Many new programmers who are wanting to start object oriented programming may feel that languages like Java are just too complex. And, as well as being object oriented, they may want this nice programming language to:
- be free
- use existing Java libraries
- be able to add methods to classes without access to their source code
- use tuples (which allow methods to return multiple results)
- improve on Java's error handling
- accept optional parameters for functions
If that's the case then that's exactly what the programmer needs - the Nice Programming Language.
Getting Started with the Nice Programming Language
The compressed Nice compiler can be downloaded from the Nice web site. Once it's been uncompressed and the system path updated to include the new Nice directory then it's just a matter of creating text files containing Nice code. The compiler can then be used to create executable files.
A Simple Nice Program
The key point for the programmer to remember about Nice is that it compiles from packages and not individual files. And a package is simply a directory that contains the Nice files (which are identified by a .nice file extension). The first step, therefore, is to create the folder that is going to be the new package, and then move into the directory:
The next stage is to create the package's source code. The package must contain at least one .nice file and that file must be named main.nice. This can be created with any text editor, for example:
And it's contents will be recognizable to any Java programmer:
Once this file has been saved then the package is ready for compilation.
Compiling and Running a Nice Application
The easiest way to compile a Nice application is to move back into the parent directory and then use nicec:
This will compile the package into a Java jar file, and this can now be run:
In this case a simple a simple “Hello, World!” statement is displayed on the screen (as shown in figure 1 at the bottom of this article).
Alternatively, if the programmer has gcj (The GNU Compiler for Java Programming Language) installed then they can create an executable:
However, Windows users must note that in order to access gcj they will also need Cygwin installed (and for that they should read Cygwin: a Linux-like Environment for Windows).
Of course, this has not touched on any of the object oriented programming aspects of Nice, its ability to handle optional inputs, or the ease with which it can be used to extend existing classes. However, it is obvious that the Nice programming language is very easy to use both for the experienced Java programmer and the complete novice.
Mark Alexander Bain - Mark Alexander Bain is a writer, Mo Bro and consultant for all aspects of software development at dsquared. He has also written regularly ...
