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Pike

See:

C    

Language type:

O - Object-oriented

Description:

Pike is an interpreted dialect of C with object-oriented programming features and dynamic memory management. It is intended for general programming, especially for networking applications.
The data model of Pike is similar to that of C , with the addition of a primitive string type and a 'mixed' type that can hold any normal date value. Control structures in the language include C-like conditionals and loops, as well as a Perl-like array iteration loop. Arrays in Pike are dynamic, and the language also supports generalized associative arrays called maps. Object classes in Pike support methods with run-time resolution, multiple inheritance, and method references.
Pike has extensive additional facilities, including thread support, a variety of I/O libraries, network socket support, simple image processing, and regular expression pattern matching. The current version of Pike, 0.6b, has no GUI or window system capabilities.
Pike is available at no charge from its developers, Idonex of Sweden. There is only one implementation, and it runs on Win32 systems as well as most Unix incarnations.

Origin:

Fredrik Hübinette, InformationsVävarna, 1996.

See Also:

C    Python    Scheme    Perl    Visual Basic   

Remarks:

While Pike is comparable to Perl or Python in its feature set and ease of programming, it's similarity to C may make it easier for some users (or more confusing, depending..)
Pike has been used to write many web utilities and CGIs, as well as a web server. These uses have helped to drive development of its extensive I/O and networking libraries.
Pike evolved from an interpreted C dialect called LPC, which was used for writing multi-player dungeons.

Links:

Pike language manual

Date:

Last updated 9/12/98

Sample code:

// This program implements a fifo that can be used to send
// data between two threads.  (From the Pike 0.6 manual, sec 10)
inherit Thread.Condition : r_cond;
inherit Thread.Condition: w_cond;
inherit Thread.Mutex: lock;

mixed *buffer = allocate(128);
int r_ptr, w_ptr;

int query_messages() { return w_ptr - r_ptr; }

// This function reads one mixed value from the fifo.
// If no values are available it blocks until a write has been done.
mixed read() {
    mixed tmp;
            
    object key=lock::lock();
    while(!query_messages()) r_cond::wait(key);
    tmp=buffer[r_ptr   % sizeof(buffer)];
    w_cond::signal();
    return tmp;
}

// This function pushes one mixed value on the fifo.
// If the fifo is full it blocks until a value has been read.
void write(mixed v) {
    object key=lock::lock();
    while(query_messages() == sizeof(buffer)) w_cond::wait(key);
    buffer[w_ptr   % sizeof(buffer)]=v;
    r_cond::signal();
}

Descriptions in this dictionary are ©1997-99 Neal Ziring. Some examples copyright of their respective authors. Some technologies and languages are trademarked. Permission to copy descriptions is granted as long as authorship credit is preserved.

Comments on this dictionary, corrections and suggestions, are all welcome. Please use email, the address is ziring@home.com