fabulousduck / smol

Smol interpreted/compiled language.

Smol

Smol interpreted and compiled language.

This is a small language i made to have something other than raw assembly to write when i want to make a piece of software for an older system. Right now, to build the system and test it. It only compiles down to Chip-8 opcodes. It has a interpreter too and a REPL if you so wish. In the future i plan to support older chips like the 6502 and the Z80 flavours.

Uint32 a = 0
Uint32 b = 10
while(a < b):
   print("hello world!")
   a++
end

Table of contents

• table of contents
• Installing
• Running a file
• Documentation
  • General
  • Syntax
  • Variables
  • Operators
    • ++
    • --
  • Inbuilt Functions
    • print
  • Functions
  • switch
    • case
    • default
  • whileNot(a,b)
  • logical operators
    • eq
    • neq
    • gt
    • lt
  • Comments

Installing

1. install the golang language. How to do this can be found here
2. execute the following commands

$ go get github.com/fabulousduck/smol
$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/fabulousduck/smol/cmd
$ go build main.go

Running a file

Once you have built the main.go file, you can execute it with any .lo file like so:

    ./main ../examples/example.lo

Documentation

General

• The file extention for smol is .lo

Syntax

The syntax of smol is extremely small and aims to resemble something between lolcode and x86_64 ASM. Although it does not implement any of the x86_64 keywords. It does however keep to the style of 3 letter keywords.

All statements must end with a ;. Not doing so will result in syntax errors.

Variables

In smol it is possible to define variables of a number of different types. The following types are supported as of now.

• Uint32
• Uint64
• Bool
• String

The syntax for declaring a variable is as follows:

<type> <name> = <value>

Example:

Uint32 myUint32 = 100
Uint64 myUint64 = 200
Bool myBool = True
String myString = "hello world!"

outputs:

20

Operators

a++

++ is a direct operator on variables that increments the value by one. Example:

Example:

Uint32 a = 20;
a++
print(a)

outputs:

21

a--

-- is a direct operator on variables that decrements the value by one. Example:

Example:

Uint32 a = 20;
a--
print(a)

outputs:

19

Inbuilt functions

print(v)

print is a general printing function that prints to STDOUT. This function does not get embedded into bytecode unless the target machine has a form of STDOUT

Example:

Uint32 a = 20;

print(a)

outputs:

20

def

Smol has support for simple functions. The can be defined like so:

functionName(1,2)

def function_name(a,b):
    print(a)
    print(b)
end

Functions do not support return values yet.

switch

switch is a basic implementation of a switch. It supports cases using either number litterals or variables. it also supports default cases. it can be used like so:

Example:

Uint32 a = 30;
Uint32 b = 10;

switch(b):
    case 10: #case
        print(700)
    end
    case 20:
        print(20) 
    end
    case a:
        print(a)
    end
    default:
        print(30)
    end
end

outputs

700

case a

case defines a case within a switch.

Example:

Uin32 a = 30;
Uin32 b = 10;

switch(b):
    case 10: #case
        print(700)
    end
    case a:
        print(a)
    end
end

outputs

700

default

default can be used to declare a default case in a switch statement

Example

Uint32 a = 100;
Uint32 b = 44;

switch(b): #SWiTch
    case 10:
        print(700)
    end
    case 20:
        print(20) 
    end
    case a:
        print(A)
    end
    default:
        print(30)
    end
end

outputs

30

whileNot(a,b)

whileNot is the while loop of smol. It will run its body untill A == B. So it can be seen as a simple while a != b {} loop.

Example:

Uint32 a = 0;
Uint32 b = 10;

whileNot(a,b):
    print(a)
    a++
end

outputs

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Logical operators

eq(a,b)

eq stands for "equals" and checks if A == B.

Example

Uint32 a = 10;

eq(a, 10):
    print(a)
end

outputs:

10

neq(a,b)

neq stands for "not equals" and checks if A != B.

Example

Uint32 a = 11;

neq(a, 10):
    print(a)
end

outputs:

10

gt(a,b)

gt stands for "greater than" and checks is A < B

Example

mem a = 10;

gt(a, 9):
    print(a)
end

outputs:

10

lt(a,b)

lt stands for "less than" and checks if A < B

Example

Uint32 a = 10;

lt(a, 11):
    print(a)
end

outputs:

10

Comments

Smol has support for code comments using the # symbol.

Example

Uint32 a = 10; #side comment 

#top comment
Uint32 b 20;