l1 is a small interpreted Lisp
1
written in Go. Emphasizing simplicity of data types (atoms,
arbitrarily large integers, and lists) and start-up speed, it aims to
be a playground for learning Lisp, making simple games, and exploring
classic (pre-ML) AI work.
l1 eschews strings, vectors, and records in favor of using atoms and
lists in the style of some classic AI
programs. It features macros,
tail-call optimization, unicode support, and a few unique functions
for converting atoms and numbers to lists, and vice-versa.
- Provide a Lisp one can easily build roguelikes and other text games with.
- Provide a Lisp for studying "Good Old Fashioned AI" programs such as those described in Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming (PAIP).
- Answer the question, How far can we get without a 'string' data type? (Much older Lisp pedagogy, including PAIP and SICP, does not refer to strings much or at all.)
- Build a minimal language core and implement much of the language in the language itself (as is done in Clojure and many Common Lisp implementations).
See the language reference and the API docs.
The language core is largely complete, though things could still change... caveat emptor. Issues and remaining work are tracked on GitHub.
Although there are many tests, I expect some bugs remain. The interpreter starts fast but, like most tree-walking interpreters, is slow for longer calculations.
To use this method, have Go installed and configured (including setting GOPATH).
To install l1,
go install github.com/eigenhombre/l1@latest
Specific versions are tagged and available as well. See the tags page for available versions and then, for example,
go install github.com/eigenhombre/l1@v0.0.42
If you don't want to install Go, l1 binaries are built for 22 OS /
architecture combinations for every release. (WARNING: many/most of
these are not tested regularly!)
- Head on over to the Releases Page.
- Download the binary appropriate for your operating system.
- Rename it to a file
l1. - Make
l1executable. On Unix / Linux / MacOS sytems,chmod +x l1 - Move it to somewhere on your path (this is platform-specific).
Mac binaries are currently unsigned, so you have to go through the following extra steps:
- Perform the above actions to get an executable file
l1on your path. - Right-click (or control-click) the executable in the Finder.
- Open with Terminal or iTerm or... whatever Terminal program you usually use.
- Select "Open Anyway" after acknowledging the security warning.
You should only have to do this once per release, in general.
At this point you should be able to run l1:
$ l1 -h
to print a help message, or, to start a REPL:
$ l1
To execute a file:
$ l1 <file.l1>
Example, using a file in this project:
$ cat examples/fact.l1
;; Return the factorial of `n`:
(defn fact (n)
(if (zero? n)
1
(* n (fact (- n 1)))))
(print (fact 100))
$ time l1 examples/fact.l1
933262154439441526816992388562667004907159682643816214685929638
952175999932299156089414639761565182862536979208272237582511852
10916864000000000000000000000000
real 0m0.012s
user 0m0.007s
sys 0m0.005s
See these
instructions
for turning an l1 program into an executable binary.
Several example programs are available in the
examples/
directory. Most of these are run automatically as tests in the build.
These can be obtained either by cloning this repository, or if you
installed l1 using the Go installer, by looking under $GOPATH. For
example, if the latest release is v0.0.42,
$ ls $GOPATH/pkg/mod/github.com/eigenhombre/l1\@v0.0.42/examples/
An example roguelike game lives in a separate repository.
$ l1
> (quote foo)
foo
> 'foo
foo
> (len (split '水果))
2
> (quote (the (ten (laws (of (greenspun))))))
(the (ten (laws (of (greenspun)))))
> (cadaaaaaaaaaar '(((((((((((hello world))))))))))))
world
> ((lambda (x . xs) (list x xs)) 1 2 3 4)
(1 (2 3 4))
> (help)
l1 - a Lisp interpreter.
Type
---
S - special form
M - macro
N - native (Go) function
F - Lisp function
Name Type Arity Description
---- --- ---- -----------
* N 0+ Multiply 0 or more numbers
** F 2 Exponentiation operator
+ N 0+ Add 0 or more numbers
- N 1+ Subtract 0 or more numbers from the first argument
/ N 2+ Divide the first argument by the rest
< N 1+ Return t if the arguments are in strictly increasing order, () otherwise
<= N 1+ Return t if the arguments are in increasing or equal order, () otherwise
= N 1+ Return t if the arguments are equal, () otherwise
> N 1+ Return t if the arguments are in strictly decreasing order, () otherwise
>= N 1+ Return t if the arguments are in decreasing or equal order, () otherwise
abs F 1 Return absolute value of x
and S 0+ Boolean and
apply N 2 Apply a function to a list of arguments
atom? N 1 Return t if the argument is an atom, () otherwise
bang F 1 Add an exclamation point at end of atom
body N 1 Return the body of a lambda function
butlast F 1 Return everything but the last element
capitalize F 1 Return the atom argument, capitalized
car N 1 Return the first element of a list
cdr N 1 Return a list with the first element removed
colon F 1 Add a colon at end of atom
comma F 1 Add a comma at end of atom
comment M 0+ Ignore the expressions in the block
comp F 0+ Function composition -- return a function which applies a series of functions in reverse order
complement F 1 Return the logical complement of the supplied function
concat F 0+ Concatenenate any number of lists
concat2 F 2 Concatenate two lists
cond S 0+ Fundamental branching construct
cons N 2 Add an element to the front of a (possibly empty) list
constantly F 1 Given a value, return a function which always returns that value
dec F 1 Return the supplied integer argument, minus one
def S 2 Set a value
defmacro S 2+ Create and name a macro
defn S 2+ Create and name a function
doc N 1 Return the doclist for a function
dotimes M 1+ Execute body for each value in a list
downcase N 1 Return a new atom with all characters in lower case
drop F 2 Drop n items from a list, then return the rest
enumerate F 1 Returning list of (i, x) pairs where i is the index (from zero) and x is the original element from l
error S 1 Raise an error
errors S 1+ Error checking, for tests
eval N 1 Evaluate an expression
even? F 1 Return true if the supplied integer argument is even
every F 2 Return t if f applied to every element in l is truthy, else ()
exclaim F 1 Return l as a sentence... emphasized!
exit N 0 Exit the program
filter F 2 Keep only values for which function f is true
flatten F 1 Return a (possibly nested) list, flattened
foreach M 2+ Execute body for each value in a list
forms N 0 Return available operators, as a list
fuse N 1 Fuse a list of numbers or atoms into a single atom
gensym N 0+ Return a new symbol
help N 0 Print a help message
identity F 1 Return the argument
if M 3 Simple conditional with two branches
if-not M 3 Simple (inverted) conditional with two branches
inc F 1 Return the supplied integer argument, plus one
interpose F 2 Interpose x between all elements of l
is M 1 Assert a condition is truthy, or show failing code
isqrt N 1 Integer square root
juxt F 0+ Create a function which combines multiple operations into a single list of results
lambda S 1+ Create a function
last F 1 Return the last item in a list
len N 1 Return the length of a list
let S 1+ Create a local scope with bindings
let* M 1+ Let form with ability to refer to previously-bound pairs in the binding list
list N 0+ Return a list of the given arguments
list* F 0+ Create a list by consing everything but the last arg onto the last
list? N 1 Return t if the argument is a list, () otherwise
load N 1 Load and execute a file
loop S 1+ Loop forever
macroexpand-1 N 1 Expand a macro
map F 2 Apply the supplied function to every element in the supplied list
mapcat F 2 Map a function onto a list and concatenate results
max F 0+ Find maximum of one or more numbers
min F 0+ Find minimum of one or more numbers
neg? F 1 Return true iff the supplied integer argument is less than zero
not N 1 Return t if the argument is nil, () otherwise
not= F 0+ Complement of = function
nth F 2 Find the nth value of a list, starting from zero
number? N 1 Return true if the argument is a number, else ()
odd? F 1 Return true if the supplied integer argument is odd
or S 0+ Boolean or
partial F 1+ Partial function application
period F 1 Add a period at end of atom
pos? F 1 Return true iff the supplied integer argument is greater than zero
print N 0+ Print the arguments
printl N 1 Print a list argument, without parentheses
println N 0+ Print the arguments and a newline
progn M 0+ Execute multiple statements, returning the last
punctuate F 2 Return x capitalized, with punctuation determined by the supplied function
punctuate-atom F 2 Add a punctuation mark at end of atom
quote S 1 Quote an expression
randalpha F 1 Return a list of random (English/Latin/unaccented) lower-case alphabetic characters
randchoice F 1 Return an element at random from the supplied list
randigits F 1 Return a random integer between 0 and the argument minus 1
randint N 1 Return a random integer between 0 and the argument minus 1
range F 1 List of integers from 0 to n
readlist N 0 Read a list from stdin
reduce F 2+ Successively apply a function against a list of arguments
rem N 2 Return remainder when second arg divides first
remove F 2 Keep only values for which function f is false / the empty list
repeat F 2 Return a list of length n whose elements are all x
repeatedly F 2 Return a list of length n whose elements are made from calling f repeatedly
reverse F 1 Reverse a list
screen-clear N 0 Clear the screen
screen-end N 0 Stop screen for text UIs, return to console mode
screen-get-key N 0 Return a keystroke as an atom
screen-size N 0 Return the screen size: width, height
screen-start N 0 Start screen for text UIs
screen-write N 3 Write a string to the screen
second F 1 Return the second element of a list, or () if not enough elements
set! S 2 Update a value in an existing binding
shell N 1 Run a shell subprocess, and return stdout, stderr, and exit code
shuffle N 1 Return a (quickly!) shuffled list
sleep N 1 Sleep for the given number of milliseconds
some F 2 Return f applied to first element for which that result is truthy, else ()
sort N 1 Sort a list
sort-by N 2 Sort a list by a function
source N 1 Show source for a function
split N 1 Split an atom or number into a list of single-digit numbers or single-character atoms
swallow S 0+ Swallow errors thrown in body, return t if any occur
syntax-quote S 1 Syntax-quote an expression
take F 2 Take up to n items from the supplied list
test S 0+ Run tests
tosentence F 1 Return l as a sentence... capitalized, with a period at the end
true? F 1 Return t if the argument is t
try S 0+ Try to evaluate body, catch errors and handle them
upcase N 1 Return the uppercase version of the given atom
version N 0 Return the version of the interpreter
when M 1+ Simple conditional with single branch
when-not M 1+ Complement of the when macro
while M 1+ Loop for as long as condition is true
with-screen M 0+ Prepare for and clean up after screen operations
zero? F 1 Return true iff the supplied argument is zero
> ^D
$
Many of the unit tests are written in l1 itself. Here are a few examples:
(test '(split and fuse)
(is (= '(1) (split 1)))
(is (= '(-1) (split -1)))
(is (= '(-3 2 1) (split -321)))
(is (= '(a) (split (quote a))))
(is (= '(g r e e n s p u n) (split 'greenspun)))
(is (= '(8 3 8 1 0 2 0 5 0) (split (* 12345 67890))))
(is (= 15 (len (split (* 99999 99999 99999)))))
(errors '(expects a single argument)
(split))
(errors '(expects a single argument)
(split 1 1))
(errors '(expects an atom or a number)
(split '(a b c)))
(is (= '() (fuse ())))
(is (= 'a (fuse (quote (a)))))
(is (= 'aa (fuse (quote (aa)))))
(is (= 'ab (fuse (quote (a b)))))
(is (= 1 (fuse (quote (1)))))
(is (= 12 (fuse (quote (1 2)))))
(is (= 125 (+ 2 (fuse (quote (1 2 3))))))
(is (= 1295807125987 (fuse (split 1295807125987))))
(errors '(expects a single argument)
(fuse)))
(test '(factorial)
(defn fact (n)
(if (zero? n)
1
(* n (fact (- n 1))))))
(is (= 30414093201713378043612608166064768844377641568960512000000000000
(fact 50)))
(is (= 2568 (len (split (fact 1000))))))
Several core library functions are also implemented in l1. The file
l1.l1
contains these, and is evaluated when the interpreter starts. This
currently runs quite quickly (about 12 milliseconds on my Mac M1 Air).
Check out this repo and cd to it. Then,
go test
go build
go install
Or, for a complete build with all tests, etc.,
make
Testing and builds rely on GitHub Actions, Docker, and Make. Please
look at the Dockerfile and Makefile for more information.
New releases are made using make release. You must commit all
outstanding changes first.
- Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Classic MIT text, presents several Lisp evaluation models, written in Scheme.
- Crafting Interpreters book / website. Stunning, thorough, approachable and beautiful book on building a language in Java and in C.
- Donovan & Kernighan, The Go Programming Language. Great Go reference.
- Rob Pike, Lexical Scanning in Go (YouTube). I took the code described in this talk and spun it out into its own package for reuse in
l1. - A more detailed blog post on
l1. - A blog post on adding Tail Call Optimization to
l1.
Copyright © 2022, John Jacobsen. MIT License.
Two of the programs in examples/ were adapted from P. Norvig,
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in
Common Lisp. MIT License.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.