Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is Thorn?

Thorn is a general-purpose programming language that compiles to an intermediate language called Ground, which then compiles to SPINE-64 x86-64 assembly. It is designed to be readable, debuggable, and approachable.

Is Thorn production-ready?

No. Thorn 0.3 is a draft release. Do not use it in production.

Does Thorn have a package manager?

TPI (Thorn Package Installer) is planned but not yet available in 0.3.

Language

Why on/off instead of true/false?

It reads more naturally. active = on is clearer than active = true.

Why send instead of return?

It fits Thorn's English-like keyword philosophy. A task sends a value back.

What is a section?

A section groups related tasks and variables. Lighter than a class, no instantiation required.

Toolchain

How do I compile a Thorn file?

thorn build myfile.th

Why does Thorn compile via C?

C compilers are available everywhere, and targeting C means Thorn benefits from decades of compiler optimisation work for free.

Where can I get help?

See the Find Help page or the forum.