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The original was posted on /r/programminglanguages by /u/GilesEdAlex on 2023-11-01 14:44:15.

My programming language, Indu, is now ready to be used, and I’m looking for people to give it a try and share their thoughts. Indu was designed to make it really easy for non-programmers to create simple web apps. Sort of like a HyperCard for the web.

There’s a guide to the language. But, in brief: * Object-oriented, but no classes. * Mixins (à la Ruby) for code re-use * Explicit object graph in the text of your programs * First class functions, but no anonymous functions (yet?) * Dynamic typing * First-class modules * No explicit concurrency, but operations that would block are captured as continuations. * Embedded HTML * Explicit syntax for CSS styling * Can implement functions in JavaScript, if you need to. * Explicit syntax for key-value stores, provided by the runtime, and for accessing JSON APIs. * Programs run on both the server and in the browser, and as an author you shouldn’t need to care about which is which.

The guide will allow you to play with the language. If you want to try it a little more, sign-up for an alpha user. There is a small list of example programs available. You can already give these a try, and also read the source. Just click the green squares in the top right.

The guide lists a bunch of things that the language doesn’t yet provide, but will eventually. One of the big things that is missing is an in-browser IDE. Non-programmers just aren’t going to type code. But Indu is designed to make it easy to build tools that allow someone to create and edit programs without typing, or even seeing code (mostly.)

Indu is not available to download or run anywhere else. This is a long term goal, but at this point I’m trying to get a platform running that uses the language, provides great tooling and that will provide the long-term support and growth of the language. Getting an open source project going is a big separate project that will just have to wait.

I’d love feedback on what I’ve got so far. I’ve got some upcoming changes planned that I will also like to get thoughts on. I’m very excited to have just discovered this community!

Thanks!