We are not really making a programming language. So, err.. ok, we are. But it is "just" an engine. Luna is a data processing platform. It allows you to prototype, design and deploy data processing applications much faster than it is currently possible, while working in an elegant, interactive data visualization environment. Moreover, we are supported by many cool companies that want to use Luna for their purposes, including IOT, Data Science or Bioinformatics ones. We got a really big interest in our technologies and we've collected the whole round in less than 6 weeks, choosing the investors we liked among many that wanted to contribute. I'm writing about it because I'm really very grateful for their help and super happy that the need for such development is widely recognized.
Wow. That's exciting. I wouldn't think it would be possible to get a programming language funded, but you found a way. I look forward to seeing where things go. Good luck!
There is a big difference between what Luna is and who we target with our website. We want now to keep in touch with good developers and build community around them and make Luna a dancing and singing complete development environment with high-level libraries useful for less technical people. The libs we include are very limited currently, so Luna would not be very usable for non-technical people in its current state. Does it make sense? We will try to explain it better on our new website though! :)
Qubex, I'm sad such comment appeared. I'm sad only because it shows how rare people are honest while building companies. How can we build something that engages other people and cheat on them?
Look, we've been working on Luna for over 2 years now, full time in a team of 7 people. We were often working during weekends or hardly sleeping at nights just to create what we believe in. We were constantly using software build the same way - linux, ghc, atom, etc. Now we want to give it completely free for everyone and we want to survive not because we want to be reach or famous, only because we so deeply believe that Luna really can drastically change something important in the data processing field. We will not survive without people engaged in this project, without people that will make it shine in different domain specific fields. We don't want then to "close" it - it will always be open and free (which is somehow guaranteed by the license too). As a company we need to make money too, but how could we make money not being honest?
We want to build community around good developers only because Luna could be a big development boost for them and additionally, we can together bring it to less technical people and help them too in their daily tasks. If people like what we do, we can then charge for support and additional paid services, developed by us, but I think it is really fair deal and companies should be built this way.
Sorry for a little long answer, but I got that sentence emotional! :)
This response strikes me as either coming from a mindful person willing to show public vulnerability or someone who has studied such people & learned to mimic how they communicate. My own experiences with mindfulness suggests categorical thinking naturally goes hand-in-hand with (and may naturally emerge from) being in a mindful state, so I'm more inclined to think you're not a well-researched phony. I also prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt.
I'm feeling really inspired, hopeful, and happy when I read comments like these because I consider the lack of vulnerability in the startup world to be as sad as the lack of authenticity. Thank you! I hope you'll keep doing what you're doing.
I was prompted to write my original comment by the simple fact that (usually, in my experience) people stick to the half-truths that are easiest for them to communicate, rather than embracing the hard work of truly conveying their inner meanings (note the plural). To wit: once a website is up and a coherent (albeit incomplete) ’truth’ has been ”put out there”, rarely would I expect the author of that website to turn around and say ”that is the self-serving story we wish to convey to one subset of our potential audience, those who self-select by relying on our website for information”. It's a very intellectually honest approach to admit that the content of the website is not Truth but rather some kind of social mechanism, every. It as ’functional’ as the code itself, and serves the a ’propagandistic’ purpose.
Collectively I summarise all of this as ’candor’. ;)
I really like this on multiple levels, because its something I've been thinking about for many years (and even took various stabs at implementing):
I love the visual/textual dual language concept - I've been trying to figure out a good solution where both work well and no information is lost from one by editing the other (eg if I create something visually, but edit it textually, does the layout get ruined?) and, at a glance, you seem to have largely solved this or at least managed to get it working well enough. Awesome.
I also like this as a tool for data processing. This kind of platform is something I've been wanting to build (and prototyped once a number of years ago even) for a long time. Couple it with a simple (and familiar) spreadsheet system and your golden (for my purposes - other people may think otherwise).
I haven't looked at Luna in any detail yet, really just glanced at the screenshots so far (I hope to read the material properly tomorrow), but one concern that jumped out at me was that the visual language semantics aren't clear to me. Of course, its probably unreasonable to expect to understand a new language without having read the documentation, so its unlikely to be an issue. I only point it out because I've seen a number of other visual languages claim to be super user friendly (even to non-programmers in many cases), when, IMHO, it really isn't unless you already deeply understand the concepts. I didn't see you making this claim though, so all good :)
Overall, I'm excited for this and wish you the best of luck. Hopefully you will choose me for alpha access so I can play with it ;-) :-P
Thank you for such an awesome comment and your attitude! :)
We've put an enormous amount of work to address the issues you've covered - including creating a system where you can edit text / graph without breaking the other one.
I'm happy that so many people were thinking to do something going this way - we hear it often. This shows us that this need is widely seen and there is nothing we want more than just collaborate with these people. We will be releasing Luna shortly as Open Source project and will be helping growing community around it. I will be supper happy helping utilizing / extending it for your needs!
As I described before, the timing for this info is not the best, because Luna is not yet available, but it will be really shortly.
Luna introduces some abstraction levels. Some of the leaves (the highest ones) could be usable by less-technical people, but of course only after they get familiar with the concept! :)
Thank you and looking forward to building something interesting together! :)
Thank you! I'm looking forward for your feedback and creating something powerful on top of Luna! In case of any questions (after the release), we'd love to help!
