Pike – a dynamic programming language with a syntax similar to Java and C

Lots of people questioning what Pike brings to the table. Be aware that Pike has been around for <i>over 31 years</i>[1]. It&#x27;s kind of dead now and a lot of people have moved over to Lua[2] (which is over 32 years old!).<p>So long ago, that it took me a minute to recall having programmed a lot of CGI code with it, back in the Roxen web server[3] days.<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pike_(programming_language)#History" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pike_(programming_language)#Hi...</a><p>2. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lua" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lua</a><p>3. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Roxen_(web_server)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Roxen_(web_server)</a>

Brings back some memories of the webserver Roxen that had a GUI, if I remember correctly. It still seems to be semi-alive, although the download page looks broken.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Roxen_(web_server)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Roxen_(web_server)</a><p>EDIT: Github repo <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;pikelang&#x2F;Roxen">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;pikelang&#x2F;Roxen</a>

what does pike look like<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pike.lysator.liu.se&#x2F;docs&#x2F;tut&#x2F;introduction&#x2F;first_glance.md" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pike.lysator.liu.se&#x2F;docs&#x2F;tut&#x2F;introduction&#x2F;first_glan...</a><p>(saving you some clicks...)

More information in this earlier comment, linked from the wikipedia article<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=31453477">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=31453477</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pike_(programming_language)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pike_(programming_language)</a>

It claims to be one of the fastest “scripting” languages, where can I see the numbers? Does it perform close to DaScript?<p>Also, is it only an interpreted language or can I compile it too if I want?<p>Is it like Ruby in the sense that I have to share the whole runtime with the ruby script or can I somehow share a standalone cross-platform executable?<p>I’ll be honest, the design decision at first hand sight did not look that exciting<p>string name = Stdio.stdin-&gt;gets();

Pike is described as a &quot;dynamic&quot; language, so I was expecting purely dynamic typing, yet the language uses Java&#x2F;C-style variable declarations with explicit types.<p>It seems that these are (unsound) type <i>hints</i>, years before TypeScript made them cool:<p>&gt; &quot;If your program tries to put one type of value in a variable which was designed to hold another type of value, Pike <i>may</i> detect this&quot; [emphasis mine]<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pike.lysator.liu.se&#x2F;docs&#x2F;tut&#x2F;fundamentals&#x2F;index.md#type-checking" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pike.lysator.liu.se&#x2F;docs&#x2F;tut&#x2F;fundamentals&#x2F;index.md#t...</a>

What&#x27;s the itch this language is trying to scratch? For which use cases is it best suited?

I remember coming across Pike about two decades ago (or more), as a young amateur developer... I couldn&#x27;t understand why anyone would choose Pike.<p>And today I still can&#x27;t.<p>Legacy projects?

If you ever wrote LPC on an LPMUD back in the day, you were writing proto-Pike :)

I am old. I remember when it came out.

the question i always ask: WHY anther language.

Of all the strengths that Java and C have, I would not call syntax one of them. :) So this title seems quite strange. Not the sales pitch I would make.<p>It is understandable though, considering this language is 30+ years old. Probably not the decision you would make if you were to design it today: Switch statement with labels+fallthrough instead of a switch&#x2F;match expression (even Java replaced that one with a switch expression nowadays), ?: ternary operator instead of if expression (the Pike docs even call that one ugly and recommend not using it)...

Taking the worst aspect of statically typed languages and mixing it with the worst part of dynamic schemes. I&#x27;ll keep my Ruby, thanks.