The “Mulan” programming language, which was claimed to be “completely independently designed, developed, and implemented” by the team at the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has been accused of being a wrapper around the Python language. In response to this online criticism, on January 17, project leader Liu Lei, an employee of the CAS Compiler Laboratory, stated on ScienceNet that the compiler for the Mulan language on 8-bit microcontrollers was developed by their team, while the compiler for 32-bit microcontrollers was a secondary development based on the open-source Python compiler. However, during an interview, the Mulan programming language and compiler were exaggeratedly presented as being completely independently developed.
Liu Lei’s full explanation regarding the “Mulan” programming language is as follows:
I am an employee of the Compiler Laboratory at the Institute of Computing Technology, CAS. Based on my research accumulation in compilation technology, I founded Zhongke Zhixin (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., which focuses on youth programming education, designing and developing programming languages, compilers, and integrated development environments.
To better promote computational thinking in primary and secondary schools, I led a team to develop a programming language called “Mulan.” It consists of three components: first, it borrows features from the Lua language in its language specifications and expands upon them, adding new features such as data expression methods; second, it has developed a visual programming environment that supports children’s programming education; third, for the 8-bit AVR microcontroller, we implemented the corresponding compiler and runtime system, and developed a virtual machine capable of simulating multitasking execution. These products have been used in programming popularization activities involving 100,000 participants across hundreds of primary and secondary schools.
For the STM32 microcontroller, we conducted secondary development based on the open-source Python compiler, which means that the source code of the Mulan language is first converted into Python’s intermediate representation (AST) and then run on the Python virtual machine. This is the reason why the development and runtime environment includes the Python system.
During a media interview on January 15, I made the following errors in my introduction of the Mulan programming language:
1. The Mulan programming language is primarily used for primary and secondary education, but I exaggerated its application to the smart IoT field in my introduction.
2. The compiler for the Mulan language on 8-bit microcontrollers was developed by our team, while the compiler for 32-bit microcontrollers was a secondary development based on the open-source Python compiler, but I exaggerated the Mulan programming language and compiler as being completely independently developed during the interview.
I sincerely apologize for the negative impact caused online and express my sincere regret for the adverse consequences brought to CAS and the Institute of Computing Technology, CAS. I appreciate everyone’s supervision and criticism, and I deeply reflect on this, ensuring that similar issues will not occur again.
Previously, according to reports from several media outlets including China News Network, on January 15, the Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, officially announced the independent research and development of the “Mulan” programming language system by the Compiler Technology Team of the National Key Laboratory of Computer Architecture, aimed at new-generation artificial intelligence and IoT applications, and released the “Mulan” open-source software package for global users to download for free.
However, shortly after, controversies arose online. A Zhihu user @沉迷单车 pointed out that the icon of the “Mulan” language editor program downloaded from the internet is identical to that of applications generated using the well-known programming language Python. “Don’t you even change the icon?” he asked.
The reporter from The Paper could not find any release information about “Mulan” on the official websites of the Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, or the National Key Laboratory of Computer Architecture, nor any download links.
The download channel for “Mulan” is on the website of a company called “Zhongke Zhixin.” According to the company homepage, Zhongke Zhixin (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. is an incubated enterprise of the Institute of Computing Technology, CAS, established from the National Key Laboratory of Computer Architecture.
Source: The Paper
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