The Vine programming language is a new experimental language built on interaction nets. It features interoperability between functional and imperative programming patterns.
Vine is a statically typed, compiled language with a clean, intuitive syntax. Its underlying foundation is the computational model of interaction nets. Vine compiles to Ivy, a low-level interaction-combinator language that runs on the Interaction Virtual Machine (IVM).
In a Hacker News thread, tijvi commented:
Interaction nets are an alternate model of computation (similar to lambda calculus or Turing machines). They have several interesting properties, one of the most notable being that they are fundamentally parallel. There are many potential applications for interaction nets in parallel and distributed computing, among other fields. Such applications will need a language—hence Vine.
Vine programming language includes standard features like integer and float operations, boolean logic, string manipulation, tuples, and basic control flow constructs such as if-else statements and loops. Its syntax and type system draw influence from Rust, emphasizing an expression-oriented approach and a modular structure.
In addition, the language shares similarities with functional languages besides Rust, such as Haskell, Erlang, Elixir, and OCaml. These languages emphasize immutability, safety, performance, and concurrency, aligning with Vine’s design philosophy.
On Bluesky, Devon, a software engineer, posted:
Reading the vine.dev docs reminds me of my first forays into Haskell – brain melting, but some very interesting ideas in there coming from the alternate model of computation the language is based off (Vine : interaction nets :: Haskell : lambda calculus, kinda).
The Vine compiler for the language employs a multi-stage architecture to transform source code into interaction nets:
- It starts with the CLI entry point gathering compilation options and entry points, followed by a loader that parses files into an abstract syntax tree (AST).
- The resolver then builds a module graph and disambiguates specific AST nodes. The checker verifies expression types and forms.
- At the same time, the distiller converts the AST into Vine Intermediate Representation (VIR), simplifying complex expressions and transforming control flow into a Stacked Flow Graph.
- The normalizer removes divergence from the VIR, and the analyzer conducts reachability and dataflow analyses.
- Lastly, the emitter translates the processed VIR into Ivy nets, finalizing the compilation process for Vine’s parallel computation.
There is a GitHub project with various examples for trying the Vine Compiler.
Developers interested in exploring Vine can access the official documentation. The documentation provides comprehensive guidance from installation through advanced topics like concurrent programming patterns and integration with existing systems.
Lastly, the Vine project is open-source and actively maintained on GitHub. The development team encourages community participation, inviting developers to contribute code, report issues, and provide feedback.
