kaikai has a mascot now. Its name is Honu, and it is a sea turtle.
Honu is tough but effective, like the language, which has strict types and effects to complete the functional paradigm.
The sea turtle resembles kaikai in more than one way. It carries its shell everywhere, the way a kaikai program carries its types: a protection that never comes off and does not keep it from swimming. It spends almost its whole life at sea and comes ashore only to lay its eggs, on the same beach where it hatched. Code in kaikai also lives in its own element, that of pure functions, and reaches the outside world only through effects, which are written in the signature of every function. And it is a patient, long-lived traveler that crosses entire oceans without losing its way, like a language built to last, where code keeps compiling from one edition to the next.
Why Honu
In Rapa Nui, honu means turtle. Like the name of the language and those of its editions and libraries, the mascot comes from Rapa Nui too, where the turtle is carved into the island’s petroglyphs.
The icon
For small spaces, Honu has an icon with just the head.
You can download it to use as an avatar, in a talk, or in anything you make with kaikai.
Where to find it
Starting today, Honu appears in the footer of every page on the site and on the page that tells where the name comes from.