QEQem·Dec 19, 2024
There was actually attempts to recreate Awk inside Python. See https://github.com/alecthomas/pawk
In Half My Life with Perlalecthomas
pawk
Python2013–2024
alecthomas / pawk
pawk
PAWK - A Python line processor (like AWK)
11Distinct people
14Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
524GitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
PAWK - A Python line processor (like AWK)
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 4:01:40 AM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year14 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2013-02-21 02:37:49 UTC to 2024-12-19 15:51:00 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
What Hacker News says
2 sourcesUsing C would tie the run-time/compiled implimentation to specific set of platforms/hardware. aka each hardware platform would have it's own specific compiled C quirks/issues to deal with. aka big endian / little endian; 16/32 bit; etc.
A virutal machine is typically what is used when not targeting an actual machine/hardware. aka runtime environment.
Transpiling the language to java or webassembly would provide for wider range of hardware/platform support without requiring specific knowlege compiled C platform quirks -- big endian/little endian machine. Although, transpiling to awk with system() & named pipes/netcat, perl, javascript, and/or creating an excell 16 bit cpu[7]/virtual pc could work too.
"1st class"[0] concept implies there are no restrictions on where given language construct/concept can be used. for example: which side of
Read the rest
the assignment operator a programming language concept/construct can be used.
"type inference"[1] is typically an interpreted/virtual machine language feature. aka C++ run time type inference (rtti) is done via instance of a virtual machine.
namespace / scoping is important aspect of modularity / avoiding code coloring issues / automatic translation between formats / 'reactivity'[2]
XL[3], oils/ysh[4], unicorn[5]/unicorn.js[6], awkgo[8], pawk[9] might be of interest.
Would suggest using ' JS/Ocaml/Rust' implimented/running under python (and/or bindings to ocaml/rust).
A related example/demo of this approach would be awk running under go[8] or python[9].
This approach would make it bit easier to experiement with doing modifications/customizations/extensions to 'js/ocaml/rust'.
Permits leveraging things that have already been written. aka editors/debuggers/graphics libraries etc.
Instead of going the 'super' environment, gawk extentions/additions to awk take the extend the 'sub-environment' direction[10] via extensions support for c/c++
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[0] : https://medium.com/ryanjang-devnotes/who-is-first-class-citi...
[1] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_inference
[2] : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reactive-programming-principl...
[3] : https://xlr.sourceforge.io/
[4] : https://www.oilshell.org/
[5] : http://www.unicon.org/
[6] : https://alexaltea.github.io/unicorn.js/
[7] : https://github.com/InkboxSoftware/excelCPU
[8] : https://benhoyt.com/writings/goawk/
[9] : https://github.com/alecthomas/pawk
[10] : https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/html_node/Dynamic-E...