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The Crystal Programming Language

crystal-lang.org

21–30 of 116 posts

Re: The Crystal Programming Language

#21
If you'd like to try out Crystal without installing anything locally, I've created a tiny Docker container with a Crystal project template:

https://github.com/compumike/crystal-docker-quickstart

For example, you may do:

    git clone https://github.com/compumike/crystal-docker-quickstart.git my_app
    cd my_app
    ./d_dev
    # docker container spins up in a few seconds... within the container's bash shell, try:
    make spec
    make && out/my_app
    # outside container, you may edit src/main.cr, save it, and then again within container:
    make && out/my_app
Good luck and enjoy! :)

I've written about Crystal before and am using it in production... see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32216786 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32081943

Re: The Crystal Programming Language

#22

Now, all we need for crystal to succeed is numpy, scipy, something pandas-like, and of course matplotlib (not plots, matplotlib). By the way, how are we on data-science friendly IDEs? Debugging? Automatic thorough documentation generator? Tooling in general? Is the time to first plot fast? Where I work, we desperately need a fast python.

You would also need a Notebook equivalent REPL for fast iteration.

Re: The Crystal Programming Language

#25
post #12

I used Crystal to create a web application a 2-3 years ago. It is running great without any problems. There are not that many users (only about 300-400) at any time. Anyhow, I did not touch the application in the last two years, and did not use Crystal in the last two years for anything else. I used Rust to write some simple personal CLI apps, which was fun but also hard. For some reason, couple of days back I return…

Probably because of the Ruby inspired syntax which just brings joy. Hopefully the ecosystem can grow and partially catch up as well

i've seen that said so many times, and fail to understand why Ruby syntax brings joy.

Personally, I thought the muddled Proc, block, and lambda situation a mess, coming from Scheme 30 years ago to Ruby 20 years ago.

Re: The Crystal Programming Language

#26
Looks interesting! I'm always open to a statically type checked language.

This isn't about the language, but I was surprised to see that Nikola motors is a sponsor. Wasn't that company a fraudulent Hydrogen Fuel vehicle startup[1]? I wonder what the story is there- I find it hard to imagine anyone would be doing much software engineering at the company in the first place, even if it *were* working on the technologies they claimed to.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88fWUZhYb04

Re: The Crystal Programming Language

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried a few times now to do data science in a statically typed language, and I just haven't enjoyed the developer experience. In general I tend to think the advantages of dynamic typing are overblown, but this is one problem domain where it seems to be indispensable. ML and data engineering is a different story, of course. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if something clever could be done with a structural type sys…

Static typing is like salt, sprinkle a little bit and it enhances and gives flavor to your food. Too much of it and it completely ruins the dish.

Nicely said! Let me try... Types are like guard rails, you don't think you need them till you fly off the road.

Re: The Crystal Programming Language

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because of the Ruby inspired syntax which just brings joy. Hopefully the ecosystem can grow and partially catch up as well

i've seen that said so many times, and fail to understand why Ruby syntax brings joy. Personally, I thought the muddled Proc, block, and lambda situation a mess, coming from Scheme 30 years ago to Ruby 20 years ago.

Ruby was among the first languages I learned, back when there was the possibility of Ruby being a general purpose language and not just Rails. My joy was the result of being able to guess syntax and be right. Nowadays I value reading documentation and IDE level support, so guessing syntax is no longer a joy.

Re: The Crystal Programming Language

#30
post #12

I used Crystal to create a web application a 2-3 years ago. It is running great without any problems. There are not that many users (only about 300-400) at any time. Anyhow, I did not touch the application in the last two years, and did not use Crystal in the last two years for anything else. I used Rust to write some simple personal CLI apps, which was fun but also hard. For some reason, couple of days back I return…

Probably because of the Ruby inspired syntax which just brings joy. Hopefully the ecosystem can grow and partially catch up as well

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder because I look at that syntax and cringe.
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