Wired (Feb. 3) -- Computer programmers often use tools that translate slower languages like Ruby and Python into faster languages like Java or C. But that faster code must also be translated — or compiled, in programmer lingo — into code that the machine can understand. Using LLVM, a compiler developed by a team of researchers at the U. of I. and enhanced by the likes of Apple and Google, California graduate student Stefan Karpinski and others are building a new language they hope will be suited to practically any task.