Amber Scripting Language

Scripting re-invented

Scripting languages are growing rapidly in popularity, and for good reason: they are unmatched for power and speed of development.

The Amber Scripting Language combines the traditional advantages of scripting languages with support for software correctness, large-scale software engineering and re-use.

An earlier version, Amber for Parrot targeted the » Parrot virtual machine. The version currently being developed is a self-contained interpreter.

Highlights

• A focus on software correctness and re-use
• Syntax and semantics somewhere between those of » ruby and » eiffel
• Scales well to large systems
• Concise syntax, easy to read and maintain
• Supports Contract Driven Design (CoDD) for software development
• Supports Contract Hardening (CoHa) for robustness
• Open source: licensed under the » MIT license
• Commercial licensing and support also available

Details

• Introduction and Overview
• Philosophy
• Release history
• Not yet implemented
• Downloads

The Amber language

• Language summary
• Example scripts
• Differences from Eiffel
• Language keywords
• Language symbols
• Other lexical elements
• Syntax (BNF Grammar)
• Operator precedence
• Interoperability

Status

The Amber Scripting Language is still experimental and is only suitable for enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the included hand-crafted examples and test cases do work. You can already use Amber in a limited way if you are a keen and tolerant type of person :-)

See the examples, tests and release notes to find out what is working.

It's likely that a stable version of the Amber Scripting Language will be released this century.

Resources

• Browse or contribute to the amberwiki
• Browse the amber source code online