The Io Language
Note: This document is intended to be used as a reference for setting up and configuring Io. For a guide on how to use the language itself, please visit the website at http://iolanguage.org/guide/guide.html.
Table of Contents
What is Io?
Io is a dynamic prototype-based programming language in the same realm as Smalltalk and Self. It revolves around the idea of message passing from object to object.
For further information, the programming guide and reference manual can be found in the docs folder.
Example Code
Basic Math
Io> 1 + 1
==> 2
Io> 2 sqrt
==> 1.4142135623730951
Lists
Io> d := List clone append(30, 10, 5, 20)
==> list(30, 10, 5, 20)
Io> d := d sort
==> list(5, 10, 20, 30)
Io> d select (>10)
==> list(20, 30)
Objects
Io> Contact := Object clone
==> Contact_0x7fbc3bc8a6d0:
type = "Contact"
Io> Contact name ::= nil
==> nil
Io> Contact address ::= nil
==> nil
Io> Contact city ::= nil
==> nil
Io> holmes := Contact clone setName("Holmes") setAddress("221B Baker St") setCity("London")
==> Contact_0x7fbc3be2b470:
address = "221B Baker St"
city = "London"
name = "Holmes"
Io> Contact fullAddress := method(list(name, address, city) join("\n"))
==> method(
list(name, address, city) join("\n")
)
Io> holmes fullAddress
==> Holmes
221B Baker St
London
Quick Links
- The Wikipedia page for Io has a good overview and shows a few interesting examples of the language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(programming_language).
- The entry on the c2 wiki has good discussion about the merits of the language: http://wiki.c2.com/?IoLanguage.
Installing
From a Package Manager
Io is currently only packaged for OS X. To install it, open a terminal and type:
brew install io
Note that this package may not be as updated as the version from the source repository.
To install via Homebrew on an M1 Mac, first install Homebrew under x86_64, into /usr/local:
arch -x86_64 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
Then install io with this installation of Homebrew:
arch -x86_64 /usr/local/Homebrew/bin/brew install io
Following that, you can run io under Rosetta 2 with:
arch -x86_64 io
From Source
First, make sure that this repo and all of its submodules have been cloned to
your computer by running git clone
with the --recursive
flag:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/IoLanguage/io.git
Io uses the CMake build system and supports all of the normal flags and features provided by CMake.
In a production environment, pass the flag -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=release
to the
cmake
command to ensure that the C compiler does the proper optimizations.
Without this flag, Io is built in debug mode without standard C optimizations.
To install to a specific folder, pass the flag
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/to/your/folder/
to the cmake
command.
Linux Build Instructions
To prepare the project for building, run the following commands:
cd io/ # To get into the cloned folder
mkdir build # To contain the CMake data
cd build/
cmake .. # This populates the build folder with a Makefile and all of the related things necessary to begin building
In a production environment, pass the flag -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=release
to the
cmake
command to ensure that the C compiler does the proper optimizations.
Without this flag, Io is built in debug mode without standard C optimizations.
To install to a different folder than /usr/local/bin/
, pass the flag
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/to/your/folder/
to the cmake
command.
To build without Eerie, the Io package manager, pass the flag
-DWITHOUT_EERIE=1
to the cmake
command.
Once CMake has finished preparing the build environment, ensure you are inside the build folder, and run:
make
sudo make install
Finally, install Eerie, the Io package manager (see Eerie repo for installation options):
export PATH=$PATH:_build/binaries/; . ./install_unix.sh
Io can then be run with the io
command and Eerie can be run with the eerie
command.
macOS Build Instructions
See the Linux build instructions.
Note: Building Io for arm64-based macOS machines is unsupported. To build and run
on an M1 or newer, build Io for x86_64 by adding
-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="x86_64"
to your CMake invocation.
Windows Build Instructions
You need CMake or CMake Cygwin (at least v2.8), depending on the building method you choose.
For the make install
command, if you are on Windows 7/Vista you will need to
run your command prompts as Administrator: right-click on the command prompt
launcher->"Run as administrator" or something similar.
You will also need to add <install_drive>:\<install_directory>\bin
and
<install_drive>:\<install_directory>\lib
to your PATH
environment variable.
Building with MinGW-W64 (Recommended)
We use this method in our CI, so this should be considered an official/supported method of building on Windows.
-
cd
to your Io root folder -
We want to do an out-of-source build, so:
mkdir buildroot
andcd buildroot
-
a)
cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" ..
or
b)
cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_drive>:/<install_directory> ..
(eg:cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:/Io ..
) -
mingw32-make
-
mingw32-make install
(if you use cmd.exe, you should run it as Administrator) -
Install Eerie, the Io package manager (see Eerie repo for installation options):
_build\binaries\io_static setup.io
.
Building with MinGW
For automatic MinGW install: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/Automated%20MinGW%20Installer
For non-automatic MinGW install and detailed instructions refer to: http://www.mingw.org/wiki/InstallationHOWTOforMinGW
-
cd
to your Io root folder -
We want to do an out-of-source build, so:
mkdir buildroot
andcd buildroot
-
a)
cmake -G"MSYS Makefiles" ..
or
b)
cmake -G"MSYS Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_drive>:/<install_directory> ..
(eg:cmake -G"MSYS Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:/Io ..
) -
make
-
make install
-
Install Eerie, the Io package manager (see Eerie repo for installation options):
./_build/binaries/io_static setup.io
.
Building with MSVC
-
Install Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express (should work with other versions).
-
Install Microsoft Windows SDK 7.0 (or newer).
-
Install CMake (v2.8 at least)
-
Run "Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt" from the "Microsoft Visual Studio 2008" start menu.
-
cd
to<install_drive>:\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Setup
then run:WindowsSdkVer.exe -version:v7.0
-
Close the command prompt window and run step 4 again
-
Ensure CMake bin path is in the
PATH
environment variable (eg:echo %PATH%
and see that the folder is there) if not you will have to add it to yourPATH
. -
cd
to your Io root folder -
We want to do an out-of-source build, so:
mkdir buildroot
andcd buildroot
-
a)
cmake ..
or
b)
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_drive>:\<install_directory> ..
(eg:cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:\Io ..
) -
nmake
-
nmake install
-
Install Eerie, the Io package manager (see Eerie repo for installation options):
./_build/binaries/io_static setup.io
.
Building with Cygwin
Install Cygwin from: http://www.cygwin.com/
-
cd
to your Io root folder -
We want to do an out-of-source build, so:
mkdir buildroot
andcd buildroot
-
a)
cmake ..
or
b)
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_drive>:/<install_directory> ..
(eg:cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:/Io ..
) -
make
-
make install
-
Install Eerie, the Io package manager (see Eerie repo for installation options):
./_build/binaries/io_static setup.io
.
Note: If you also have CMake 2.8 for Windows installed (apart from CMake for
Cygwin) check your PATH
environment variable so you won't be running CMake for
Windows instead of Cygwin version.
Running Tests
You should be inside your out-of-source build dir. The vm tests can be run with the command:
io ../libs/iovm/tests/correctness/run.io
Installing Addons
Many of the common features provided by the Io language aren't prepackaged in the Io core. Instead, these features are contained in addons that get loaded when launching the Io VM. In the past, these addons were automatically installed by the build process, but now they must be installed through Eerie, the Io package manager.
Most of these addons are housed under the IoLanguage group on GitHub: https://github.com/IoLanguage.
To install an addon, ensure both Io and Eerie are installed correctly, then run:
eerie install <link to the git repository>
For example, to build and install the Range
addon, run the command:
eerie install https://github.com/IoLanguage/Range.git
To ensure that an addon installed correctly, pull up an Io interpreter and type
the name of the object provided by the addon. It should load dynamically and
automatically into the interpreter session, populating a slot in Lobby Protos Addons
.