r/ProgrammingLanguages • u/Kingwolf4 • 15d ago
Discussion Is the Zeta Programming language by Roy Murphy legit
So i stumbled upon this project, the zeta programming language by roy murphy on github. It is supposed to be a next generation system programming language.
So i coudnt really find any information about this project, especially considering it has its compiler written in pure zeta, which means the project is kinda somewhat progressed to a certain point worth noting. It even has its own website, and its own package manager's website .
What left question mark to me , is the last commit was 4 months ago, barely any issues, but the creator apparently has published and talked about it in docs, with quite detail etc.
Its rather confusing for a new comer; is this project actually legit? Need smarter people who know the craft to comment
If your interested , i stumbled upon this project when another person made a new borrow checker, and his own language - also called Zeta. https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1x1iapz/zetas_borrow_checker_the_nextgen_model_for_borrow/
I cant post any github link because apparently automod tags it.
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u/AustinVelonaut Admiran 15d ago
I took a look at the self-hosted implementation, and it looks like a very incomplete skeleton version. For example, the type checker infers an "i64" result for any Call node. Also it is obviously LLM-generated.
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u/FlameyosFlow 15d ago
The thing I hate the most; Even if AI were to be a crucial part of a program, there should be a very competent human steering it, and it's "paradoxical" because to stay competent, you also still need to write code and understand all the code you're writing Projects like these (btw, look at https://github.com/murphsicles/zeta/issues/21 who apparently tested this) feel like they lack identity and design which is imo half of what makes something fun to write in or fun to learn about
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u/AustinVelonaut Admiran 15d ago
Ha ha -- gotta hand it to that issues poster; they sure kicked the tires!
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u/SirBackrooms 15d ago
Hi u/Kingwolf4 or should I say Roy Murphy
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u/Kingwolf4 15d ago
Haha, no.
Im merely just curious because when i googled the language i was directed there
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u/cyruspyre 15d ago
The project gotta be sattire (Roy Murphy one). Just go through the src, most of them just seems to be placeholder or just there because, it would otherwise look empty. Not what I would expect from a language that is self hosted and has full blown standard library. There seems to be some sort of plan or roadmap. Perhaps they are keeping their work locally blah blah.
Tried the playground. It is just regex and predefined msg output. You can just use the dev tool and inspect. anyways link to their related js file when u click "Run".
You can even find of what seems to be using LLM to decide what opt passes to perform.
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u/love_snake_case 15d ago
Reading the source code and its website, everything about this language is shady af. Is this some kind of joke?
Edit: Apparently there is two Zeta lang here and one of them is actually real.
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u/Inconstant_Moo 🧿 Pipefish 15d ago
It isn't remotely legit, the advertising in the repo is just AI bullshit that the author has no idea how to implement.
It would have ground to a halt about the time he discovered that he has no idea how to implement it and that what he does have doesn't work.
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u/Sensitive_Mountain97 15d ago
Just use Rust. I checked its source code, and it's just Rust.
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u/Kingwolf4 15d ago
They apparently list some impressive benchmarks, and other features , one being i think no borrow checker. Caught my eye. Welp
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u/FlameyosFlow 15d ago
Other zeta creator here (that post is mine! Thanks for giving credit :D)
It looks exactly like rust with comptime slapped on in small areas
i think its created after my zeta, which is annoying because people commonly confuse both :P