One Effort Multiple Platforms

Comparing programming languages is always a tendentious matter: everyone has their preferences and reasons for them. We hope to convince you to give 8th a try!

8th is different from the languages you’re most likely familiar with. First of all, it’s a Forth derivative, so it’s a stack-based language with RPN syntax.

It does not use a VM. Instead, it generates native code for the device on which it is running, at run-time.

It does (almost) no optimization. The only optimization it performs is “tail-call elimination”.

It is extremely cross-platform, meaning that the same code runs on all platforms 8th targets (with the very few exceptions being hardware or OS-specific features not universally present).

It is “security-forward”, meaning that the language itself and the runtime are designed to make your programs much more resistant to security breaches of all sorts.

Similarities

• 8th is procedural like C
• 8th has namespaces like C++
• Strings in 8th look the same as C/C++
• Must declare variables or functions before using them

Differences

• 8th is not object-oriented like C++
• Interactive REPL
• No need to compile or link; just run directly
• All data is strongly typed, and there is no way to “cast”
• No reserved words at all and almost no syntax
• No need for end-of-statement delimiters
• Many features are built-in

Similarities

• 8th is procedural
• 8th has namespaces
• Strings in 8th look the same as in Java
• Must declare variables or functions before using them
• Prevents direct access to memory

Differences

• 8th is not object-oriented
• Interactive REPL
• Not virtual-machine-based
• Allows access to underlying hardware without “JNI” manipulations
• No need to compile or link; just run directly
• No reserved words at all and almost no syntax
• No need for end-of-statement delimiters
• No need for verbose import statements
• Many features are built-in

A more in-depth comparison with respect to Python is in the manual.