Description #
Unison is a modern, purely functional programming language that stores code by content hash, enabling robust refactoring, distribution, and collaboration at scale.
History #
Unison was developed by Paul Chiusano and his team at Unison Computing. It was released in alpha in 2019 after years of research into distributed systems and functional programming. Its standout feature is how it stores code in a content-addressable database, rather than in traditional files.
Hello World Code #
main : '{IO} ()
main _ = printLine "Hello, World!"How to Run #
Option 1: Online
Unison Playground
Option 2: Local
- Install from official site:
https://www.unison-lang.org/download - Run using the Unison Codebase Manager (UCM):
ucmKey Concepts #
- Pure functional programming
- Content-addressable code storage
- No file-based project structure
- Automatic dependency tracking
- Strong static types
- Easy distributed code sharing
- Persistent code history
- Namespace management
- Pattern matching and algebraic data types
- IDE and CLI integration
Try It Online #
Fun Facts #
- In Unison, you never overwrite functions—every change creates a new, uniquely hashed version.
- Unison enables safe refactoring across large codebases, with automatic updates to dependent functions.
- It was designed with cloud-native and distributed systems in mind from the beginning.
