Eta: A Pure, Lazy, Strongly Typed Functional Programming Language on the JVM
A brief introduction to the project:
Eta, an open-source project hosted on GitHub, is a pure, lazy, strongly typed functional programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Based on the syntax of Haskell, the language aims to provide developers with a functional programming approach while leveraging the broad set of libraries available in the Java ecosystem.
Why is Eta significant? As the world continues to embrace functional programming due to its graceful handling of complex tasks with concurrent and parallel computation, a language that marries the benefits of Haskell with the power of the JVM brings immense value.
Project Overview:
Eta's main objective is twofold: to bring pure functional programming to the JVM and to provide seamless interoperability with Java. Developers can use their functional programming skills to work on large-scale, distributed, concurrent systems while accessing a plethora of Java libraries. The project is aimed at programmers who want to incorporate functional programming into their toolkit without giving up the benefits of the JVM platform.
Project Features:
The project features lazy evaluation and a strong static type system, that, along with functional purity, can help avoid common programming bugs. The interoperability feature allows you to call Java methods, implement Java interfaces, and extends Java classes in Eta.
You can, for example, build highly concurrent, distributed systems with fewer bugs due to the availability of these features. If you need to parse XML files, you can simply invoke the corresponding library in Java – no need to reinvent the wheel.
Technology Stack:
Since Eta is a language that runs on the JVM, the primary technologies that support the project are Haskell (which forms the language's syntax and semantics) and Java (whose libraries Eta can leverage). Built using these technologies, Eta can provide a seamless programming experience that combines functional programming with JVM's versatility.
Project Structure and Architecture:
Eta's GitHub repository is logically organized into various sub-folders representing different components. You have a directory for the Eta runtime system, another for the Eta programming language, and then you have folders for tools, libraries, and tests. The modular structure helps to isolate features and makes the project easy to navigate, even for beginners.
