Overview

m is a simple and intuitive programming language optimized for math-centric operations. It allows users to easily define functions, perform arithmetic, and loop over ranges in a concise, functional style. The language is designed with minimalism in mind—providing only the essential features required for mathematical computations. It will be a compiled language down to a bytecode, executed by a custom virtual machine.

Features

• Functional Style: m encourages functional programming principles, where functions are first-class citizens.
• Basic Arithmetic: Supports addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation.
• Variables: Use variables to store and manipulate data.
• Lists: Define and manipulate lists of numbers.
• Loops: Both while and for loops are supported for iteration.
• Built-in Standard Library: Access to standard computational and mathematical methods and constants.
• Alias System: Easily alias functions or constants for cleaner code.
• Simple Syntax: Easy-to-read syntax inspired by modern functional programming languages.

Basic Syntax

1. Comments

Comments are written using #. Everything after # on a line is ignored.

This is a comment

1. Printing Output

The > symbol is used to print output to the terminal.

> 5 + 5  # Outputs: 10

1. Variable Definitions

Variables are declared using =. You can store the result of an expression in a variable.

x = 9 + 10
y = x + 1  # Valid

1. Lists

Lists are created using square brackets [].

l1 = [1, 2, 3]
> l1  # Outputs: [1, 2, 3]

1. Block scope

Scopes can be created using the curly brackets {}.

x = 1
{
    y = 2
    x = 2
}
> x # Outputs: 2
> y # error: 'y' is not defined

1. Control flow

If-else statements are supported!

x = 1
if (x == 0): {
  > 1
} else: {
  > 2
}

1. Function Definitions

Functions are defined using the syntax name(paramaters...): statement | { statement* }.

f(x): x + 1  # Function that adds 1 to x

g(x): {
  a = x ** 2 + 3 * x + 5
  a + 1  # Returns the result of the expression
}

1. Loops

While Loop

while (x): x = f(x)  # Continuously modify x until the condition is false

For Loop

For loops, by design, only support the for x in y syntax. To iterate, the range function must be used like in python.

for x in range(0, 10): {
  > x  # Outputs: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
}

1. Namespaces

Namespaces allow functions and constants to be grouped together. They can be nested to allow for groups inside groups.

# Example Standard Library Namespace
namespace std {
    namespace trig {
        # ...
        sin(x): {} # Computes and returns sin(x)
        # ...
    }

    namespace constants {
        # ...
        PI = 3.1415 # ... 
        # ...
    }
}

1. Import Statements

Import statements begin with the !include "path" statement. They do this because I want them to. There is no particular reason to do this over include("path") or include "path".

!include "std/trig.m"  # Import external libraries
!include "std/constants.m"

1. Aliases

You can create aliases for functions or constants using the alias keyword.

alias sin std::trig::sin
alias PI std::constants::PI

> sin(PI / 2)  # Equivalent to std::trig::sin(std::constants::PI / 2)

Built With

• java