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Esolang Interpreters

Python CI PyPI License: GPL v3

Interpreters and Boolean generators for 81 esoteric languages: 79 text and 2 raster.

generate builds a truth-table program; evaluate returns its observed table.

Start with the CLI or Python API. The usage guide covers inputs, templates, answers, and debugging. Limitations records contracts; the roadmap tracks open work.

Command line

python -m pip install esolangs

esolangs --help
esolangs list
esolangs generate Suffolk 0110 > program.txt
printf '01' | esolangs run Suffolk program.txt

esolangs generate brainfuck 0110 > bf.txt
printf '01' | esolangs debug --steps 20 --watch-cell 0 brainfuck bf.txt

The Polynomial interpreter needs the optional mathematics extra: pip install 'esolangs[math]'. PNG loading and saving need pip install 'esolangs[image]'; in-memory raster programs need neither extra.

Python API

import esolangs

program = esolangs.generate("brainfuck", "0110")
stdin = esolangs.encode_inputs("brainfuck", [0, 1])
assert (
    esolangs.read_answer("brainfuck", esolangs.run("brainfuck", program, stdin)) == "1"
)

Use isolated=True for a bounded run on Windows or worker threads.

Use the intended language: Suffolk source may run as brainfuck with a wrong answer. Use encode_inputs to build stdin.

Examples

esolangs generate Sophie 0110 emits 20 characters computing XOR:

;@0{;}{;@0{#1}{#0}},

Feeding it the two adjacent input characters prints their XOR.

Stepping a program

Generate a program with esolangs generate Flowchart 0110 > flowchart.txt, then run esolangs debug --tui --stdin 01 Flowchart flowchart.txt in a terminal. Here is Flowchart at step 14:

Flowchart  step 14  ip (1, 57, 0, -1)  running
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | ───────────┐     ┌< ]──┐
2 | \ \─\{ }/─< >─/ /┴────< >─/ /─\[ ]/─{ ]─\[ ]/─[ >─\[ ]/─[ }─\[ ]/─{ ]─
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
memory   0 1 1
stack    (empty)
output   ''
views    deques={0: [0, 1], 1: [1]}  pointers=[_Pointer(row=1, col=57, d=(
hjkl move | t break | space step | c continue | r run | b back | q quit
R restart | w/W watch | G to ip | 0-9 count | p play | +/- speed

See debugging for controls.

Ready-to-run programs for each of the 77 languages with a boolean generator live in examples/.

Implemented languages

Familiar languages include brainfuck, Befunge, Piet, INTERCAL, and Malbolge.

Show all 81 languages

Grid-based Languages

Languages that move a pointer or beam across a 2D grid.

Stack-based Languages

Languages that use a stack for data manipulation.

Queue-based Languages

Languages whose primary data structure is a queue or deque.

Tape-based Languages

Languages that operate on a tape (similar to Turing machines).

Register-based Languages

Languages that use registers to store and manipulate data.

Other Languages

Languages that don't fit into the above categories.

just test includes Line and Piet's tape and stack interpreter suites.

Generators

The truth table is a binary string of length 2**n, most-significant input first; its length implies n, so it isn't passed separately. 77 of the languages have such a generator, some covering only a documented subset of tables.

esolangs list --details marks generators (gen), templates (tmpl), and committed examples (ex). See the usage guide for input conventions and benchmarking.

Contributing

See contributing for setup and verification, and architecture for the execution path. The project is GPL v3; see LICENSE.

Metadata

Release files for esolangs 0.8.0

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

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