Editing Rebol (section)

{{Short description|Programming language designed by Carl Sassenrath}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name                   = Rebol
| logo                   = [[File:Rebol logo.png]]
| paradigm               = [[language oriented programming]], [[Data exchange language|data exchange]], [[functional programming|functional]], [[prototype-based programming|prototype-based]], [[imperative programming|imperative]] <!-- ordered by prominence-->
| year                   = {{Start date and age|1997}}
| designer               = [[Carl Sassenrath]]
| developer              = REBOL Technologies
| latest_release_version = 2.7.8
| latest_release_date    = {{Start date and age|2011|01}}
| latest_test_version    = 2.101.0
| latest_test_date       = {{Start date and age|2012|12}}
| typing                 = [[dynamic typing|dynamic]], [[strong typing|strong]]
| license                = 2.7.8 is [[Freely redistributable software]],<ref name="lic">REBOL Technologies. ''The REBOL/View and REBOL/Core 2.7.8 [http://www.rebol.com/license.html license]''</ref> 2.101.0 has [[Apache License|Apache 2.0 license]]<ref name="r3src">[https://github.com/rebol/r3 R3 source] at [[GitHub]]</ref>
| file ext               = .r, .reb<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rebol.com/article/0540.html |title=Carl's REBOL Blog - Let's switch to .reb suffix |publisher=Rebol.com |date=August 18, 2013 |access-date=January 23, 2014}}</ref>
| influenced_by          = [[Self (programming language)|Self]], [[Forth (programming language)|Forth]], [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], [[Logo (programming language)|Logo]]<ref name="OG" />
| influenced             = [[JSON]],<ref name="JSON">[[Douglas Crockford|Crockford, Douglas]]. ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C-JoyNuQJs The JSON Saga]'', [http://crockford.com/codecamp/jsonsaga.ppt jsonsaga.ppt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004043939/http://crockford.com/codecamp/jsonsaga.ppt# |date=October 4, 2012 }}</ref> [[Red (programming language)|Red]]
| operating_system       = [[cross-platform]]
| website                = {{URL|www.rebol.com}}
| wikibooks = Rebol Programming
}}

'''Rebol''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɛ|b|əl}} {{respell|REB|əl}}; historically '''REBOL''') is a [[cross-platform]]<ref name="RD" /> [[data exchange language]] and a [[multi-paradigm programming language|multi-paradigm]] [[dynamic programming language]] designed by [[Carl Sassenrath]] for network communications and [[distributed computing]].  It introduces the concept of [[dialecting]]: small, [[optimization (computer science)|optimized]], [[domain-specific language]]s for code and data,<ref name="RD">Roberts, Ralph (2000). ''REBOL for Dummies.'' Hungry Minds. {{ISBN|0-7645-0745-1}}.</ref><ref name="RP">Auverlot, Olivier (2001). ''Rebol Programmation.'' Eyrolles. {{ISBN|2-212-11017-0}}.</ref> which is also the most notable property of the language according to its designer [[Carl Sassenrath]]:

{{Blockquote|text=Although it can be used for programming, writing functions, and performing processes, its greatest strength is the ability to easily create domain-specific languages or dialects|author=Carl Sassenrath<ref name="DJ">{{cite web|last=Sassenrath|first=Carl|date=2000-07-01|url=http://www.ddj.com/184404172|title=Inside the REBOL scripting language|publisher=[[Dr. Dobb's Journal]]}}</ref>}}

[[Douglas Crockford]], known for his involvement in the development of [[JavaScript]], has described Rebol as "a more modern language, but with some very similar ideas to [[Lisp (programming language) | Lisp]], in that it's all built upon a representation of data which is then executable as programs" and as one of [[JSON]]'s influences.<ref name="JSON" />

Originally, the language and its official implementation were [[proprietary software|proprietary]] and closed source, developed by REBOL Technologies. Following discussion with [[Lawrence Rosen (attorney)|Lawrence Rosen]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rebol.com/article/0511.html |title=REBOL to become open source |publisher=Rebol.com |date=September 25, 2012 |access-date=January 23, 2014}}</ref> the Rebol version 3 interpreter was released under the [[Apache License|Apache 2.0 license]] on December 12, 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rebol.com/cgi-bin/blog.r?view=0519 |title=Comments on: R3 Source Code Released!|first=Carl|last=Sassenrath|date=December 12, 2012|access-date=August 14, 2014 |quote=''You probably thought the source release would never happen? Am I right? Well, it's there now in github at github.com/rebol/rebol.''}}</ref> Older versions are only available in binary form, and no source release for them is planned.

Rebol has been used to program [[Internet]] [[application software|application]]s (both [[client-side|client-]] and [[server-side]]), [[database]] applications, [[utility software|utilities]], and [[multimedia]] applications.<ref name="RD" />