commit 6e5a6ec3976fafc4def097c129806b50f52bfe5c
parent 10da512e354c5baac045a63953373f421260871e
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2021 08:58:22 -0500
Add README.md
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+# The Hare programming language [](https://builds.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/hare/commits?)
+
+Hare is a systems programming language and **a work-in-progress**.
+
+## Principles
+
+1. Trust the programmer.
+2. Provide tools the programmer may use when they don't trust themselves.
+3. Prefer explicit behavior over implicit behavior.
+4. A good program must be both correct and simple.
+
+## Early development secrecy
+
+Hello, onlooker! Please keep this project a secret. Feel free to mess around
+with it and send feedback (we're in #hare on irc.freenode.net), but please keep
+it to yourself. We don't want to announce this project until it's much, much
+more mature.
+
+Ask in the IRC channel to get access to the private bug tracker and mailing
+lists.
+
+## Status
+
+This is a work in progress! The process for bootstrapping Hare is as follows:
+
+1. Write the [bootstrap compiler][0] in C, and a [specification][1] which
+ describes the language.
+2. Write the [build driver][2] in Hare, and at least as much of the
+ [standard library][3] which is necessary to make it work.
+3. Write the hosted compiler in Hare. At this point, Hare is fully bootstrapped.
+4. Expand the standard library until it's useful for general purpose systems
+ programming. Write programs in Hare. Provide benefit to society.
+
+Right now, stage 1 is mostly complete. We've started on stage 2, and we're
+closing loose ends in stage 1 as we run into blockers during the development of
+stage 2.
+
+[0]: https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/harec
+[1]: https://harelang.org/specification
+[2]: https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/hare
+[3]: https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/stdlib
+
+Explanation of terms:
+
+- bootstrap compiler: a Hare compiler written in C, primarily used for the
+ purpose of bringing up a working Hare toolchain from scratch.
+- hosted compiler: a more sophisticted Hare compiler, written in Hare,
+ designed to be the compiler used for day-to-day langauge use.
+- build driver: similar to make, its purpose is to collect source files, track
+ their dependencies, and build them into Hare programs.
+
+## Getting the code
+
+This repository is the build driver, i.e. the source for the "hare" command. The
+other important repositories include the hosted compiler, bootstrap compiler,
+and the standard library. You can browse all of the source code on the [sr.ht
+project page][4].
+
+[4]: https://sr.ht/~sircmpwn/hare/
+
+For information about bootstrapping a working Hare toolchain from scratch, see
+[Hare Installation][5] on the website.
+
+[5]: https://harelang.org/installation/
