Hy
Hy may refer to: == Science and technology ==- [[Hy (programming language)]], a dialect of Lisp embedded in Python
- H-Y antigen, a minor histocompatibility antigen
- Hy's law, a guideline in drug-induced liver injury assessment
- HY (satellites), a series of Chinese meteorological satellites
- HY (band), a South Korean boy band
- Hy (island), an island in the Philippines
- Hy (name), a given name or surname
- hy (company), a technology company (hypothetical or specific context)
- Armenian language code (ISO 639-1: hy)
- Texting slang for "hey" or similar abbreviations
Science and technology
Hy (programming language)
Hy is a dialect of the Lisp programming language designed for seamless interoperability with Python. It functions by translating Lisp s-expressions into Python's abstract syntax tree (AST), enabling Hy code to compile directly into Python bytecode and execute within the Python runtime. This approach allows developers to combine Lisp's homoiconic syntax—treating code as data—with Python's vast ecosystem of libraries, tools, and frameworks, without requiring bridges or wrappers. As part of the Lisp family, Hy emphasizes metaprogramming while inheriting Python's practicality for general-purpose programming.[1][2] Hy was developed starting in 2013 by Paul Tagliamonte and the HyCore team, with its first release occurring in the same year during the Python Conference (PyCon). The language emerged from Tagliamonte's work on swarm behavior simulations, aiming to embed Lisp's expressive power into Python to facilitate advanced code generation and customization. Over the subsequent years, the project evolved through community contributions, focusing on robust integration and real-world applicability.[2][3] Key features of Hy include its macro system, which supports compile-time code transformation for creating domain-specific languages or simplifying repetitive patterns, such as defining custom control structures like ado-while loop. It inherits Python's dynamic typing, ensuring flexible variable handling and runtime evaluation, while allowing direct invocation of Python libraries in Lisp syntax—for instance, using s-expressions to call functions from packages like NumPy for numerical computations or CherryPy for web serving. This interoperability extends to mixing Hy and Python code in the same module, promoting gradual adoption in existing projects.[4][5]
Hy finds use cases in embedding Lisp-style paradigms within Python ecosystems, particularly for tasks requiring metaprogramming, such as generating optimized data processing pipelines in data science or building extensible web applications. Examples include scripting complex simulations with functional constructs or extending Python frameworks with macro-driven configurations. As of November 2025, Hy sustains an active community through GitHub contributions and discussions, with the current stable version 1.1.0 released on May 8, 2025, following the milestone version 1.0 release in September 2024 that featured improved performance optimizations, API stabilizations, and enhanced compatibility with Python 3.x versions after nearly 12 years of development.[6][3][7]