Limbo (programming language): Difference between revisions
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|operating_system = [[Inferno (operating system)|Inferno]] | |operating_system = [[Inferno (operating system)|Inferno]] | ||
|license = [[GNU GPL]] v2, see NOTICE in limbo subfolder of the tarball | |license = [[GNU GPL]] v2, see NOTICE in limbo subfolder of the tarball | ||
|website = {{URL|http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/limbo.html}} | |website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20250207231314/http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/limbo.html}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
'''Limbo''' is a [[programming language]] for writing distributed systems and is the language used to write [[Application software|applications]] for the [[Inferno (operating system)|Inferno operating system]]. It was designed at [[Bell Labs]] by [[Sean Dorward]], [[Phil Winterbottom]], and [[Rob Pike]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/limbo.html |title=Inferno Application Programming |website= vitanuova |publisher= vitanuova |access-date=January 26, 2021}}</ref> | '''Limbo''' is a [[programming language]] for writing distributed systems and is the language used to write [[Application software|applications]] for the [[Inferno (operating system)|Inferno operating system]]. It was designed at [[Bell Labs]] by [[Sean Dorward]], [[Phil Winterbottom]], and [[Rob Pike]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/limbo.html |title=Inferno Application Programming |website=vitanuova |publisher=vitanuova |access-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-date=February 7, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207231314/http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/limbo.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> | ||
The Limbo [[compiler]] generates [[Computer architecture|architecture]]-independent [[object code]] which is then interpreted by the '''Dis virtual machine''' or compiled just before runtime to improve performance. Therefore all Limbo applications are completely portable across all Inferno platforms. | The Limbo [[compiler]] generates [[Computer architecture|architecture]]-independent [[object code]] which is then interpreted by the '''Dis virtual machine''' or compiled just before runtime to improve performance. Therefore all Limbo applications are completely portable across all Inferno platforms. | ||
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==Virtual machine== | ==Virtual machine== | ||
The Dis virtual machine that executes Limbo code is a CISC-like VM, with instructions for arithmetic, [[control flow]], [[data motion]], [[process (computing)|process]] creation, synchronizing and communicating between processes, loading modules of code, and support for higher-level data-types: strings, arrays, lists, and communication channels.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000 | url= | The Dis virtual machine that executes Limbo code is a CISC-like VM, with instructions for arithmetic, [[control flow]], [[data motion]], [[process (computing)|process]] creation, synchronizing and communicating between processes, loading modules of code, and support for higher-level data-types: strings, arrays, lists, and communication channels.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000 |url=https://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/papers/dis.html |title=Dis Virtual Machine Specification |access-date=2 February 2015 |publisher=Vita Nuova |archive-date=20 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250220003220/https://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/papers/dis.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> It uses a hybrid of [[reference counting]] and a [[real-time computing|real-time]] [[garbage collection (computer science)|garbage-collector]] for cyclic data.<ref name="gc">{{cite journal | url = http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/concurrent_gc/concurrent_gc.pdf | title = Very Concurrent Mark and Sweep Garbage Collection without Fine-Grain Synchronization | author = Lorenz Huelsbergen and Phil Winterbottom | year= 1998 | journal=1998 International Symposium on Memory Management}}</ref> | ||
Aspects of the design of Dis were inspired by the [[AT&T Hobbit]] microprocessor, as used in the original [[BeBox]]. | Aspects of the design of Dis were inspired by the [[AT&T Hobbit]] microprocessor, as used in the original [[BeBox]]. | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
* [http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/limbo.html Vita Nuova page on Limbo] | * [https://web.archive.org/web/20250207231314/http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/limbo.html Vita Nuova page on Limbo] | ||
* [http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/limbo_language/descent A Descent into Limbo] by [[Brian Kernighan]] | * [http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/limbo_language/descent A Descent into Limbo] by [[Brian Kernighan]] | ||
* [http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/limbo_language/limbo The Limbo Programming Language] by [[Dennis M. Ritchie]] and [http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/limbo_language/addendum Addendum] by Vita Nuova. | * [http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/limbo_language/limbo The Limbo Programming Language] by [[Dennis M. Ritchie]] and [http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/limbo_language/addendum Addendum] by Vita Nuova. | ||
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* [http://swtch.com/~rsc/thread/ Threaded programming in the Bell Labs CSP style] | * [http://swtch.com/~rsc/thread/ Threaded programming in the Bell Labs CSP style] | ||
* {{Citation | url = https://bitbucket.org/inferno-os/inferno-os/src/62ae0f75aa714c7bab5e714fcf90f4026b7ba911/limbo/?at=default | title = Dis source code | access-date = 2017-09-20 | archive-date = 2017-09-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095053/https://bitbucket.org/inferno-os/inferno-os/src/62ae0f75aa714c7bab5e714fcf90f4026b7ba911/limbo/?at=default | url-status = dead }} | * {{Citation | url = https://bitbucket.org/inferno-os/inferno-os/src/62ae0f75aa714c7bab5e714fcf90f4026b7ba911/limbo/?at=default | title = Dis source code | access-date = 2017-09-20 | archive-date = 2017-09-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095053/https://bitbucket.org/inferno-os/inferno-os/src/62ae0f75aa714c7bab5e714fcf90f4026b7ba911/limbo/?at=default | url-status = dead }} | ||
* {{Citation | url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250211084729/https://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/papers/hotchips.html | | * {{Citation | url = https://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/papers/hotchips.html | title = The design of the Inferno virtual machine | publisher = Vita nuova | access-date = 2025-04-28 | archive-date = 2025-02-11 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250211084729/https://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/papers/hotchips.html | url-status = bot: unknown }}. | ||
* {{Citation | publisher = Cat V | title = Inferno | edition = 4th | contribution = Dis VM design | url = http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/dis_VM_design}}. | * {{Citation | publisher = Cat V | title = Inferno | edition = 4th | contribution = Dis VM design | url = http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/dis_VM_design}}. | ||
* {{Citation | publisher = Cat V | title = Inferno | edition = 4th | contribution = Dis VM specification | url = http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/dis_VM_specification}}. | * {{Citation | publisher = Cat V | title = Inferno | edition = 4th | contribution = Dis VM specification | url = http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/4th_edition/dis_VM_specification}}. | ||
Latest revision as of 01:32, 15 November 2025
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "other uses". Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Limbo is a programming language for writing distributed systems and is the language used to write applications for the Inferno operating system. It was designed at Bell Labs by Sean Dorward, Phil Winterbottom, and Rob Pike.[1]
The Limbo compiler generates architecture-independent object code which is then interpreted by the Dis virtual machine or compiled just before runtime to improve performance. Therefore all Limbo applications are completely portable across all Inferno platforms.
Limbo's approach to concurrency was inspired by Hoare's communicating sequential processes (CSP), as implemented and amended in Pike's earlier Newsqueak language and Winterbottom's Alef.
Language features
Limbo supports the following features:
- modular programming
- concurrent programming
- strong type checking at compile and run-time
- interprocess communication over typed channels
- automatic garbage collection
- simple abstract data types
Virtual machine
The Dis virtual machine that executes Limbo code is a CISC-like VM, with instructions for arithmetic, control flow, data motion, process creation, synchronizing and communicating between processes, loading modules of code, and support for higher-level data-types: strings, arrays, lists, and communication channels.[2] It uses a hybrid of reference counting and a real-time garbage-collector for cyclic data.[3]
Aspects of the design of Dis were inspired by the AT&T Hobbit microprocessor, as used in the original BeBox.
Examples
Limbo uses Ada-style definitions as in:
name := type value;
name0,name1 : type = value;
name2,name3 : type;
name2 = value;
Hello world
implement Command;
include "sys.m";
sys: Sys;
include "draw.m";
include "sh.m";
init(nil: ref Draw->Context, nil: list of string)
{
sys = load Sys Sys->PATH;
sys->print("Hello World!\n");
}
Books
The 3rd edition of the Inferno operating system and Limbo programming language are described in the textbook Inferno Programming with Limbo Template:ISBN (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), by Phillip Stanley-Marbell. Another textbook The Inferno Programming Book: An Introduction to Programming for the Inferno Distributed System, by Martin Atkins, Charles Forsyth, Rob Pike and Howard Trickey, was started, but never released.
See also
Script error: No such module "Portal".
- The Inferno operating system
- Alef, the predecessor of Limbo
- Plan 9 from Bell Labs, operating system
- Go, similar language from Google
- AT&T Hobbit, a processor architecture which inspired the Dis VM
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Vita Nuova page on Limbo
- A Descent into Limbo by Brian Kernighan
- The Limbo Programming Language by Dennis M. Ritchie and Addendum by Vita Nuova.
- Inferno Programming with Limbo by Phillip Stanley-Marbell
- Threaded programming in the Bell Labs CSP style
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