Cardinal: A Powerful and Lightweight Scripting Language

Introduction

Welcome to the world of Cardinal, a small, fast, class-based concurrent scripting language that brings together the best features of Smalltalk, Lua, and Erlang. Developed with high performance in mind, Cardinal is written in C and, since 2023, in C++14. It is designed to be embedded in applications, offering a compact yet powerful tool for developers.

Project Overview

Title: Cardinal: Scripting Language
URL: Cardinal on GitHub
Duration: January 2015 - Current
Role: Lead Developer

Cardinal is known for its high performance, which is comparable to Luajit 2.1 with just-in-time compilation turned off (-joff). Here’s a brief rundown of what makes Cardinal stand out:

Key Features

1. Small and Readable

Cardinal’s virtual machine (VM) implementation is under 4,000 semicolons, making it both small and readable. Despite its size, the code is well-documented, ensuring that developers can easily understand and navigate through it.

2. Fast Execution

Cardinal boasts a fast single-pass compiler that generates tight bytecode, coupled with a compact object representation. These features enable Cardinal to compete with other dynamic languages in terms of speed.

3. Class-Based Structure

In contrast to many scripting languages with unusual or non-existent object models, Cardinal places classes at the forefront. This class-based structure makes it easier for developers who are familiar with object-oriented programming to adopt and use Cardinal.

4. Concurrent Execution

Lightweight fibers are integral to Cardinal’s execution model. These fibers allow developers to organize programs into a multitude of communicating coroutines, facilitating concurrent execution.

5. Scripting Language for Embedding

Cardinal is designed for embedding in applications. It has no dependencies, a small standard library, and a user-friendly C++ API. The language compiles cleanly as C++11, making it a convenient choice for integration into various applications.

6. Header-Only API

For those who prefer a header-only API, Cardinal offers a single header-only file of the entire language. This option, while increasing compile times and causing a slight performance decrease (about 15%) in Foreign Method calling, provides flexibility and ease of use. Note that this requires C++17 due to the usage of inline variables.

Sample Code

Here’s a quick example of Cardinal in action:

System.print("Hello, world!")

class Cardinal {
  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())

This code snippet demonstrates the simplicity and elegance of Cardinal’s syntax, allowing developers to create powerful scripts with minimal effort.

Conclusion

Cardinal is a versatile and efficient scripting language tailored for embedding in applications. Its combination of speed, readability, and modern features makes it a compelling choice for developers seeking a robust scripting solution. As the Lead Developer, I am excited to continue enhancing Cardinal and expanding its capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the developer community.

For more information and to get started with Cardinal, visit the GitHub repository. Happy coding!