CS 498MC • Martian Computing

Neal Davis • Department of Computer Science • University of Illinois

The underlying infrastructure of modern networked computing—namely Unix and its derivatives—is approaching fifty years of age. What will come to replace it? A strong competitor is the clean-slate “operating function” approach of Urbit. Jocosely branded as “computing for Martians,” Urbit provides a fresh and updated vision of what Internet computing could come to look like in future years. Featuring end-to-end encryption and true peer-to-peer routing built on a network-first operating system, Urbit fosters decentralized digital societies and stable user identities.

Our primary objectives in this course are for you to be able to explain and navigate the technical layout of Urbit, as well as construct novel applications for Arvo, the Urbit operating function, using the Hoon programming language.

Understand the schematics and technical implementation of the Urbit OS kernel (Arvo and vanes).
Navigate and utilize the Urbit ID public-key infrastructure (Azimuth).
Program literately using the Hoon language, including source code conventions and interoperability.
Construct userspace apps to run on the Urbit OS platform (Gall, Landscape).

Since January 2022, I have been working with the Urbit Foundation to produce more up-to-date developer education resources. This course has largely been superseded by the Hoon School and App School guides. I will leave it up for historical documentation, but you shouldn’t rely on any part of the presentation without checking contemporary developments.

Audience

My target audience for the course consists of graduate students and seniors in computer science and neighboring fields interested in sound computing and functional operating system design (functional-as-in-language). The course assumes an interest in functional programming but no specific experience.

Resources

What	When and Where
Instructor email	cs498mcadmin@illinois.edu
Class URL	go.illinois.edu/cs498mc
Class forum	`~magbel/martian-computing`

Access

The use of Urbit requires an Urbit ID. You can purchase an ID on a third-party site like urbit.live or OpenSea. You can also use a transient ID (called a “comet”) as a permanent ID; these are free and can be generated on your own machine.

Agenda

Lessons focus on conceptual or architectural aspects of Urbit, including technical discussions of Urbit’s behavior and internals. Labs are hands-on tutorials to familiarize students with operations and language features.

Wk	Date	Number	Lecture	Lab	MP
0	08/26	00	Prospectus
	08/28	01	Dojo
1	08/31	02		Azimuth I
	09/02	03	Generators
	09/04	04	Auras
2	09/09	05	Syntax
	09/11	06	Cores		`mp0`
3	09/14	07		`%say` Generators
	09/16	08	Subject-Oriented Programming
	09/18	09	Clay I
4	09/21	10		Libraries
	09/23	11	Ford I
	09/25	12	Debugging Hoon		`mp1`
5	09/28	13		`%ask` Generators
	09/30	14	Types & Molds
	10/02	15	Standard Library
6	10/05	16		Common Containers
	10/07	17	Gall I
	10/09	18	Kernel (Chat with `~rovnys-ricfer`)		`mp2`
7	10/12	19		Data & Text Parsing
	10/14	20	Ames
	10/16	21	Behn
8	10/19	22		Clay II
	10/21	23	Polymorphism
	10/23	24	Urbit Foundation (Chat with `~wolref-podlex`)		`mp3`
9	10/26	25		Gall II
	10/28	26	Gall III
	10/30	27	Buffer
10	11/02	28		Eyre & Iris
	11/04	29	Gall IV
	11/06	30	Boot Process		`mp4`
11	11/09	31		CLI
	11/11	32	Arvo I
	11/13	33	Hoon I
12	11/16	34		Hoon II
	11/18	35	Vere I
	11/20	36	Vere II		`mp5`
13	11/30	37		Arvo II
	12/02	38	Nock I
	12/04	39	Nock II
14	12/07	40		Azimuth II
	12/09	41	Final Thoughts
	12/11				`mp6`