4 ms·

Getting Started with Red (2016)

31 points by damir 4y ago

tedd4u 4y ago
From the top page of this site: 'A Modern Incarnation of Rebol 'Red is based conceptually and syntactically on Rebol ("Relative Expression Based Object Language"). Rebol is a commercial, closed source programming language created in the late 1990's which aimed to be the most productive, readable, and concise development tool available. Its main goal was to reduce code complexity and to remove bloated infrastructure found in typical software development stacks.' Looks like the pitch is to use this instead of a huge collection of Excel docs to run your business, with the key feature being it's a simple enough language you can train anyone capable of learning Excel to use Red instead.
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  Red (and Rebol) are intended for far more domains than Excel is typically used for. It's more comparable to Python, Perl, or Tcl/Tk. Especially the latter, because Rebol had a built-in GUI capability in a very small package.
themodelplumber 4y ago
When I last checked, the distribution was 32 bit only, until a future date at which it can be made to self-compile. Is that still the case? (It doesn't really impact me but I'm curious) Oh and fun little tidbit--for at least a decade+, Carl Sassenrath used Rebol in his work to maintain multiple channels of OTA television access for everybody in the little valley where I live. I was surprised when I learned about this from some local techies.
- twsted 4y ago
  Carl Sassenrath is btw the creator of the Amiga Exec
preordained 4y ago
Red is intriguing, but man they lost some faith with me on their direction/motivation that time they went hard in the paint on their own cryptocurrency...
- sbierwagen 4y ago
  Do you have any more detail on that? http://redprogramming.com/ http://redprogramming.com/ doesn't mention cryptocurrencies anywhere.
  - Jtsummers 4y ago
    https://www.red-lang.org/2017/12/leaping-into-future-red-goes-blockchain.html https://www.red-lang.org/2017/12/leaping-into-future-red-goe... <- this is what they're referring to.
- nmz 4y ago
  It's sad but I can't blame them, rebol has forever been on life support, and it doesn't seem like its going to be better soon.
carapace 4y ago
Red/Rebol is one of those languages that throws down a gauntlet for other languages. (Factor is another, as is Elm.) You can be so productive in Red with so little experience that it's almost irresponsible not to use it and promote it. If you could write a program that replaced you, would you?
- jrm4 4y ago
  Every once in a while it comes around and I'm like, I should take a look. But I cannot echo your broader point enough; I'm in the odd position of being very familiar with coding but I'm not directly paid to produce it (I teach IT) and (dare I say more than most everyone around here) it's obvious to me that coding could be a LOT better, easier, more user-friendly, and is unlikely to get there for this reason. I don't want to take food out of peoples mouths, but there's so much of this that we could do better. Could probably call it the Hypercard problem. (And again, the charge I want to make here is that there is a subconscious blindness to it.)

31 points by damir 4y ago

From the top page of this site: 'A Modern Incarnation of Rebol 'Red is based conceptually and syntactically on Rebol ("Relative Expression Based Object Language"). Rebol is a commercial, closed source programming language created in the late 1990's which aimed to be the most productive, readable, and concise development tool available. Its main goal was to reduce code complexity and to remove bloated infrastructure found in typical software development stacks.' Looks like the pitch is to use this instead of a huge collection of Excel docs to run your business, with the key feature being it's a simple enough language you can train anyone capable of learning Excel to use Red instead.

Jtsummers 4y ago
Red (and Rebol) are intended for far more domains than Excel is typically used for. It's more comparable to Python, Perl, or Tcl/Tk. Especially the latter, because Rebol had a built-in GUI capability in a very small package.

themodelplumber 4y ago

When I last checked, the distribution was 32 bit only, until a future date at which it can be made to self-compile. Is that still the case? (It doesn't really impact me but I'm curious) Oh and fun little tidbit--for at least a decade+, Carl Sassenrath used Rebol in his work to maintain multiple channels of OTA television access for everybody in the little valley where I live. I was surprised when I learned about this from some local techies.

twsted 4y ago
Carl Sassenrath is btw the creator of the Amiga Exec

preordained 4y ago

Red is intriguing, but man they lost some faith with me on their direction/motivation that time they went hard in the paint on their own cryptocurrency...

sbierwagen 4y ago
Do you have any more detail on that? http://redprogramming.com/ http://redprogramming.com/ doesn't mention cryptocurrencies anywhere.
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  https://www.red-lang.org/2017/12/leaping-into-future-red-goes-blockchain.html https://www.red-lang.org/2017/12/leaping-into-future-red-goe... <- this is what they're referring to.
nmz 4y ago
It's sad but I can't blame them, rebol has forever been on life support, and it doesn't seem like its going to be better soon.

carapace 4y ago

Red/Rebol is one of those languages that throws down a gauntlet for other languages. (Factor is another, as is Elm.) You can be so productive in Red with so little experience that it's almost irresponsible not to use it and promote it. If you could write a program that replaced you, would you?

jrm4 4y ago
Every once in a while it comes around and I'm like, I should take a look. But I cannot echo your broader point enough; I'm in the odd position of being very familiar with coding but I'm not directly paid to produce it (I teach IT) and (dare I say more than most everyone around here) it's obvious to me that coding could be a LOT better, easier, more user-friendly, and is unlikely to get there for this reason. I don't want to take food out of peoples mouths, but there's so much of this that we could do better. Could probably call it the Hypercard problem. (And again, the charge I want to make here is that there is a subconscious blindness to it.)