closure-language

Tentatively called "SussLang". An implementation of a closure-based programming language I programmed a while back in Python.

👉 Run it Online at REPL.it! 👈

💻 How to Run Locally

You must have Python 3 installed.

1. Clone the repository, git clone https://github.com/JonahSussman/closure-language.git
2. Open the folder, cd closure-language
3. Run Python3 main.py to launch the REPL

You can either use the REPL by hitting enter, or load a script from the src directory by typing in its filename.

The contents of src are as follows:

Filename	Description
_rand	A random number generator. Call it like rand().
_vector	A simple 2D vector object. Supports adding and length.
_list	A linked list implementation. Use this in place of arrays.
diamond.suss	Prints a diamond of a given size.
fib.suss	Prints all fibonacci numbers lower than a given number.
fizz.suss	Fizzbuzz!
guess.suss	The computer has a number, and you have to guess it.
listdemo.suss	Demo for the _list library.
memory.suss	A memory helper / study tool.
primes.suss	Prints all primes lower than a given number

💡 Language Primer

This language was an experiment in how to implement a scripting language. As such, there are many design features that I would change for the future. (~ meaning the boolean not as opposed to the bitwise complement to name one). The core of the language is written in Python 3. A pretty slow language to implement another language in, but it was sufficient for my goals.

Note that the code snippets below use Rust syntax highlighting. It's better than just bare code blocks, but it's not perfect.

🌎 Importing Other Scripts

If you want to import someone else's code, simply type import <filename>. Be careful, as the way this works is kind of hacky: it unconditionally runs the contents of the other file. This can lead to infinite loops if you are not careful.

➗ Variables

With that out of the way, let's move on to variables. SussLang's type characteristics and behaviors are extremely python-esque. There are 3 basic data types: nil, numbers and strings. To declare a variable, use the let statement

# Comments are defined with a pound sign at the beginning of a line
let x = 0
let s = 'I'm a string!'
let n = nil # This defines 'n' to be nil, corresponding to Python's None type.

To cast from a string to an integer (or a num type) use:

let s = '100'
let x = s -> num

You can also easily add, multiply and do a wide variety of other operations on variables too:

let x = 0

x = x + 1
x = x - 1
x = x * 1
x = x / 1
x = ln x
x = log x
x = sqrt x
x = 3 _root x # Nth root of x

🦜 Input & Output

The tokens input and print correspond to taking input from stdin and outputting to stdout respectively.

let x = input 'Gimme a number. '
let y = x -> num
y = y + 1
print (y -> str) + ' is bigger!'

✅ Boolean Expressions

SussLang supports a wide variety of common boolean expressions:

let x = true
let y = false

~x      # NOT x, I wish I chose a different symbol for this one
x and y
x or y
x == y
x != y
x <= y
x >= y
x < y
x > y

🌊 Control Flow

The statements in this language are pretty C-like. We have the if statement:

if (stmt) {
  ...
}

and the while loop:

while (stmt) {
  ...
}

For loops can be accomplished the old-fashioned way:

# Prints the numbers 0 to 9
let i = 0
while (i < 10) {
  print i 
  i += 1
}

🚂 Functions & Closures

The real power of SussLang comes from the way we can use functions.

We can define a function like so:

fn function(arg0, arg1) {
  let x = arg0

  return arg0
}

print function(1, 2) # Will print '1'

In fact, we can define functions inside functions. Not only that, but we can also return the functions themselves

fn outside() {
  fn inside() {
    print '5'
  }

  inside()

  return inside
}

let x = outside() # will print 5
x() # will print 5 again!

An interesting and powerful feature of this language is that the environment inside the function is not destroyed after calling the function. This allows us to do Object Oriented Programming believe it or not!

fn Object(x) { # Arguments are still in scope
  let y = 'Hello world!'

  fn attr() {
    if (id == 'x') return x # return copy of x
    if (id == 'y') return y

    if (id == 'set_x') return set_x # return the _function_ set_x
    if (id == 'set_y') return set_y # which still references the 'Object' environment

    return nil
  }

  fn set_x(new_x) {
    x = new_x
  }

  fn set_y(new_y) {
    y = new_y
  }

  return attr
}

let o = Object(1)
print o('x') # prints 1
print o('y') # prints 'Hello world!'
o('set_x')(10)
print o('x') # prints 10

Poke around the example files in the src directory for more. The underscored files are of particular interest. Since the language doesn't support arrays (!!!) the default way of storing things is in a linked list, found in _list.

📜 Licence

This software is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE.md file for more information.