIT license. You will not be infected with a contagious disease if you decide to use any part (or all) of it for your own purposes.

As you might have guessed, we're not happy with the name yet. If you have (polite and/or humorous) suggestions, send them to Ian at this website's domain name.