HAXIAL


KRE

KRE is a product for software engineers, and also for people interested in learning how to make their own software. KRE is a cross-platform network-focused software development environment with a simple and powerful compiled programming language. It is also useful for automation tasks, and as an alternative to scripting.

Comparison with C++

KRE was created to overcome software development difficulties that Haxial was experiencing. Previously Haxial used the C++ programming language extensively. Haxial has a long list of complaints about C++, after years of experience with it. C++ is a weak, unreliable, insecure, difficult, time-consuming, unproductive, unenjoyable, frustrating, nasty programming language. In C++, it is easy to make mistakes that are difficult to find, and easy to make an unreliable program. In C++, even basic operations require large amounts of code to be written. C++ focuses too much on obscure and abstract features and not enough on being practical and productive.

The KL programming language in KRE is designed to be much easier, simpler, more reliable, faster to make software, and more practical than C++.

Relation to KDX

The name KRE is short for "KDX Runtime Environment". KDX is Haxial's main product. KDX is being rewritten in the KRE environment (with the KL programming language), with various improvements to the design of KDX being made at the same time. KDX communications functionality will be added to KRE, and then later KRE will probably be renamed to "KDX 2". In other words, KRE and KDX are intended to become the one product. Alternatively, you can think of KRE as a codename for KDX 2.

Developing advanced new features for KDX in C++ became very difficult and time-consuming. KRE was created to overcome the major software development difficulties and roadblocks that Haxial was experiencing with KDX written in C++.

Current Status

It is not a finished product. Alpha versions have been released for testing (you can download it below). Alpha means that it is not actually useful in its current state, and many of its features are missing, and some features do not work properly, and the software might malfunction, but you can run it and experiment with it a little.

New versions are being released every 1-4 weeks on average.

Apologies to Mac and Linux users -- unfortunately only the MSWin version has been released so far. The Mac and Linux versions are not quite working yet, they need some more work.

Documentation is available below. The documentation is not complete/finished.

The currently-released version of KRE does not contain any KDX-like communications functionality yet -- it will be added as soon as practical.

Discussion Mailing List

To discuss KRE, you can join the Haxial Software Engineering Discussion mailing list. The mailing list is for software engineers and people interested in learning how to make their own software using KRE, and the discussion is of a technical nature (it is OK if you are new to software development, provided you are willing to learn).

You can join/subscribe on this webpage:
      lists.haxial.com/listinfo.cgi/hsediscuss-haxial.com
(That is not a clickable link because we don't want spam robots following it. Copy & paste into address bar instead.)

After you have subscribed, you can send a message to everyone on the mailing list by sending an email to:
      hsediscuss at lists dot haxial dot com

To prevent the mailing list from cluttering your inbox with messages, setup a mail filter/rule that automatically moves every incoming message containing "[hsediscuss]" in the subject line into a folder in your mailbox or mail client that you have created for this mailing list. Alternatively, the mailing list has a digest option. If you enable the digest option, it will collect multiple messages into 1 email that it sends daily.

NOTE: If you do not receive any messages from the mailing list, check whether you have a spam filter that is blocking the messages. You might need to add the following to your whitelist:
      lists dot haxial dot com
      hsediscuss at lists dot haxial dot com
      hsediscuss-bounces at lists dot haxial dot com

Also, you might be interested in the Bribes system. Note that you may be able to implement some of the listed bribes yourself and collect the money for them (if you are approved).

Download Software

WARNING:
This software is an ALPHA version for testing/experimentation purposes only. The software DOES NOT WORK PROPERLY and is not useful yet, and may be difficult or impossible to use, and might malfunction, and will probably not impress you. Alpha version comes before beta version, and beta version comes before the general public version.

Instructions

  1. Unzip the archive.
  2. Run the "KLCompiler.exe" program. It reads the text file "TestProgram.kl" containing KL programming language, compiles it, and produces a binary KRE executable program file named "UntitledProgram.kex".
  3. Run the "KRE.exe" program. It executes the program file "UntitledProgram.kex". You can see the graphical results of the program.
  4. Close KRE.exe.
  5. Open TestProgram.kl in Notepad or a text editor of your choice (it is a plain text file).
  6. Try making a modification to the source code in TestProgram.kl.
  7. Save changes to the TestProgram.kl file.
  8. Close the TestProgram.kl file (may or may not be necessary).
  9. Run KLCompiler.exe again. Hopefully no error messages appear. Please note this is an alpha version and it does not work properly!
  10. Run KRE.exe again to see the graphical results of your change.

Text Editors

The following text editor programs can be used to edit KL source code in text files.