An extension of the Scheme programming language, itself an implementation of Lisp, Kawa is a general-purpose programming language that runs on the Java platform.
Kawa is part of the GNU Project and is written in Java. Kawa distributions include other programming languages besides Scheme, including XQuery (Qexo) and Emacs Lisp (JEmacs). Kawa can be used to implement other languages to run on the Java virtual machine.
Its name, Kawa, is a play on words since kawa is Polish for "coffee," and java is another name for coffee.
Kawa first appeared in June of 1996, and its key developer was Per Bothner. The Kawa Community maintains it, and various people and organizations have contributed to the language over the years. It is available through an MIT license, and is freely redistributable.
Among the goals of the Kawa programming language was to combine the best of both worlds: the simplicity and ease of use of dynamic scripting languages, such as non-verbose code, fast and easy startup, a REPL, and no required compilation step, with the performance and reliability of traditional compiled languages, such as fast execution, static error detection, and zero-overhead Java platform integration.
This portion of our web guide covers the Kawa programming language, including tutorials, guides, documentation, community or user groups, and other topics specific to Kawa.
Recommended Resources
Kawa (Kawa-lang) is a programming language designed to run on the Java Virtual Machine and is implemented in Java. This is the Git-Hub repository for the language, which is still in development, and licensed under the MIT License. The latest releases can be found on the Releases page of the repository, which provides additional information about the language and its development, including its README file. Repository files can be browsed or located via a search feature.
https://github.com/mojo2012/kawa-lang
The Homebrew Formulae is a package manager for macOS and Linux that allows users to install software packages from the command line. The Homebrew Formulae page for Kawa makes the Kawa programming language available using the command "brew install kawa". Kawa is an implementation of the Scheme programming language for the Java platform. Links to Kawa's development page on the GNU site are included, along with a development kit, analytics, and other data.
https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/kawa
Kawa - Fast Scripting on the Java Platform
LWN is an online magazine focusing on free software and software for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. The acronym originally stood for Linux Weekly News, although it no longer focuses exclusively on Linux topics. Its section on Kawa was published on December 3, 2014, and was contributed by Per Bothner, the chief developer of the Kawa programming language. An overview of its development and performance is et forth, with reasons to choose it over other languages.
https://lwn.net/Articles/623349/
It is hosted on Huihoo, a collaborative platform that promotes open-source culture and collaboration and provides GNU manuals, Linux documents, and other open-source resources, this section refers to the Kawa programming language and includes an introduction to the language, instructions for obtaining and installing Kawa, a usage reference, language reference, licensure, and data about the Kawa (development and maintenance) Community. An index links to various sections of the documentation.
https://docs.huihoo.com/kawa/
The official website for Kawa, a general-purpose programming language that runs on a Java platform. It is an extension of the long-established Scheme language, within the Lisp family of programming languages. The website provides a comprehensive manual describing the language and its features, along with a tutorial, installation instructions, reference documentation, and a section for the Kawa Community that includes technical support, discussion, and bug reports.
https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/
