OK: An open-source interpreter for the K5 programming language

github.com

60 points·sndean··11 comments

A subproject of oK worth drawing attention to is iKe, a livecoding environment which makes it possible to write interactive graphical programs in K and easily share them:

https://github.com/JohnEarnest/ok/tree/gh-pages/ike

For example, recently I wrote this program which generates abstract art every time you press a key:

http://johnearnest.github.io/ok/ike/ike.html?gist=e47433cfb3...

Many other demos are available from within iKe itself.

The K implementation isn't done in one long line and has indentation and spacing:

https://github.com/JohnEarnest/ok/blob/gh-pages/oK.js

I'm confused.

k4 isn't so bad, either. :)

http://kparc.com/q4/ha.txt

One essential thing about k/q is its speed. When you use javascript, you lose everything.

For an intro interpreter/"how do I use K", using Javascript seems like a big win.

It's a training tool. Also, I think John had fun writing an interpreter. It's also a very cool language which people without money don't get exposed to. Maybe it gives people some good ideas.

Well, there is always J (jsoftware.com), which is the standard open source APL-like language. It also has a columnar database. And a wealth of resources available on its website/wiki (more than I have seen for any other language's base website).

My C is usually faster than my k: The greatest value in k is that the language is terse and dense; that it promotes the right way to think about solving problems, not that it is fast.

Is it? I have only seen anecdotal evidence for this.

If you need to run K in the browser, speed is moot if it's not written in JavaScript.

The K language is industry-wise not important enough to learn it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com