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{ WIP, researching this etcetc. ~drummyfish }
Uxn is a [minimalist](minimalism.md) [self hosted](self_hosting.md) [stack](stack.md)-based [virtual machine](virtual_machine.md) 8bit/16bit [computer](computer.md) aiming for great [simplicity](simplicity.md) and [portability](portability.md). It is quite nice and impressive, having its own [instruction set](isa.md), [assembly](assembly.md) language, many implementations and many programs written for it already (e.g. [Left](left.md) text editor, Noodle drawing tool etc.); it was made by the author of [xxiivv](xxiivv.md) wiki (some weird [narcissist](egoism.md) self proclaimed artist that's sailing the seas or something). From the minimalist point of view uxn really seems to be going in the right direction, it is inspired by old computers such as [NES](nes.md) and [C64](c64.md), practicing real minimalism (not just [pseudominimalism](pseudominimalism.md) or just "lightweight minimalism") -- that's pretty awesome -- however its presentation is shit and while there are many [free as in freedom](free_software.md) implementations of uxn, official supplemental material to uxn (on the [xxiivv](xxiivv.md) wiki), such as its specification, is **[proprietary](proprietary.md)** ([NC](nc.md)) and therefore should be avoided and boycotted.
Uxn is a [minimalist](minimalism.md) [self hosted](self_hosting.md) [stack](stack.md)-based [virtual machine](virtual_machine.md) 8bit/16bit [computer](computer.md) aiming for great [simplicity](simplicity.md) and [portability](portability.md). It is quite nice and impressive, having its own [instruction set](isa.md), [assembly](assembly.md) language, many implementations and many programs written for it already (e.g. [Left](left.md) text editor, Noodle drawing tool etc.); it was made by the author of [xxiivv](xxiivv.md) wiki (some weird [narcissist](egoism.md) self proclaimed artist that's sailing the seas or something). From the minimalist point of view uxn really seems to be going in the right direction, it is inspired by old computers such as [NES](nes.md) and [C64](c64.md), practicing real minimalism (not just [pseudominimalism](pseudominimalism.md) or just "lightweight minimalism") -- that's pretty awesome -- however its presentation is shit and while there are many [free as in freedom](free_software.md) implementations of uxn, official supplemental material to uxn (on the [xxiivv](xxiivv.md) wiki), such as its specification, is **[proprietary](proprietary.md)** ([NC](nc.md)).
Uxn is similar to other projects such as [IBNIZ](ibniz.md), and can be compared to some of [our](lrs.md) projects as well, for example [SAF](saf.md), but mainly [comun](comun.md) -- the goals of uxn and comun may be seen as significantly overlapping, aiming to create a minimalist, completely independent from-ground-up computing "stack", an extremely portable platform for minimalist programs, and they do so in a similar way (both are e.g. stack based, inspired by [Forth](forth.md)). **To quickly compare uxn and comun**: comun is more of a pure programming [language](language.md) focusing only on expressing algorithms without talking about [I/O](io.md) or instruction sets, uxn on the other hand really is a [computer](computer.md) (even if initially only virtual), one that comes with its own instruction set, language and protocols for communication with peripheral devices, though the computer is purposefully made so that it can be implemented as a virtual machine running on other computers. Comun is a low level language but higher level than assembly (having e.g. control structures and a concept of "native integer" type), usually compiling to [bytecode](bytecode.md), while uxn is programmed directly in assembly and tied to its virtual machine's architecture and specifications. Comun is trying to stay more abstract, hardware independent and be more close to [math](math.md) notation, it doesn't assume any native integer size or working memory size, it doesn't use any English keywords, it assumes as little as possible about its platform -- it is trying to be a "better, simpler [C](c.md)". Uxn is more of a "new NES", a "practically useful [fantasy console](fantasy_console.md)", an idealization and improvement of old computers, it has a hardcoded amount of memory, specified integer size (8 or 16 bit), uses assembly with English mnemonics just like the old computers etc. As for complexity, uxn is probably a bit simpler, or rather allowing smaller implementations than those of full comun, though simplified versions of comun (such as minicomun) may possibly be as simple or simpler than uxn and specification of full comun (a possible measure of complexity) is extremely small and will probably compare to or beat uxn. Uxn only has 32 instructions and its self hosted implementation is around 2000 bytes big, while current comun's bytecode has around 80 instructions and self hosted compiler will probably have a few thousand lines of code (as it really is a library, compiler, interpreter and simple optimizer, as opposed to mere assembler). Comun is a completely [selfless](selfless.md), absolutely [public domain](public_domain.md) [free software](free_software.md), while uxn has a selfish proprietary ([NC](nc.md)) specification.