1 The Heresy Rules🔗ℹ

The Heresy language is developed according to a few basic "ground rules," which the author and contributors attempt to follow in developing new features and functions for the language. These are as follows:

  1. Heresy is BASIC - Heresy is inspired by BASIC, and aims to be at least somewhat easy for BASIC programmers to learn. Mostly this means we prefer BASIC names for functions over the Lisp name, and naming conventions like the $ for string functions.

  2. Heresy is a Lisp - Heresy is still a Lisp, and loves simple syntax and s-expressions. While it makes use of some sugaring like literal keywords for certain common primitives, these are best used sparingly. Heresy is the Diet Coke of Evil, just one calorie, not quite evil enough.

  3. Heresy is functional - Functional, but not Haskell. It is not intended solely as a vehicle for absolute functional purity. I love Haskell. You love Haskell. We don’t need to write another Haskell. Think more in terms of a lower-calorie, more intelligible Clojure.

  4. Heresy is for learning - Heresy started as a learning project, a chance to learn how Lisp and functional programming really work on a practical level. I hope that, in time, it can be that for others as well, especially those who grew up with BASIC like myself and still sometimes struggle to get their head around the functional style. In particular, this means the Heresy-written portions of the source are generally written in as clear a manner as possible, as they are intended to be self-teaching.

  5. Heresy is an experiment - Heresy is an experimental language. It’s very DNA is as a mad idea that came to life, and it’s development should be ready and willing to embrace new mad ideas and run with them. This is where carry came from, and I hope to have more mad ideas in the future.

  6. Heresy is for everyone - As a statement of culture, the Heresy community welcomes the contribution of all people, who taste equally delicious to the jaws of mighty Cthulhu. No discrimination, harassment, or any other mistreatment of contributors on the basis of age, race, sexuality, or gender will ever be tolerated by myself or anyone else who wishes to be part of this project.