Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC)

Cobra

Usual file extensions	.cobra
Paradigm	Multi-paradigm: object-oriented
Appeared in	2006
Designed by	Chuck Esterbrook
Developer	Cobra Language LLC
Stable release	2009-03-20 (March 20, 2009)
Typing discipline	strong, static, dynamic, inferred
Influenced by	Python, Eiffel, C#, Objective-C
OS	Microsoft .NET, Mono
License	MIT
Website	http://cobra-language.com/

This article is about the Cobra programming language from Cobra Language LLC. For the Cobra programming language from the Squeaky Duck Design Company, see Cobra (programming language from Squeaky Duck).

Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono frameworks. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C and other programming languages. It supports both static and dynamic typing. It has first class support for unit tests and contracts. Cobra provides both rapid development and performance in the same language.

Cobra is an open-source project. It was released under the MIT open source license on February 29, 2008.

A monthly update is posted to the Cobra news forum with progress on features, fixes, documentation and related projects since the last update.

Features

• Object-oriented:
  • Namespaces
  • Classes, interfaces, structs, extensions, enumerations
  • Methods, properties, indexers
  • Mixins, extension methods
  • Generics, attributes
• Quality control:
  • Contracts, assertions
  • Unit tests, docstrings
  • Compile-time nil-tracking
• Expressiveness:
  • Static and dynamic binding
  • List, dictionary, and set literals
  • in and implies operator
  • for expressions
  • Slicing
  • Interpolated strings
  • Compile-time type inference
  • Lambdas and closures
• General productivity:
  • Exception handling
  • Postmortem exception report
  • Garbage collection
• Scripting conveniences:
  • Clean syntax
  • Dynamic binding
  • One-step run
  • Shebang line (#!)
• Miscellaneous:
  • Doc tool (cobra -doc)
  • Syntax highlighting tool (cobra -highlight)

Examples

The following examples can be entered into a file and run using cobra <filename>.

Classic Hello world example:

<source lang="python"> class Hello

   def main
       print 'Hello, World'

</source>

Simple class:

<source lang="python"> class Person

   var _name as String
   var _age as int

   cue init(name as String, age as int)
       _name, _age = name, age

   def toString as String is override
       return 'My name is [_name] and I am [_age] years old'

</source>

External links

• The Cobra Programming Language home page
• The Cobra blog by Chuck Esterbrook
• Cobra News Index