Min is a new programming language for beautiful and secure code. We issue crypto tokens to investors and developers for bootstrapping the network in open source and governance.
Token networks align participants toward a common goal. Our mission is to build a profitable and sustainable ecosystem of good software.
Below are an introduction to Min the language and a walkthrough of our source code.
Contributors earn Min coins, denoted by the infimum symbol ∧, through technical work, community building, or business development. Examples include
- ∧100: Write blogs, documentation, crash reports;
- ∧1,000: Port libraries, hunt bounties, moderate Slack; and,
- ∧10,000: Port to iOS / Android / Ethereal VM, launch token sales.
Min solves the most pressing problems of large-scale software development: hiring and collaboration. With Min tokens, decentralized work is rewarded with smart contracts. With Min language, code evolution is guided by strong types.
Our first product is a cross-platform framework for native mobile applications. Soon we will also optimize for machine learning and decentralized applications. Sign up for news of our token launch!
Currently Min compiles to x86-64 machine code without any external tools. Self-contained for cross compilation and consistent on any platform, Min does not use any C backends, assembly, or linker.
- Self-compile without any tools on Mac OS X
- Port to Linux, iOS, Android, Javascript, Windows
- Generalized sequences, memory management
- Coding guide, language specification
$ make
./min binary `cat packs` 3< main.ma > min1
chmod +x min1
./min1 binary `cat packs` 3< main.ma > min2
[[ `md5 < min1` == `md5 < min2` ]]
Min is the most innovative programming language designed for beautiful code. To create it, we have started from scratch with machine code, then re-thought every syntax and idiom.
Beautiful code, like mathematics, is pleasurable to learn and to write. With Min, immutability by default simplifies stateful computations. Rich, advanced types eliminate mistakes and guide optimizations.
The art of programming — with the right syntax.
| Minimalist syntax | Immutable data | Advanced types |
|---|---|---|
| orthogonal yet intuitive | think in mathematics | automatically bug-free |
hex1 x:C : N = \a <= x <= \f & x - \a + 10 | x - \0
Fact (hex1 \d == 13)
hex s:S n=0 : N = s.0 & hex s+1 16n+s.0.hex1 | n
Fact (hex 'cafebabe' == 3405691582)
To code, don't drum up the men to use frameworks and design patterns. Instead, teach them to yearn for elegant algorithms in beautiful syntax. Min's novel parser uses horizontal spacing and vertical layout to free programming from clutters of delimiters and LALR(1) grammars. Here, zero keywords and all operators are of a single keyboard character except the four relational operators.
| builtin keywords | delimiters with layout | composite operators |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 4 |
Everyone can be taught to code but thinkers dream of abstractions and tinkers obsess with implementations. Min's design emphasizes the unifying foundation of higher-order functions and formal types. This means flow controls and generic sequences are naturally user-definable. You can think in terms of mathematical logic, and write as such.
hash_get rows:0/1 x:0 : 1 = rows
. hash x % size rows
/ y? x == y
. head
Fact (hash_get ['foo'?13, 'bar'?42] 'bar' == 42)
All the while, you can peek behind every piece of Min's code — no dragons of macros or generated C code ahead. Tinker and master the intricate clockwork of our compiler in a unified language, from machine registers as well as database backends, all the way to web frontends and decentralized applications.
items = Sql 'rds.amazonaws.com:3306/tasks'
. join users on=(x? u? x.user == u.id)
/ x? x.status != Done
. top 5
done id:N = Xhr async=1 '/done?[id]'
Html
Title Top [items.size] TODO
items * id,summary,time,name?
Li onclick=done(id) [summary], [time] by [name]
| Infinite model | Unified web |
|---|---|
| strings, files, tables as lazy sequence | SQL, HTML, Javascript in one syntax |
In “Computer Scientists Close In On Perfect, Hack-Proof Code,” Kevin Hartnett at Quanta Magazine writes:
Key parts of Little Bird’s computer system were unhackable with existing technology, its code as trustworthy as a mathematical proof... That results made all of Darpa stand up and say, oh my goodness, we can actually use this technology in systems we care about.
Previously, when computers were isolated in homes and offices, programming bugs were merely inconvenient. Now those same small coding errors open massive security vulnerabilities on networked machines that allow anyone with the know-how free rein inside a computer system.
Memory management costs enormous development effort or it dominates runtime cycles. Min's innovative type inference automates ownership annotations in a region-based memory model, so code remains at a high-level abstraction without the complexity of a garbage collector.
Term = Tag
Nil
Apply fun:Term arg:Term
If test:Term pos:Term neg:Term
Binary left:Term op:S right:Term
rewrite : Term? Term =
Binary (Binary a '&' b) '|' c? If a b c
Binary a '&' b? If a b Nil
Binary a '.' b? Apply b a
Binary a '@' b? Binary b ';' a
Min's precise types also guarantee correctness before execution and optimize for machine performance. Scaling to a million page requests or intensive scientific computations won't need delegating to foreign functions. With Min, you won't have to worry about null pointers in critical services, or stealing and tampering of your digital assets in decentralized applications.
black_scholes
s : ℝ # stock price
x : ℝ # strike price
t : ℝ # expiration time in years
r : ℝ # risk-free interest rate
σ : ℝ # volatility
: ℝ
= s ϕ(d1) - x e^(-r t)ϕ(d2) @
ϕ = Normal.cdf
d0 = log s/x + (r + σ²/2)t
d1 = d0 / σ√t
d2 = d1 - σ√t
Here's the directory of Min's source code with description. We're making steps toward our mission and our language.
| machine data | |
| z.m | zero, void, nil, null, unit |
| b.m | bit, bool, boolean, flag, truth, logic |
| c.m | char, character, unicode code point |
| n.m | nat, number, non-negative, unsigned |
| i.m | int, integer, signed, natural number |
| r.m | real, floating-point number |
| interpreted data | |
| any.m | abstract data |
| hex.m | hexadecimal number |
| mem.m | memory address, pointer |
| unicode.m | universal character set |
| fun.m | function, procedure, routine |
| structured data | |
| opt.m | optional, nullable, some, pointed |
| pair.m | two data, product, cons |
| ref.m | reference, mutable |
| row.m | array, tuple, vector, product |
| s.m | str, string, character array |
| list.m | singly linked list |
| seq.m | sequence, container, collection, generator |
| box.m | packed data, inlined |
| key.m | named, label, struct, record |
| map.m | finite map, association, dictionary, finite function |
| hash.m | hashtable, mutable and unordered map |
| set.m | mathematical set |
| flow.m | stream, buffer, port |
| regex.m | regular expression, character pattern |
| json.m | javascript object notation |
| hardware | |
| core.m | cpu, multi processor, hyperthread |
| spin.m | concurrency synchronization lock |
| clock.m | timer, frequency tick |
| operating system | |
| sys.m | system call, kernel call |
| posix.m | portable operating system interface |
| dl.m | dynamic linking loader, dynamic library |
| job.m | unix job, process |
| thread.m | system-mode parallelism |
| task.m | user-mode parallelism, coroutine |
| time.m | calendar, date and time, epoch |
| env.m | environment, context |
| langauge | |
| cast.m | type cast, coercion |
| fail.m | fatal exit, abort, exception, error |
| fact.m | assert, check, test |
| trap.m | signal, interrupt, fault |
| call.m | call stack, stack trace |
| perf.m | performance, profile, monitor |
| main.m | top level, entry point, program start |
| file system | |
| path.m | unix file path, file name |
| file.m | unix file description / number / handler |
| pipe.m | unix pipeline, process input/output chain |
| in.m | file 0, standard input |
| out.m | file 1, standard output |
| put.m | file 1, standard output, with newline |
| err.m | file 2, standard error |
| log.m | file 2, standard error, with newline |
| info.m | file 4, informational output |
| trace.m | file 5, performance time tracing |
| debug.m | file 6, verbose debugging diagnostic |
| network | |
| socket.m | network file |
| net.m | network address, ip address, host identification |
| openssl.m | secure sockets layer |
| common_crypto.m | common crypto in mac os x |
| http.m | hypertext transfer protocol |
| httpd.m | hypertext transfer protocol daemon, web server |
| library | |
| zlib.m | compression via gzip |
| blas.m | basic linear algebra subprograms |
| dbm.m | unix simple database |
| sqlite.m | sql database engine |
| cocoa.m | cocoa ui in mac os x |
| quant.m | quantitative analysis |
| dynamodb.m | amazon cloud key-value database |
| compiler | |
| main.ma | mach object file format for mac executables |
| spot.m | file position, path and line and column |
| tag.m | tagged union, enum, algebraic data type |
| name.m | identifier, unique string, naming convention |
| op.m | symbolic operator, prefix/infix/suffix function |
| meta.m | reflection, string interpolation |
| term.m | token, node, word, lexical form |
| exp.m | expression, tree, phrase, parser form |
| group.m | delimited, lexical sub-term, glue / associate |
| rule.m | rewrite rule, pattern matching |
| rewrite.m | tree rewrite |
| kind.m | class of type |
| unify.m | constraint resolve |
| def.m | definition, equality |
| type.m | class of term |
| step.m | opcode, linear computation, flat execution |
| asm.m | assembly, machine code |
What is the minimal set of equations for programming? How do we derive the equivalence principle among types with finite symbols?
| operator | name | equivalence |
|---|---|---|
| x,y | Pair x y | |
| %x | Ref x | Z, x |
| !x | Opt x | B, x |
| a=x | Key a x | x |
| a:x?y | Fun a:x y | *(x, y) |
| x+y | Tag x y | N, (x, y) |
| x^n | Row x n | x, x, ..., x |
| *x | List x | x, *x |
| +x | Seq x | !x + *x + x^ |
| <x | Flow x | +x, +x |
| x/Z | Set x | N, x^ |
| x-y | Map x y | *(x, y) |
| x/y | Hash x y | N, (x, y)^ |
head,tail %ref !opt name=term arg:type?val tag+tag
row^size *list +seq <flow set-Z bag-N
key-term path~node hash/term
| code | equivalence |
|---|---|
| a .f b | f a b |
| [a, b, c] | a, (b, (c, 0)) |
| f a+b -c / d | (f (a + b) (- c)) / d |
| a & b | c & d | e | if a b (if c d e) |
| f x,y=a:t : u = b | f = ((z = (a : t))? (x, y = z; b : u)) |
| a . (A x & b? c; ?d) | (tag a == A & b) & (x = item a; c) | d |
| f a g b h c |
f a (g b) (h c) |
| | a & f d | b & g e | c |
if a (f c) (if b (g e) c) |
Join our mailing list and Slack to build the future!
I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating... It was the first computer with beautiful typography.
Stephen Tse <s@min-lang.com>.