COBRA

WHAT IS COBRA?

       An open-source project that was released on Feb. 29, 2009, Cobra is designed by Charles Esterbrook under MIT License. Evidently, it is largely inspired by other programming languages such as Python, Eiffel, C#, and Objective-C. It supports both static and dynamic typing.

FEATURES:

• 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)

The Man Behind Cobra

          Charles Esterbrook is a BS Computer Science graduate in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg in 1996. He is currently an independent consultant/contractor for applications and A.I. projects. Cobra is his second major compiler, not to mention the numerous prototype interpreters he has already made.

STRAIGHT FROM THE AUTHOR

 Here's a print-screen of Charles Esterbrook's responses when we asked him some things about Cobra like its name derivation, a brief history, and his motivations in making the language.

Why use Cobra?

             The typical stereotype about Cobra is "it's just like Python", but wait there's more. Nowadays, every programming language seem to have their own fortes that they are known for, like when we say expressiveness and quick coding, we can rely to Python,  Ruby or Smalltalk, if we need runtime performance, there's always  C#, Java, C++, if we want support for unit tests, we can use D. 

           But what if we want everything? Is there a language that can supplement every major features stated above? Do we have to choose between C++'s speed, Python's expressiveness and Eiffel's contracts?

              Cobra can be characterized by:

1. Quick, expressive coding
2. Fast execution
3. Static and dynamic binding
4. Language level support for quality

What's new in Cobra is not the individual elements such as contracts, classes, etc. It's the combination of everything that goes into it. If you still think that Cobra is just like Python, consider these points:

• If moving from Cobra to Python, you would give up optional static typing, contracts, compile-time nil tracking, closures and more.
• If moving from Cobra to C#, you would give up native contracts, clean collection literals, expressive syntax, uniform compile-time nil tracking, mixins and more.

Cobra's got it all for you! :)

SAMPLE PROGRAMS

A SAMPLE HELLO WORLD PROGRAM

A SAMPLE PROGRAM FOR CLASSES

A SAMPLE PROGRAM THAT COMPUTES FIBONACCI

TESTIMONIALS

  - Sir Francis Enrique Vicente G. Castro (Instructor 1, ICS UPLB)

       I'm really getting the hang of testing Cobra-style.I feel more productive (and willing to write tests).  – Todd Alexander (from http://cobra-language.com)

FROM THIS GROUP'S MEMBERS:

            I think it's a great language to learn, because it has combined the perfect set of features that different languages have. It's like the Jack-of-all-trades in programming language, it has fused productivity-boosting features that are almost incompatible with each other, only made possible by hard work and effort.  Why settle for less when you can have more?   
                                                     -Joanne Mae Rinos, 2009-26060

           Cobra may be similar to some programming languages. What's good about it is that Cobra's got the improved features from Python, C#, Objective C, Eiffel, etc. And it makes programming much easier  
                                                  - Kristine Grace L. Caracuel,2010-29057

It's easy to install and it is user friendly, it really looks a lot like Python but I think Cobra has a lot more to offer. -Jan Denzel S. Banares, 2010-30059

Cobra has features of other programming languages such as better error 

checking, speed, accuracy (math). it's definitely worth the try. Cobra is fun! 
- Ma. Rosario Bernadette Arcilla, 2010-33727

Python, eiffel, objective c and c# all rolled into one, how can you ask for more?

- Chimmy Arian Hilis, 2010-34687

References:
http://cobra-language.com
http://cobralang.blogspot.com/
http://charles-esterbrook.com/

GROUP MEMBERS:

ARCILLA, MA. ROSARIO BERNADETTE C. 2010-33727
BANARES, JAN DENZEL S. 2010-30059
CARACUEL, KRISTINE GRACE L. 2010-29057
HILIS, CHIMMY ARIAN S. 2010-34687
RINOS, JOANNE MAE S. 2009-26060

CMSC 124 T-3L