Introduction to Bend

Welcome to the fascinating world of Bend, a high-level, massively parallel programming language designed to make parallel programming both approachable and efficient. In this guide, we’ll explore the ins and outs of Bend, from its basic syntax and constructs to its advanced features that allow you to harness the power of parallel hardware like GPUs.

Warning: This doc is still WORK-IN-PROGRESS. Feel free to contribute by clicking on the GitHub icon at the top-right corner.

PS: AI may have been used to improve this doc.

What is Bend?

Bend is a programming language unlike any other. Built on top of Rust, it carries the ambition of making parallel programming not just possible but inherently simple. Bend achieves this by removing the traditional barriers associated with parallel programming—such as thread management and explicit synchronization primitives—and instead, promises that “Everything that can run in parallel, will run in parallel.”

This promise is rooted in Bend’s design philosophy, which combines the expressive power of languages like Python and Haskell with the performance capabilities of low-level languages like CUDA. Whether you’re managing fast object allocations, utilizing higher-order functions, or dealing with recursion, Bend handles the complexity behind the scenes, allowing you to write code that scales almost linearly with the number of cores available.

Why Bend?

The world of computing is increasingly moving towards parallelism, with modern CPUs and GPUs offering more cores than ever before. However, traditional programming languages often require developers to manually manage the complexities of parallel execution. Bend is here to change that narrative:

  • Simplicity in Design: Write high-level code without worrying about the low-level details of parallel execution.
  • Performance: Bend’s programs are designed to run on multi-core and many-core architectures, squeezing out nearly every bit of performance from the hardware.
  • Safety: Powered by Rust, Bend inherits strong safety guarantees, helping to prevent common parallel programming bugs like race conditions.
  • Open Source: Bend is open source, inviting collaboration and innovation from developers around the world.

How to Use This Guide

This guide is structured to provide a step-by-step journey through the features and capabilities of Bend. Whether you’re new to programming or an experienced developer looking to expand your skill set, you’ll find value in the following pages.

Here’s how to get the most out of this guide:

  • Sequential Learning: If you’re new to Bend, it’s recommended to go through the guide chapter by chapter, as each section builds upon the knowledge of the previous one.
  • Practical Application: Throughout the guide, you’ll encounter code snippets and examples. Type them out and run them to solidify your understanding.
  • Exercises and Challenges: At the end of each chapter, take time to work through the exercises to test your knowledge.
  • Feedback Loop: Use the community resources to ask questions, clarify doubts, and connect with other Bend enthusiasts.

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a solid foundation in Bend, equipped with the knowledge to start building your own parallel applications. So, open up your editor, roll up your sleeves, and let’s dive into the world of Bend programming!

In the next chapter, we’ll walk through setting up your development environment and write our first Bend program. Stay tuned!

Note: This guide assumes that you have a basic understanding of programming concepts. If you’re completely new to programming, it might be helpful to familiarize yourself with fundamental concepts in a language like Python or Rust before diving into Bend.

Contributing

This is a free and open source guide to Bend programming language. You can find the source code on GitHub and issues can be posted on the GitHub issue tracker. It relies on the community to fix existing guides and add new guides: if you’d like to contribute, please consider opening a pull request.

License

This guide and any documentation are released under the Apache-2.0 license.