RED (RED)

RED (RED) is a programming language that provides prebuilt binaries for its toolchain, making it convenient to use. The pre-built binaries include RED GUI, which consists of the RED interpreter, View, and GUI console, as well as RED CLI, which includes the RED interpreter and CLI console. Another component is the RED Toolchain, which is an enabler for RED, along with the Red/System compiler. RED is currently in the alpha stage and is working towards version 1.0 with stable releases. The team behind RED is focused on completing the core language and bringing it to version 1.0 to achieve broader adoption and provide a stable foundation for commercial products and services.

The development plan for RED includes several milestones, such as upgrading the current 32-bit implementation, implementing a proper module system and package management, defining a model for concurrent execution, making changes to the toolchain, improving the runtime library, and providing comprehensive documentation. The ultimate goal is to have a self-hosted RED implementation for 64-bit platforms. This will involve dropping the current toolchain code based on Rebol2 and rewriting it in RED itself. The new toolchain will feature a new compilation pipeline, support for 64-bit backends, and modular/incremental compilation. The team aims to release RED version 1.0beta within 12 months of intensive work and have a polished, production-ready 1.0 release.

While RED has ambitious plans for the future, support for iOS is not among its immediate priorities due to the platform’s closed nature and complexities. The team is focused on its primary goal and may say “no” more often as it becomes laser-focused on reaching version 1.0. The development team acknowledges the importance of simplicity in software development. It recognizes the trend of outsourcing complex features, but aims to provide users with a powerful programming language and toolchain to tackle difficult tasks without excessive complexity.