Pico (programming language)

<h2 id="language-elements">Language elements</h2>
<p>De Meuter, Gonzalez, and D'Hondt describe the Pico syntax as being "two-tiered."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> The first layer consists of simple rules for writing small programs in a <a href="/facts/Functional_programming/cdxqPEIM">functional programming</a> style.
</p>
<h3>Comments</h3>
<p>Comments are surrounded by <a href="/facts/Backquote/pVo48UeD">backquotes</a> ("`").
</p>
<h3>Variables</h3>
<p><a href="/facts/Variable_(programming)/VoCKtwml">Variables</a> are dynamically <a href="/facts/Data_type/fcx5hgVL">typed</a>; Pico uses static <a href="/facts/Scope_(programming)/bbj6AFMo">scope</a>.
</p>
var: value

<h3>Functions</h3>
<p>Functions, like everything in Pico, are <a href="/facts/First-class_object/N6tFtEUU">first-class objects</a>, meaning they can be assigned to variables and passed to and returned from functions. Also, there are no anonymous functions in Pico; functions must have a name.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> For example, a function, func, with two parameters, param1 and param2, can be defined as:
</p>
func(param1, param2): ...

<p>Functions can be called with the following syntax:
</p>
func(arg1, arg2)

<h3>Operators</h3>
<p>Operators can be used as prefix or infix in Pico:
</p>
+(5, 2)
5 + 2

<h3>Data types</h3>
<p>Pico has the following types: <a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">string</a>, <a href="/facts/Integer/PUwwrawx">integer</a>, <a href="/facts/Real_number/R02gw5Pb">real</a> and <a href="/facts/Array_data_type/gHJJ3XPw">tables</a>.
</p><p>It does not have a native <a href="/facts/Character_(computing)/X2zKLFFB">char</a> type, so users should resort to size 1 strings.
</p><p>Tables are compound data structures that may contain any of the regular data types.
</p><p>Boolean types are represented by functions (as in <a href="/facts/Lambda_calculus/DaD3RuQ4">lambda calculus</a>).
</p>
<h3>Control structures</h3>
<h4>Conditional evaluation</h4>
<p>Only the usual if statement is included
</p>
if(condition, then, else)

<h2 id="code-snippets">Code snippets</h2>
display('Hello World', eoln)

max(a, b):
 if(a < b, b, a)

`<a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/accgen.html">http://www.paulgraham.com/accgen.html</a>`
foo(n): fun(i): n := n+i

<h2 id="implementations">Implementations</h2>
<h3>Mac OS, Mac OS X</h3>
<ul><li><a href="http://pico.vub.ac.be/downloads.html">MacPico</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040221012930/http://wilma.vub.ac.be/~pvdabeel/stuff/Xpico-Snaps/">XPico</a></li></ul>
<h3>Windows</h3>
<ul><li><a href="http://pico.vub.ac.be/downloads.html">WinPico</a> <i>This version is buggy</i></li>
<li><a href="http://student.vub.ac.be/~nkaraogl/WinPico/">WinPico stable</a></li></ul>
<h3>Linux</h3>
<ul><li><a href="http://dirk.rave.org/">TextPico for Linux</a></li></ul>
<h3>Cross-platform</h3>
<ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080905092122/http://www.infogroep.be/sPico">sPico for DrScheme</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://pico.vub.ac.be">Official website</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://soft.vub.ac.be/">Software Languages Lab</a></li>
<li><a href="http://dinf.vub.ac.be/">Department of Computer Science at VUB</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.vub.ac.be/">VUB</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080905092145/http://www.infogroep.be/Pico">The Infogroep Pico page</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>D'Hondt, Theo; Gonzalez, Sebastian; De Meuter, Wolfgang (1 January 1999). "The design and rationale behind pico". Programming Technology Lab, Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Retrieved 3 December 2023. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/509697/The_design_and_rationale_behind_pico" target="_blank">https://www.academia.edu/509697/The_design_and_rationale_behind_pico</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>D'Hondt, Theo; Gonzalez, Sebastian; De Meuter, Wolfgang (1 January 1999). "The design and rationale behind pico". Programming Technology Lab, Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Retrieved 3 December 2023. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/509697/The_design_and_rationale_behind_pico" target="_blank">https://www.academia.edu/509697/The_design_and_rationale_behind_pico</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>D'Hondt, Theo; Gonzalez, Sebastian; De Meuter, Wolfgang (1 January 1999). "The design and rationale behind pico". Programming Technology Lab, Department of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Retrieved 3 December 2023. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/509697/The_design_and_rationale_behind_pico" target="_blank">https://www.academia.edu/509697/The_design_and_rationale_behind_pico</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Pico (programming language) open-in-new

Pico (programming language)