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GPT-4 Designed a Programming Language

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Edit: TenetLang now has a github repo, which I'll be updating as I continue to work on it with GPT-4. Open a PR or submit a feature request!

GPT-4

GPT-4 was released on Tuesday, and on my sector of Twitter, many of the smartest people I know were losing their brilliant minds.


And for good reason; many wonderful things have been made with GPT-3 class of LLMs, keeping a frenetic pace that has continued to increase, giving indications of the oft' cited Kurzweilian "Intelligence Explosion." Unimaginable as it may be, the excitement grew even faster yesterday as OpenAI continued to ram its foot on the pedal of progress, to the fear and joy of many.


I was lucky enough to be randomly selected into the ChatGPT-4 beta, and I stayed up until 4am playing with it, despite an early morning ahead of me.


Can you write me a double dactyl about the plight of man in the face of AGI?

GPT-4
GPT-4

Higgledy-piggledy,

Humanity's facing the

Rise of the thinking

Machines, so they dread.


Superintelligence,

Incontrovertibly,

Challenges mankind to

Adapt or be led.


😬


Write me a rambling freewheeling story in the style of Hunter S. Thompson, about the early days of the AI arms race in Silicon Valley

GPT-4
GPT-4

The sun had barely begun to kiss the horizon, casting a hazy orange glow over the sprawling expanse of Silicon Valley when I found myself hurtling down Highway 101, the great artery of the digital revolution, in a rented Cadillac convertible. It was a time when paranoia and ambition were interchangeable currencies, as the race for dominance in the AI arena had reached a fever pitch. The year was 2023, and I was knee-deep in a twisted, intoxicating adventure that would forever alter the course of human history.


This was no ordinary assignment. I had been sent to infiltrate the inner sanctums of the tech giants—Google, Facebook, Apple, and the like—to unearth the secrets of their artificial intelligence machinations. I was armed with a fistful of expense account dollars, a warped sense of journalistic duty, and enough amphetamines to fuel a small army.

...[cut for length]


After my experience in the last 36h (I was up until 4am, recall), I believe this acceleration will only continue.


Which is -- maybe -- great.


And also maybe awful.


We'll see.


.


.


.


But in the meantime. . . there's a lot of beauty to be had.

Coding

LLMs in the GPT family have read every programming language in the world, billions of times. It's been known for some time that these agents can write small snippets of code with some limited success. However, to my knowledge, none of these agents have ever been asked to make their own programming language.1 This type of task is a bit more complex, and requires a bit more creativity and foresight than much of the internet believes LLMs to have.

  1. EDIT: as pointed out by an HN poster, some prior art does exist, though nothing yet for GPT-4 (that I can tell).


Some folks on the internet tend to think lowly of LLMs as merely "Stochastic Parrots" -- simply "remixers" of old ideas. In a way, they're right; but I'd argue that remixing is the fundamental force of creativity. Nothing comes from scratch.

Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.

― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters


Philosophy aside, I was curious -- what would a being made of code, that has read most of the code in the world, think about how to design code?

Arc 1: First Principles

If you were to propose a grand unifying theory of software development, what would be its tenets?

GPT-4
GPT-4

While it is difficult to provide a single grand unifying theory of software development, here are ten key tenets that could serve as a comprehensive guide for developing high-quality software:

  1. Modularity: Break software into smaller, self-contained, and reusable components to simplify development, maintenance, and understanding.

  2. Abstraction: Hide the complexity of the system by providing well-defined interfaces and separating concerns to allow developers to focus on specific areas without being overwhelmed by details.

  3. Scalability: Design software to handle a wide range of workloads and demands, with the ability to scale efficiently and effectively as needed.

  4. Maintainability: Write clean, understandable, and well-documented code to facilitate easier maintenance, updates, and collaboration.

  5. Testability: Develop a comprehensive testing strategy, including unit, integration, and system testing, to ensure the software is robust and reliable.

  6. Adaptability: Design software with the flexibility to accommodate future changes, such as updates to requirements, technologies, or user needs.

  7. Performance: Optimize software to run efficiently, minimizing resource usage and maximizing response times, without compromising functionality or maintainability.

  8. Security: Implement strong security measures to protect software and user data from unauthorized access, misuse, and vulnerabilities.

  9. Collaboration: Encourage effective communication and teamwork among developers, testers, designers, and other stakeholders to ensure a shared understanding of project goals, requirements, and progress.

  10. Continuous improvement: Embrace a culture of ongoing learning, evaluation, and iterative development to improve the software and development process over time, adapting to new techniques, technologies, and best practices.


Ok, cute, where does the rubber meet the road, though?


Give examples of places where these work well in practice, and where there are difficulties in practice

GPT-4
GPT-4

Here are some examples of places where the tenets of software development work well in practice and where there are difficulties:

  1. Modularity:

    • Works well: Unix philosophy of building small, focused tools that perform one task well (e.g., grep, sed, awk) and can be combined to create complex pipelines.
    • Difficulties: Large legacy systems with tightly coupled components, where it is challenging to refactor or introduce new features without breaking existing functionality.
  2. Abstraction:

    • Works well: Object-oriented programming languages (e.g., Java, C++) that encourage encapsulation and hiding implementation details behind well-defined interfaces.
    • Difficulties: Overuse of abstraction can lead to over-engineering, making the code more complex than necessary.
  3. Scalability:

    • Works well: Distributed systems like Google's MapReduce or Apache Kafka, which can scale horizontally to accommodate massive amounts of data and users.
    • Difficulties: Monolithic architectures that are not designed for scalability, making it challenging to handle increased workloads without major refactoring.
  4. Maintainability:

    • Works well: Open-source projects like Linux or Python that have established coding standards and best practices to facilitate collaboration and long-term maintenance.
    • Difficulties: Proprietary codebases with poor documentation or inconsistent coding styles, making it hard to understand and maintain the code.
  5. Testability:

    • Works well: Test-driven development (TDD) methodologies that emphasize writing tests before implementing code, ensuring thorough test coverage and more reliable software.
    • Difficulties: Complex systems with many dependencies or side effects, making it challenging to isolate components for testing.
  6. Adaptability:

    • Works well: Microservices architectures, where individual services can be independently updated, scaled, or replaced without affecting the entire system.
    • Difficulties: Rigid, inflexible code that does not follow the Open/Closed Principle, making it difficult to introduce new features or adapt to changing requirements.
  7. Performance:

    • Works well: High-performance computing (HPC) systems, where performance is critical and developers optimize code to run efficiently on specialized hardware.
    • Difficulties: Premature optimization that sacrifices code readability and maintainability for marginal performance gains.
  8. Security:

    • Works well: Secure software development practices, such as the OWASP Top Ten, that help developers avoid common security vulnerabilities.
    • Difficulties: Insufficient focus on security, leading to software with easily exploitable vulnerabilities, or reliance on outdated technologies with known security flaws.
  9. Collaboration:

    • Works well: Agile methodologies, such as Scrum or Kanban, which emphasize teamwork, communication, and iterative development.
    • Difficulties: Disconnected teams working in silos without effective communication, leading to misunderstandings, duplicated work, and delays.
  10. Continuous improvement:

    • Works well: DevOps practices, which encourage the integration of development and operations teams to foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
    • Difficulties: Organizations that resist change or lack a culture of learning and experimentation, making it difficult to adopt new techniques, technologies, or best practices.


Well cool. But what about the actual syntax of the language?


If you were going to design a new programming language that encompassed all of these ideas, what would it's syntax look like?

GPT-4
GPT-4

Designing a new programming language that encompasses all the tenets of good software development is a complex task. It's not possible to cover all the details in a single response, but here's a high-level overview of some features and design choices that could be considered:

  1. Embrace simplicity and readability: The syntax should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. Python is a great example of a language that emphasizes readability with its use of indentation and simple syntax.

  2. Support multiple programming paradigms: Encourage the use of the best paradigm for the task, such as object-oriented, functional, or procedural programming. This would give developers the flexibility to choose the approach that best suits their needs.

  3. Strong typing and type inference: A strong type system can help catch errors early and improve code safety, while type inference can reduce verbosity and improve readability. Languages like TypeScript or Haskell provide good examples of this balance.

  4. First-class functions and closures: Supporting first-class functions and closures can enable powerful functional programming techniques, as seen in languages like JavaScript, Scala, or Kotlin.

  5. Immutable data structures: Encourage the use of immutable data structures to minimize the risk of unintended side effects and make it easier to reason about the code.

  6. Built-in support for concurrency and parallelism: Provide language-level constructs for managing concurrent and parallel execution, like async/await in JavaScript, goroutines in Go, or actors in Erlang.

  7. Extensible and modular syntax: Allow developers to create custom syntax, DSLs, or libraries that can seamlessly integrate with the core language, as seen in Lisp macros or Scala's implicits.

  8. Integrated security features: Include security features and best practices as part of the language design, such as automatic memory management and bounds checking to prevent common vulnerabilities like buffer overflows.

  9. Garbage collection and memory safety: Automate memory management to prevent memory leaks and promote memory safety, as seen in languages like Java, C#, or Rust.

  10. Interoperability with other languages: Provide built-in support for calling functions or using libraries from other languages to encourage collaboration and reusability of existing code.

While it's not possible to create a perfect language that covers all these aspects without any trade-offs, incorporating these ideas would help create a programming language that promotes the tenets of good software development. Please note that the specific syntax will depend on the design choices made and might borrow inspiration from existing languages.


... and what about the actual syntax of the language? Let's give it a little nudge out of its hedging.


Note: Apologies for the syntax highlighting in this next part... the language doesn't exist and I wasn't feeling like trying to get GPT-4 to write its own parser... yet...


I'd like you to make some choices about this new language's syntax, and give me an example of a program that exercises it in a way that you can show off how it meets your criterion.

GPT-4
GPT-4

In this new language, called "TenetLang," we'll combine a simple syntax inspired by Python with some features from functional and object-oriented languages. Here is an overview of some design choices:

  1. Indentation-based scoping, similar to Python.
  2. Strong typing with type inference, inspired by TypeScript and Kotlin.
  3. First-class functions and closures, similar to JavaScript.
  4. Immutable data structures by default, with optional mutable counterparts.
  5. A concise lambda syntax for anonymous functions.
  6. Pattern matching and destructuring, inspired by Haskell and Rust.
  7. Built-in support for concurrency using async/await and lightweight threads.
  8. Interoperability with other languages using a Foreign Function Interface (FFI).

Below is a simple example of a program that demonstrates TenetLang syntax and features. This program defines a class Person, creates a list of Person objects, filters it based on age, and sorts it alphabetically by name, all while handling concurrency:

class Person {
    let name: String
    let age: Int

    constructor(name: String, age: Int) {
        this.name = name
        this.age = age
    }

    toString() -> String {
        return f"{this.name} ({this.age})"
    }
}

async function fetchPersons() -> List[Person] {
    // Simulate an asynchronous fetch operation using lightweight threads
    await sleep(1000)
    return [
        Person("Alice", 32),
        Person("Bob", 28),
        Person("Carol", 35),
        Person("Dave", 23)
    ]
}

function filterAdults(persons: List[Person]) -> List[Person] {
    return persons.filter(p => p.age >= 18)
}

function sortByName(persons: List[Person]) -> List[Person] {
    return persons.sortBy(p => p.name)
}

async function main() {
    let persons = await fetchPersons()
    let adults = filterAdults(persons)
    let sortedAdults = sortByName(adults)

    for person in sortedAdults {
        print(person)
    }
}

main()

This example demonstrates how TenetLang meets the following criteria:

  1. Simplicity and readability: The code is easy to understand, with a Python-like syntax.
  2. Multiple programming paradigms: The language supports both object-oriented (class-based) and functional programming (first-class functions, closures, and lambdas).
  3. Strong typing and type inference: Types are explicitly specified for class properties and function signatures, but the language infers types for local variables.
  4. Immutable data structures: The let keyword declares immutable variables, promoting safe and predictable code.
  5. Concurrency: The async/await syntax allows for easy handling of asynchronous code execution and lightweight threads.
  6. Interoperability: Though not demonstrated in this example, TenetLang would support calling functions or using libraries from other languages through an FFI mechanism.

Please note that creating a full-fledged language is a complex task, and this example only provides a high-level overview of how TenetLang's syntax and features might look.


Ok, now we're talking.


TenetLang

I wonder where it got the name ;)

This is neat!!


Basically looks like Typescript and python had a baby.

Always happy to see type annotations :)

But it mentioned a few things in its goals that it didn't cover, such as distributed compute.

I've read about how Julia and other languages in that family can help with distributed computation, but I'm curious what GPT-4 thinks.


Let's see.


How does this help with distributed computing? Can you improve it to do so?

GPT-4
GPT-4

The example provided earlier does not explicitly address distributed computing, as it primarily focuses on concurrency within a single process. To improve TenetLang to better support distributed computing, we can introduce features that facilitate communication and coordination between distributed components. Here are some ideas:

  1. Message passing and lightweight actors: Incorporate a built-in message-passing mechanism and lightweight actors (inspired by Erlang or Akka), which allow for asynchronous, non-blocking communication between distributed components.

  2. Remote Procedure Calls (RPC): Integrate support for remote procedure calls to enable communication between services running on different machines or in different languages. This could be done by providing built-in libraries or frameworks for popular RPC protocols like gRPC or Apache Thrift.

  3. Serialization and deserialization: Include support for efficient serialization and deserialization of data, allowing for easy transmission of complex data structures between distributed components. Consider incorporating support for popular formats like JSON, BSON, or Protocol Buffers.

  4. Distributed data structures: Provide built-in support for distributed data structures, like distributed hash tables (DHTs) or distributed databases, that can be shared and manipulated across multiple nodes.

  5. Fault tolerance: Integrate features that promote fault tolerance, such as support for supervision trees, automatic retries, and timeouts, making it easier to build resilient distributed systems.

Here's an updated example that demonstrates TenetLang's support for distributed computing using a message-passing mechanism and lightweight actors:

import actors
import rpc

class Person {
    // Same as before...
}

// RPC service definition for a remote data source
service PersonService {
    rpc fetchPersons() -> List[Person]
}

actor PersonFetcher {
    let service: PersonService

    constructor(service: PersonService) {
        this.service = service
    }

    receive(msg) {
        case FetchPersons => {
            let persons = this.service.fetchPersons()
            reply(persons)
        }
    }
}

function filterAdults(persons: List[Person]) -> List[Person] {
    // Same as before...
}

function sortByName(persons: List[Person]) -> List[Person] {
    // Same as before...
}

async function main() {
    // Connect to a remote PersonService
    let personService = rpc.connect(PersonService, "http://example.com/person-service")

    // Create a PersonFetcher actor
    let fetcher = PersonFetcher(personService)

    // Send a FetchPersons message to the fetcher and await the
        let persons = await fetcher.send(FetchPersons)
    let adults = filterAdults(persons)
    let sortedAdults = sortByName(adults)

    for person in sortedAdults {
        print(person)
    }
}

main()

In this updated example, TenetLang demonstrates its support for distributed computing with the following features:

  1. Message passing and lightweight actors: The PersonFetcher actor communicates asynchronously with the PersonService using the receive method and the send function.
  2. Remote Procedure Calls (RPC): A remote PersonService is defined, and an instance is connected to using the rpc.connect function.
  3. Serialization and deserialization: Though not explicitly shown in the example, it's implied that the RPC mechanism handles serialization and deserialization of data when communicating with the remote service.

These features help TenetLang facilitate distributed computing by providing built-in tools and abstractions that make it easier to build, manage, and scale distributed systems.

Can you explain more about what the PersonService does? Why isn't it just a Class?

GPT-4
GPT-4

In the updated example, PersonService represents a remote service definition, not a regular class. It serves as an interface for a remote data source that can fetch Person objects from another location or service, possibly running on a different machine or even implemented in a different programming language. By defining PersonService as an RPC service, we explicitly describe the contract for how clients can interact with this remote service.


In a distributed computing context, services are often spread across multiple nodes or processes to achieve better scalability, fault tolerance, and performance. The PersonService plays the role of a service that resides on a different node or process, and the main application communicates with it using a remote procedure call (RPC) mechanism.


In contrast, a class would typically represent an object within the same process or application, without built-in support for remote communication. By using an RPC service, we can abstract away the complexities of network communication, serialization, and deserialization, allowing developers to focus on the core functionality and logic of their application.


In the TenetLang example, we use the rpc.connect function to connect to a remote PersonService instance using a specified URL. This connection returns a "proxy" instance that can be used to make remote calls as if they were local method calls. The RPC mechanism transparently handles the network communication, serialization, and deserialization of data.


To summarize, the PersonService is defined as an RPC service instead of a class to emphasize its role as a remote service in a distributed computing scenario and facilitate communication between services in a more transparent and streamlined manner.


Makes sense.

Dunno what it'd be like to use it every day, but I kind of like it.

Arc 2: Design Review

But if GPT-4 is going to be an Engineer -- we're going to have to put it through some kind of design review.


I only know about 10 programming languages with any level of decency, so some of these questions may seem funny to the more well-read of you (ahem, HN).


Can you explain the "actor" then? What languages is that inspired from, and why use it?

GPT-4
GPT-4

An actor is a programming concept that represents a concurrent computational entity that can process messages and maintain its internal state. The Actor Model, introduced by Carl Hewitt, Peter Bishop, and Richard Steiger in 1973, is a mathematical model for concurrent computation that generalizes the notion of object-oriented programming. It has been used to build highly concurrent and distributed systems due to its simple, yet powerful abstraction for managing concurrency and parallelism.


The actor concept in the TenetLang example is inspired by languages and frameworks like Erlang, Akka (for Scala and Java), and the Orleans framework for .NET. These languages and frameworks have adopted the Actor Model to build scalable, concurrent, and fault-tolerant systems.


Actors communicate with each other using asynchronous message-passing, which helps avoid common concurrency issues like deadlocks or race conditions. Each actor processes messages sequentially in its mailbox, ensuring that its internal state is only accessed by one message at a time, which simplifies reasoning about concurrency.


In the TenetLang example, the PersonFetcher actor is used to fetch Person objects from a remote PersonService. By utilizing an actor for this task, we can easily manage concurrent requests and maintain any state related to the remote service, such as connection details or caching.


The key benefits of using actors in this context are:

  • Concurrency: Actors provide a natural way to manage concurrency without the need for explicit synchronization mechanisms like locks or semaphores. This simplifies concurrent programming and reduces the risk of concurrency-related bugs.
  • Fault tolerance: Actors can be supervised, allowing for automatic error handling and recovery. This promotes building resilient systems that can continue functioning even in the presence of failures.
  • Scalability: Actors can be distributed across multiple nodes or processes, enabling horizontal scalability and improved performance for concurrent workloads.
  • Modularity: Actors encapsulate their internal state and communicate via messages, promoting a modular design that is easy to understand, maintain, and test.

In summary, the actor concept in TenetLang is inspired by languages and frameworks that have successfully adopted the Actor Model to build concurrent and distributed systems. Actors provide a powerful abstraction for managing concurrency, fault tolerance, and scalability, making them a fitting choice for TenetLang's support of distributed computing.

Why did you use -> for type annotations, but => for function definitions?

GPT-4
GPT-4

In the TenetLang example, the use of -> for type annotations and => for function definitions is a design choice to make the syntax clear and consistent. The rationale behind this choice is to differentiate between the two distinct purposes of these symbols while maintaining a compact and readable syntax.

The -> symbol is used for type annotations to indicate the return type of a function. This arrow-like symbol can be read as "returns," which makes the code more intuitive. For example, in the following function signature:

function toString() -> String {
    // ...
}

The -> String part can be read as "returns String," which clearly communicates that the function toString returns a value of type String.

On the other hand, the => symbol is used in function definitions, particularly for defining anonymous functions (lambdas) or short one-liner functions. The double arrow => can be read as "maps to" or "evaluates to," which conveys the purpose of the expression more clearly. For example, in the following lambda function:

let square = (x: Int) => x * x The => symbol can be read as "maps to" or "evaluates to," indicating that the input x maps to or evaluates to the expression x * x.

By using distinct symbols for type annotations and function definitions, TenetLang maintains clarity and consistency in its syntax. This design choice helps make the language more readable and intuitive, while clearly communicating the purpose and structure of the code.

Why not use a colon to indicate the return value of a function, like you did with the types of variables in the function parameters?

GPT-4
GPT-4

Using a colon : to indicate the return type of a function is a valid design choice and can also provide a consistent syntax. Some programming languages like TypeScript and Swift use a colon for both variable type annotations and function return types. The choice of using -> in TenetLang was primarily driven by the intention of making a clear distinction between function return types and parameter type annotations.

However, if consistency between variable type annotations and function return types is preferred, we can modify TenetLang to use a colon for function return types. Here's an example of how the syntax would look like:

class Person {
    let name: String
    let age: Int

    constructor(name: String, age: Int) {
        this.name = name
        this.age = age
    }

    toString(): String {
        return f"{this.name} ({this.age})"
    }
}

function filterAdults(persons: List[Person]): List[Person] {
    return persons.filter(p => p.age >= 18)
}

function sortByName(persons: List[Person]): List[Person] {
    return persons.sortBy(p => p.name)
}

// ...

With this syntax, the type annotations for both variables and function return types would use a colon :. This approach offers consistency, but it also has the potential to make the syntax less visually distinctive. Ultimately, the choice between using -> or : for function return types comes down to a matter of design preference and balancing the trade-offs between consistency and visual distinction.


Alright, well, it seems pretty reasonable to me.

I can see the case being made for ->, even though I'm more at home with the Typescript : style personally.

We'll let it slide for now.

Arc 3: LLMs & The Future of TenetLang

Any programmer these days knows about Github Copilot.

I wonder what other treasures widely available LLMs will bring to the table in the future.


Let's ask.


How about trying to add a new language-level feature to TenetLang that would account for Large Language models like GPT-3 or ChatGPT to be easily baked in?

GPT-4
GPT-4

To integrate language models like GPT-3 or ChatGPT into TenetLang, we can introduce a built-in library that provides a simple and convenient interface for interacting with these models. This library would handle the complexities of managing API requests, authentication, and serialization/deserialization of data.

Here's a high-level outline of how we could add a language-level feature to TenetLang for this purpose:

  1. Create a built-in library called language_models that provides an interface to interact with language models like GPT-3 or ChatGPT.
  2. Introduce a LanguageModel class within the library that abstracts the details of making API requests, managing authentication, and handling input/output data.
  3. Provide methods for common language model tasks, such as text completion, text summarization, translation, and more.

Here's an example of how the language_models library could be used in TenetLang:

    import language_models
    class GPT3Example {
        let model: language_models.LanguageModel

        constructor(apiKey: String) {
            this.model = language_models.LanguageModel(apiKey)
        }

        async completeText(prompt: String, maxTokens: Int) -> String {
            return await this.model.completeText(prompt, maxTokens)
        }

        async summarizeText(text: String) -> String {
            return await this.model.summarizeText(text)
        }

        async translateText(text: String, targetLanguage: String) -> String {
            return await this.model.translateText(text, targetLanguage)
        }
    }

    async function main() {
        let apiKey = "your_api_key_here"
        let gpt3Example = GPT3Example(apiKey)

        let prompt = "Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived a young boy named Jack. Jack was very curious and loved to explore the world around him."
        let completion = await gpt3Example.completeText(prompt, 100)
        print(completion)

        let text = "In this paper, we propose a novel method for training large-scale neural networks using..."
        let summary = await gpt3Example.summarizeText(text)
        print(summary)

        let translation = await gpt3Example.translateText("Hello, how are you?", "es")
        print(translation)
    }

    main()

In this example, we create an instance of the GPT3Example class, which internally uses the language_models.LanguageModel class to interact with the GPT-3 or ChatGPT API. The GPT3Example class provides convenient methods for text completion, summarization, and translation. These methods can be easily extended or modified to include other tasks supported by the language model.


By introducing a built-in library and language-level feature for interacting with large language models, TenetLang makes it easy for developers to leverage the power of GPT-3, ChatGPT, or similar models in their applications without the need for external libraries or complex integrations.


Cute, but similar to what we already have. It being an external library isn't what I was aiming for.


Let's try something more ambitious.


That's interesting, but maybe misses out on some more clever ways we could integrate these systems deeper into the language itself.

GPT-4
GPT-4

You're right. The previous example was focused on providing a simple interface to interact with large language models. To explore deeper integration, we can consider language-level features that take advantage of the capabilities of these models to assist developers during the coding process.

One idea is to introduce "smart suggestions" powered by large language models within the language itself. These suggestions can help developers with code completion, documentation, or even refactoring suggestions. Here's an outline of how this could work:

Add a special syntax to request a smart suggestion from the language model within the code. This could be done using a designated keyword, such as suggest, followed by the desired action, like complete, document, or refactor.

Integrate the large language model into the TenetLang compiler or interpreter, so that the smart suggestions are generated and incorporated during the code compilation or interpretation process.

Cache the suggestions or integrate with the developer's workflow, such as code editors or IDEs, to provide seamless assistance in real-time.

Here's an example of how TenetLang might look with this deeper integration:

    import language_models

    // Get a code completion suggestion
    suggest complete
    // The language model might suggest the following code:
    function add(a: Int, b: Int): Int {
        return a + b
    }

    // Request documentation suggestions for the add function
    suggest document add
    // The language model might generate the following documentation:
    /**
    * Adds two integer values and returns the result.
    *
    * @param a - The first integer to add
    * @param b - The second integer to add
    * @return The sum of a and b
    */

    // Request a refactoring suggestion for better code structure
    suggest refactor
    // The language model might suggest a refactored version of the code:
    class Math {
        static function add(a: Int, b: Int): Int {
            return a + b
        }
    }

In this example, the suggest keyword is used to request different types of smart suggestions, such as code completion, documentation, or refactoring. These suggestions are generated by the integrated large language model during the code compilation or interpretation process.


By deeply integrating large language models like GPT-3 or ChatGPT into TenetLang, developers can benefit from AI-powered assistance directly within the language itself, making the coding process more efficient and helping to improve code quality. This kind of integration has the potential to revolutionize programming languages and the way developers interact with their tools.


We must go deeper.


That's kind of neat -- what other even more creative ideas do you have for deeply integrating powerful LLMs directly into the language itself?

GPT-4
GPT-4

Integrating large language models (LLMs) into a programming language can open up various creative possibilities for enhancing the development experience. Here are some additional ideas for deep LLM integration:

  1. Automated testing: Integrate LLMs to automatically generate unit tests or test cases based on the code and its documentation. The LLM could analyze the code's structure and purpose, then create relevant test cases, helping developers ensure the robustness and correctness of their code.

suggest generate_tests MyClass.myFunction
  1. Code synthesis: Allow developers to describe their intentions or requirements in natural language, and have the LLM generate code snippets based on the given description.
suggest code "Create a function to compute the factorial of a non-negative integer"
  1. Automatic error explanation and suggestions: When a compilation error or runtime exception occurs, the LLM can provide a detailed explanation of the error and suggest possible solutions or corrections.
suggest fix_error "TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'"
  1. Code review assistance: Integrate LLMs into the code review process, automatically analyzing changes and providing feedback on code quality, style, and potential issues.
suggest review_changes
  1. Dynamic optimization: Use LLMs to analyze the code during runtime and suggest or automatically apply performance optimizations or refactoring to improve the code's efficiency.
suggest optimize_algorithm
  1. Natural language documentation generation: Generate comprehensive documentation for functions, classes, and modules based on their code and comments, making it easier for developers to maintain up-to-date documentation.
suggest document_module MyModule
  1. Interactive coding assistance: Enable a conversational interface with the LLM to ask questions, request guidance, or discuss programming concepts while writing code.
suggest help "What is the difference between a tuple and a list in TenetLang?"

These are just a few ideas for deeply integrating powerful LLMs into a programming language. The integration of AI and programming languages has the potential to revolutionize software development, making it more efficient, accessible, and enjoyable for developers. By exploring these and other creative possibilities, we can lay the foundation for the next generation of intelligent programming tools and languages.


I'll fill in this commentary later... but you're not here for me, you're here for the AI.


What are some other features in a programming language that could leverage LLMs? Let's steer clear of the suggest command for now

GPT-4
GPT-4

Sure, let's explore other features in a programming language that could leverage LLMs without using the suggest command:

Semantic-aware auto-completion:

  1. Enhance the IDE's auto-completion engine with an LLM.
  • Train the LLM on a large code corpus and fine-tune it on the specific project's codebase.
  • As the developer types, feed the surrounding code context to the LLM and obtain completion suggestions.
  • Automated refactoring:
  1. Develop a refactoring tool that leverages an LLM to analyze the code structure and suggest improvements.
  • Train the LLM on a diverse set of well-structured code and examples of refactoring.
  • Analyze the project's code and apply LLM-generated refactoring suggestions, possibly with developer approval.
  • Intelligent debugging:
  1. Enhance the debugging capabilities of the IDE or debugger by integrating an LLM.
  • Train the LLM on examples of code with common bugs, debugging sessions, and solutions.
  • Analyze runtime data and provide insights or possible fixes based on LLM-generated suggestions.
  • Code-to-code translation:
  1. Develop a code translation tool that uses an LLM to convert code from one language to another.
  • Train the LLM on parallel code examples in the source and target languages.
  • Translate the input code by feeding it to the LLM and generating the corresponding code in the target language.
  1. Design pattern recognition and application:
  • Develop a tool that uses an LLM to analyze code and recognize applicable design patterns.
  • Train the LLM on examples of design patterns and their usage in various contexts.
  • Suggest appropriate design patterns for the current code context based on LLM-generated recommendations.
  1. Project management and collaboration:
  • Integrate LLMs into project management tools or platforms.
  • Train the LLM on project management data, such as task assignments, estimations, and developer profiles.
  • Use the LLM to analyze project requirements and automatically suggest task assignments and effort estimations.
  1. Code summarization:
  • Develop a code summarization tool that leverages an LLM to generate human-readable summaries.
  • Train the LLM on examples of code and their corresponding summaries.
  • Generate code summaries by feeding the code to the LLM and processing the generated natural language output.
  1. Automatic resource management:
  • Enhance the compiler or runtime environment with an LLM that analyzes code for resource usage.
  • Train the LLM on examples of efficient resource management and optimization techniques.
  • Apply LLM-generated suggestions for optimizing resource allocation, deallocation, or garbage collection.
  • Intelligent code navigation:
  1. Integrate an LLM into the IDE or code editor to assist with code navigation.
  • Train the LLM on examples of code structure, component relationships, and dependencies.
  • Use the LLM to suggest relevant navigation targets or display an intelligent code map based on the developer's context.
  • Adaptive learning resources:
  1. Integrate LLMs into learning platforms, tutorials, or documentation systems.
  • Train the LLM on programming concepts, examples, and various learning resources.
  • Personalize learning experiences based on the developer's knowledge, skill level, and preferences using LLM-generated recommendations.
  • Each of these features requires a combination of LLM integration and modifications to the programming language, compiler, interpreter, IDE, or other development tools. The key to implementing these features effectively is to train the LLM on relevant and diverse data

How would you implement each of these?

GPT-4
GPT-4

Implementing these features would require a combination of language design, compiler/interpreter modifications, development environment (IDE) integration, and leveraging LLMs. Here's a high-level overview of how each feature could be implemented:

  1. Semantic-aware auto-completion:
  • Enhance the IDE's auto-completion engine with an LLM.
  • Train the LLM on a large code corpus and fine-tune it on the specific project's codebase.
  • As the developer types, feed the surrounding code context to the LLM and obtain completion suggestions.
  1. Automated refactoring:
  • Develop a refactoring tool that leverages an LLM to analyze the code structure and suggest improvements.
  • Train the LLM on a diverse set of well-structured code and examples of refactoring.
  • Analyze the project's code and apply LLM-generated refactoring suggestions, possibly with developer approval.
  1. Intelligent debugging:
  • Enhance the debugging capabilities of the IDE or debugger by integrating an LLM.
  • Train the LLM on examples of code with common bugs, debugging sessions, and solutions.
  • Analyze runtime data and provide insights or possible fixes based on LLM-generated suggestions.
  1. Code-to-code translation:
  • Develop a code translation tool that uses an LLM to convert code from one language to another.
  • Train the LLM on parallel code examples in the source and target languages.
  • Translate the input code by feeding it to the LLM and generating the corresponding code in the target language.
  1. Design pattern recognition and application:
  • Develop a tool that uses an LLM to analyze code and recognize applicable design patterns.
  • Train the LLM on examples of design patterns and their usage in various contexts.
  • Suggest appropriate design patterns for the current code context based on LLM-generated recommendations.
  1. Project management and collaboration:
  • Integrate LLMs into project management tools or platforms.
  • Train the LLM on project management data, such as task assignments, estimations, and developer profiles.
  • Use the LLM to analyze project requirements and automatically suggest task assignments and effort estimations.
  1. Code summarization:
  • Develop a code summarization tool that leverages an LLM to generate human-readable summaries.
  • Train the LLM on examples of code and their corresponding summaries.
  • Generate code summaries by feeding the code to the LLM and processing the generated natural language output.
  1. Automatic resource management:
  • Enhance the compiler or runtime environment with an LLM that analyzes code for resource usage.
  • Train the LLM on examples of efficient resource management and optimization techniques.
  • Apply LLM-generated suggestions for optimizing resource allocation, deallocation, or garbage collection.
  1. Intelligent code navigation:
  • Integrate an LLM into the IDE or code editor to assist with code navigation.
  • Train the LLM on examples of code structure, component relationships, and dependencies.
  • Use the LLM to suggest relevant navigation targets or display an intelligent code map based on the developer's context.
  1. Adaptive learning resources:
  • Integrate LLMs into learning platforms, tutorials, or documentation systems.
  • Train the LLM on programming concepts, examples, and various learning resources.
  • Personalize learning experiences based on the developer's knowledge, skill level, and preferences using LLM-generated recommendations.
  • Each of these features requires a combination of LLM integration and modifications to the programming language, compiler, interpreter, IDE, or other development tools. The key to implementing these features effectively is to train the LLM on relevant and diverse data


Well, you made it.


Its' a lot right? Who wants to put GPT-4 in a Read-Evaluate-Print-Loop and let them get to work? Not me, I'm too scared.

But here are some other ideas for you to consider:

  • Let GPT-4 Analyze an existing language to find areas where we could make it better (e.g. if you could make python programmers 2x more productive, would you?)
  • Let GPT-4 write a new language from scratch using a REPL
  • Let GPT-4 write a compiler for a language it's created
  • ...

Of course, giving AIs compute comes with risks -- like, maybe, extinction.


Fun times ahead...


GPT-4
GPT-4

Higgledy-piggledy,

Humanity's facing the

Rise of the thinking

Machines, so they dread.


Superintelligence,

Incontrovertibly,

Challenges mankind to

Adapt or be led.


-- Luke


PS: TenetLang now has a github repo, which I'll be updating as I continue to work on it with GPT-4. Open a PR or submit a feature request!


WAIT

If you stayed to the end you're probably cool and I'd like to connect.

Please comment or subscribe below, follow me on twitter, or reach out through one of the other social links below.


A L S O... -- I'm currently looking for engaging work around LLMs & ML Systems.

Check out my projects, my twitter, my linkedin, or my github to see what I'm into.


Reach out :)


Stay curious

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