README.md

infinitylang

infinitylang is a functional, statically typed programming language with a lisp syntax. It combines ahead of time compilation and type safety with the expressiveness of lisp. The infinity compiler is based on llvm.

syntax

expressions and elements

(print "hello")

infinitylang is composed of many embedded "expressions". In each layer of expression there can be many elements. In the example above, the expression has two elements in it: print and "hello". The first element in an expression is the function and all subsequent elements are arguments. Each element can be a sub-expression wrapping multiple elements:

(print (->S (+ 1 1))) ;prints 2

Here, (+ 1 1) is an expression with three elements that evaluates to the number two. Then, the ->S element converts that to a string and print prints the string "2".

comments

You can leave a comment with the comment syntax.

(print "hello") ; this is a comment

Only full line comments are allowed.

types

Each element can have a type. For example:

(def Str:greeting "hello")

The Str type annotates greeting to be a string. Types can be applied to elements (Char:33) or expressions (Char:(+ 33 1)). The current types supported are Int, Bool, Str, Array.

blocks

Curly braces denote blocks. A block can contain many expressions with elements in them. Every infinity program is actually a single block.

{
    (def Str:greeting "hello")
    (def Char:exclamation 33)
    (append greeting exclamation)
    (print greeting)
}

The compiler will go down the expressions on the block one by one in order. With blocks, you can have control flow. There are two control flows currently in infinity: if and while.

(if (< 1 0) { ; if 1 < 0
    (print "one is less than zero") ; then block
} {
    (print "one is more than zero") ; else block
})

you can also define functions with blocks

(fun Nil:(print_greeting) {
    (print "hello world")
})

(print_greeting) ; prints hello world

arrays

You can have a collection of elements with an array.

(def Array<Int>:favorite_numbers [1 2 3])
(remove favorite_numbers 0)
(print (->S (get favorite_numbers 0))) ; prints 2

Arrays are dynamically sized.

directives

You can leave out directives for the preprocessor.

!define HELLO "hello"
{(echo HELLO)} ; prints "hello"

The two preprocessing directives currently supported are !define and !import. Import reads another infinity file and combines it into the current file.

Interoperability

You can play with code from other languages. For example:

hello.c

void sayhello() {
    puts("hello from c code");
}

(extern (sayhello))
(sayhello) ; prints "hello from c code"

intrinsic functions

Arithmetic Intrinsics

function name	argument types	return type	description
+	Int Int / Float Float	Int / Float	adds two numbers
-	Int Int / Float Float	Int / Float	subtracts two numbers
*	Int Int / Float Float	Int / Float	multiplies two numbers
/	Int Int / Float Float	Int / Float	divides two numbers
%	Int Int / Float Float	Int / Float	modulo operation

---

Compound / Modifying Arithmetic

function name	argument types	return type	description
++	Int / Float	Int / Float	increments value by 1
--	Int / Float	Int / Float	decrements value by 1
+=	Int Int / Float Float	Int / Float	adds RHS to LHS and stores result
-=	Int Int / Float Float	Int / Float	subtracts RHS from LHS and stores result
inc	Int / Float	Int / Float	increments value by 1
dec	Int / Float	Int / Float	decrements value by 1

---

Comparison Operators

function name	argument types	return type	description
==	Int Int / Float Float	Bool	equality comparison
!=	Int Int / Float Float	Bool	inequality comparison
>	Int Int / Float Float	Bool	greater-than comparison
>=	Int Int / Float Float	Bool	greater-than-or-equal comparison
<	Int Int / Float Float	Bool	less-than comparison
<=	Int Int / Float Float	Bool	less-than-or-equal comparison

---

Boolean Logic

function name	argument types	return type	description
!	Bool	Bool	logical NOT
&&	Bool Bool	Bool	logical AND
||	Bool Bool	Bool	logical OR

---

Variable Management

function name	argument types	return type	description
def	TypedIdentifier [Value]	Type	declares a variable (type annotation required)
=	Identifier Value	Type	reassigns an existing variable

---

Control Flow

function name	argument types	return type	description
return	none	Nil	returns from function with no value
return	Any	Any	returns value from function

---

I/O

function name	argument types	return type	description
print	Str	Nil	prints string to stdout

---

Type Conversions

function name	argument types	return type	description
->S	Char	Str	converts char to string
->S	Int	Str	converts integer to string
->S	Float	Str	converts float to string
->S	Bool	Str	converts boolean to string
->I	Str	Int	parses integer from string

---

Array Creation & Access

function name	argument types	return type	description
array	T...	Array	creates array from elements
len	Array / Str	Int	returns array or string length
get	Array Int	T	retrieves element at index
set	Array Int T	Nil	sets element at index

---

Array / String Mutation

function name	argument types	return type	description
append	Array T	Array	appends element to array
insert	Array Int T	Array	inserts element at index
remove	Array Int	Array	removes element at index
pop_back	Array	T	removes and returns last element

compiling

make will build an infinity binary. infinity hello.inf -o hello.ll compiles hello.inf to hello.ll. Then, clang hello.ll -o hello will produce the hello binary.