ref: 1cb2922cb4086434fa0adb6c7a697db14cbdba26
parent: 352a62d529461a0aabf4dd65686cebccc4d2b6c6
author: Ori Bernstein <ori@eigenstate.org>
date: Fri Apr 17 18:02:07 EDT 2015
Add README.md for github.
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,0 +1,67 @@
+A Toy With Delusions of Usefulness
+----------------------------------
+
+ use std
+ const main = {+ var i
+ for i = 0; i < 100; i++
+ std.put("You're still reading?!?\n")+ ;;
+ }
+
+Myrddin is a language that I put together for fun, but which has developed
+delusions of usefulness. It's made by one coder with too little spare time on
+his hands.
+
+It is designed to be a simple programming language that runs close to the
+metal, giving the programmer predictable and transparent behavior and mental
+model. It also attempts to strong type checking, generics, type inference, and
+other features not present in C.
+
+Myrddin is not a language designed to explore the forefront of type theory or
+compiler technology. It is not a language that is focused on guaranteeing
+perfect safety. It is satisfied to be a practical, small, fairly well defined,
+and easy to understand language for code that needs to be close to the
+hardware.
+
+In order to run, Myrddin currently requires an x86-64 computer running either
+Linux or OSX. Porting to other Posix-like OSes should be a matter of writing
+syscall wrappers.
+
+Why Myrddin?
+------------
+
+Are you tired of your compiler Just Working? Are you tired of having your
+standard library having the basic functionality you need? Do you long for the
+days when men were men, and debuggers operated on the assembly level? If so,
+Myrddin is for you.
+
+
+
+More seriously, Myrddin has the goal of replacing C in its niche of OS and
+embedded development, but making it harder to shoot yourself in the foot. It's
+a language that matches the author's taste in design, and if other people want
+to use it, so much the better.
+
+Major Features
+--------------
+
+- Type inference. Types are inferred across the whole program.
+- Algebraic data types.
+- And their friend, pattern matching.
+- Generics.
+- A package system.
+- Low level control.
+- (Almost) no runtime library.
+- Entirely self contained.
+- Simple and easy to understand implementation.
+
+Try It Online
+-------------
+
+If you want to try before you buy, there is an online playground that you can
+use to experiment with code. It's fairly restrictive, and prevents you from
+using the vast majority of system calls, but it's enough to get a feel for
+things.
+
+[So, give it a shot.](http://eigenstate.org/myrddin/playground)