What is ooc?
ooc was born out of the desire to write cross-platform applications with a concise, yet clear syntax, and to produce native binaries rather than relying on a downloadable runtime.
It’s a general-purpose, language with a source-to-source compiler (to C99), and a portable SDK, readily available bindings for quite a few C libraries, a flexible module system, testing facilities and a set of utilities to make one’s life easier.
History
It was 2009, I had just started studying micro-engineering at EPFL, and we were given a programming assignment, something about a prey/predator simulation.
After having spent years using Java in my spare time, I did not want to go back to something as low-level as C, so I did what any lazy programmer would have done: I spent the first few months writing a source-to-source compiler from a Java-ish language to C, and then the last 48 hours actually coding the project.
Everything turned out fine - I got the maximum grade, and immediately began rewriting the compiler (implemented in Java, back then). And then I rewrote it again.
A community started to form around it. By 2011, we were overy fourty regulars on the IRC channel. Then, time passed, some of us got jobs, we had our share of leadership problems within the project, and interest in the project slowly faded.
A small team kept maintaining the compiler and SDK in the background. Bugs were fixed, long-awaited features were implemented. Development has quietly continued, and the project was never actually abandoned. After a long while with just a single page website, we decided to rebuild a proper one to help newcomers get up and running quickly. You are reading it right now!
Why use ooc?
It’s a hard choice to make nowadays, to spend a chunk of your time learning and writing a codebase in a language that isn’t “mainstream”. Some would argue, not without reason, that it is a dangerous enterprise - that choosing a more established platform is the right thing to do. That hobby programming language skills aren’t marketable, etc., etc.
However, a good programmer is a good programmer in any language. Discovering new ways of perceiving, designing, and manufacturing pieces of software is always a worthy pursuit.
Hence, for small to medium-sized, personal projects - a personal command-line utility, a graphical front-end for an application you like, a custom piece of zeromq-powered network infrastructure, or an indie game - ooc is a practical alternative to what’s out there.
It’s been a while since the “marketing” phase of the ooc project has been abandoned. Although it is motivating to push for adoption, imperatives like paying the bills, maintaining healthy relationships, and preserving one’s sanity, have pushed for a more intimate approach to development.
Since its inception, many novelty programming languages have come and gone. The naiveté of youth, combined with a relentless thirst for experimentation, have inspired many developers to try and do their own thing. ooc survived through sheer, continued usefulness.
I sincerely hope you find it useful, quirky, and enlightening as well.
Similar projects
There are several new-ish, general-purpose programming languages floating around. Some of them are similar to ooc, and some of them are very different. If ooc doesn’t fulfill your needs, perhaps some of these do:
| Name | Target | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vala | C / GLib | Gnome backed |
| Genie | C / GLib | Vala with a python syntax |
| Haxe | Multi-backend | Game oriented |
| Rust | Native | Mozilla backed |
| Go | Native | Google backed |
| CoffeeScript | JavaScript | The ooc of JavaScript |
| Io | VM | Minimal |
| Lua | VM | Embedded in many games |
| BitC | Native | Gave up LISP |
| Clay | Native | Abandoned? |
| eC | Native | Bundled with Ecere SDK |