Økter

Økter is a fictional open-source software project created as a thought experiment to examine portable, reactive programming models. The project comprises a programming language (Økter), a runtime, and a standard library.

Origins: The concept emerged in 2023 from an international collective of developers and educators, intended to explore deterministic concurrency and cross-language interoperability. It is designed as a teaching tool and a sandbox for experimenting with design choices in modern runtimes.

Language and runtime: Økter language is statically typed, functional-first, with an effect system and dataflow constructs. It supports algebraic data types, pattern matching, and modular composition. Økter programs compile to WebAssembly using the Økter compiler; the runtime provides a cooperative scheduler, message passing, and streaming data processing primitives.

Interoperability and ecosystem: The runtime exposes foreign-function interfaces to host environments (Web and Node.js) and can interoperate with JavaScript. The standard library emphasizes streaming, input/output, and concurrency primitives, while aiming to keep the core footprint small for educational use and experimentation.

Usage and reception: In its fictional context, Økter is used in academic settings to illustrate design tradeoffs in language and runtime ecosystems. It has limited adoption and a small ecosystem, with no formal standard. Documentation is intentionally concise, and community governance is described as open and collaborative to reflect its pedagogical purpose.

See also: programming languages, WebAssembly, reactive programming, concurrency models.