syndicate-rkt/README.md

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# Second Racket implementation of Syndicate
## Quickstart
raco pkg install syndicate
or
git clone https://git.syndicate-lang.org/syndicate-lang/syndicate-rkt
cd syndicate-rkt
make link
For more detail, [see below](#compiling-and-running-the-code).
## The language itself
This repository contains a [Racket](http://racket-lang.org/)
implementation of Syndicate, which includes
- the implementation of the `#lang syndicate` language, in the
[`syndicate` directory](syndicate/).
- a TCP echo server example, which listens for connections on port
5999 by default, in
[`syndicate-examples/echo.rkt`](syndicate-examples/echo.rkt).
Connect to it using, for example, `telnet localhost 5999`.
- a number of other examples both small and large, in
[`syndicate-examples/`](syndicate-examples/).
## New implementation
This is a reimplementation of Syndicate that takes the language-level
constructs of facets, endpoints, and fields to heart, integrating
knowledge of facets and endpoints into the dataspace implementation
itself.
It gains a *significant* performance advantage by doing so.
Programs seem to be about *20x faster* (compared to the
[previous implementation](https://git.syndicate-lang.org/syndicate-lang/syndicate-2017/src/branch/main/racket)).
Some are only 10x faster, some are 30x faster.
The implementation techniques herein are the subject of a forthcoming
paper. The prototype that embodies the new idea is in
[historical/prototype.rkt](historical/prototype.rkt), and
[syndicate/HOWITWORKS.md](syndicate/HOWITWORKS.md) describes the
approach via prose.
All the drivers end up looking much nicer with this new
implementation. The previously-separate GL-2D support is now
integrated as just another driver (though the timing characteristics
of the old implementation are not precisely preserved). The
[ground.rkt](syndicate/ground.rkt) implementation is much cleaner.
To see the difference in speed, try out the "many Racket logos"
animation example/demo after installing the `syndicate` and
`syndicate-examples` packages:
racket -l syndicate-examples/gl-2d-many
Hopefully you'll get a smooth 60fps, though I admit I'm running it on
a fairly fast machine so you might need to drop the `sprite-count` in
the code a bit to sustain 60fps.
## Compiling and running the code
You will need Racket version 7.6 or later. (If you're using Racket CS,
you'll need version 7.8 or later because of
[this issue](https://github.com/racket/racket/issues/3132).)
Once you have Racket installed, run
raco pkg install syndicate
to install the package from the Racket package repository, or
raco pkg install --link syndicate
from the root directory of the Git checkout to install the package
from a local snapshot. This will make `#lang syndicate` available to
programs.
Repeat the process with `syndicate-examples` in place of `syndicate`
to install the examples as well.
Alternatively, `make link` from the root directory of the Git checkout
installs both packages from the local copy.
### Running the tests
The implementation test suite lives in [syndicate/test/](syndicate/test/). Run it with:
raco setup syndicate; raco test -p syndicate
## Copyright
Copyright © Tony Garnock-Jones 2010-2020.