Hecl Programming Language 20060803

The Hecl Programming Language is a high-level scripting language implemented in Java. Hecl Programming Language is intended to be small, extensible, extremely flexible, and easy to learn and use.

Hecl is intended as a complement to the Java programming language, not a replacement. As such, it tries to do well what Java doesnt, and leaves those tasks to Java for which it is best suited.

Hecl aims to be a very immediate language - you can pick it up and start doing useful things with it quickly. It is also meant to be easy to learn. Where Java is verbose and rigid, Hecl is forgiving and quick to write. For instance, System.out.println("Hello World"); vs puts "Hello World" - 41 keystrokes (shifted letters count double) versus 22. Hecl is built to "scale down".

This makes Hecl ideal for large applications written in Java that would like to provide a user friendly scripting interface, rather than, say, a clunky XML based configuration system.

Hecl is also a small language with a minimal core. The idea is to provide only whats necessary in the language itself, and as needed, add in extensions for specific tasks.

Core Hecl is small enough to run on my Nokia 3100 cell phone as a J2ME application, presenting the interesting possibility of writing scripts, or at some point, maybe even scripting entire applications, for devices running embedded Java. As an example, you can try this MIDlet: Hecl.jar Hecl.jad