Xipal

Xipal is a new industrial programming language. It is currently still under development. It is a project of the software company Metamilk.

The name "Xipal" might be viewed as an acronym for "eXtended Imperative Phased Applicative Language":

• eXtended: Xipal has many exciting new features including an original syntax that is clear, concise, and extremely flexible, and an advanced static type system with first class polymorphism for writing generic code.
• Imperative: Xipal provides full support for mutable data structures and easy anthropocentric programming styles.
• Phased: Xipal programs obey a phase distinction which allows the compiler to guarantee that certain kinds of errors will never occur at runtime.
• Applicative: Xipal has all the features found in functional programming languages such as first class functions, partial application, and algebraic datatypes, which empowers the programmer to build truly re-usable solutions with concise, elegant code.
• Language: Xipal is a programming language. But it is more than that: it is also a human-centred language for helping us to develop clarity of thought in the face of complex problems.

However "Xipal" is not an acronym: to us it is a real name for the underlying "personality" of the particular coherence relating the various language concepts, and that is why only the first letter would ever be capitalized. This is one thing we have found so interesting: we started out trying to design a language and have found instead that it is much more a case of trying to help a language reveal itself to us...

Unlike many modern languages, that are designed primarily for writing office applications, scripting, or testing out various research ideas, Xipal is designed primarily for developing complex, computationally intensive real-time applications such as computer games and operating systems, which is why we call it an industrial programming language. The idea is that anything that is currently implemented in C or C++ could be implemented much more easily and safely in Xipal, and the final executable should be just as fast, if not faster!

Xipal is being developed by Metamilk as a commercial project, and therefore it is not possible for us to provide further details of the language at this point. Eventually we hope to be able to offer an optimizing compiler that will generate stand-alone executables for various platforms, and an integrated development environment, together with a range of friendly license options to suit different needs.

When it is ready, Xipal will help realize Metamilk's vision of an era where independent people will be able to earn a living by developing creative, artistic software that will light up people's minds to new possibilities and ways of thinking, which in turn will help spread peace and gentleness in the world.