commit c6cb524068afa3f8e1107157083176e4a79606e8
parent 532cbf0bc8f212f87b2d0f448bc81d505c80f562
Author: Ed van Bruggen <ed@edryd.org>
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:26:13 -0400
Add tisp v0.1 release post
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+---
+title: "Tisp v0.1 Release"
+tags: tech programming languages projects
+categories: tech
+date: 2024-11-21
+---
+
+After over 7 years of off-and-on development (but mostly off),
+I am finally releasing the first version of Tisp, the tiny lisp programming language.
+Tisp is far from complete or being ready to use in the real world,
+but I am now satisfied at the current state of features.
+
+Before the idea of tisp ever formed, I worked on a shell interpreter called [s][].
+It is a traditional shell which aimed to replace the complexity of bash.
+When creating tisp, I brought this experience with me and wanted to make tisp a practical language
+for everyday interactive use, shell scripting, and quick but powerful one-liners.
+
+The desire to have a small, simple language, easy to embed or extend with external libraries,
+originally inspired the creation Tisp.
+Initially, Lua seemed to fit these requirements,
+but it lacks expressive power, which leads to verbose and repetitive code.
+You cannot tailor Lua to the specific domain where you embed it.
+Lua's imperative nature leads to programs which focus on the step by step operations to solve a problem, not the big picture.
+This mandatory ceremony adds noise which clutters the core business logic at the heart of the problem solution.
+Global by default encourages writing messy spaghetti code which manipulates global state, making programs impossible to reason about locally.
+By more carefully selecting a higher level of abstraction, abandoning the imperative semantics of Lua can lead to an even simpler core language.
+
+Together this eventually motivated the creation of a new language which combines the simplicity of Lua with the functional and expressive power of lisp and pragmatism of shell.
+
+[s]: https://github.com/rain-1/s
+
+# Current Features
+
+- Interactive read-eval-print-loop (REPL) interface, with readline keybindings [^rlwrap].
+- S-expression based homoiconic syntax.
+ - Enables simple yet powerful macros to extend syntax by manipulating code like data.
+ - Prefix syntax for `Func`, `quote`, `quasiqutote`, `unquote`, and `unquote-splice`.
+- Runtime evaluation
+ - Full language is always available: `read`, `parse`, `eval`, and `print` eevo code during runtime.
+- Symmetric printing: values are printed in a format that can be read by the parser
+ (with the exception of procedures).
+- Basic error messages and debugging through backtrace `bt`.
+- Strings and symbols are interned to reduce memory and enable fast comparisons.
+- Sizeable core library written in tisp for control flow, lists, stacks, math, and IO.
+- Builtin documentation for every procedure, accessed through `doc` function at runtime.
+
+[^rlwrap]: Through the use of [rlwrap](https://github.com/hanslub42/rlwrap).
+
+# Library
+
+Tisp is designed as a library first, which can be easily included in any C project (or language with C bindings),
+or inversely call any library with C bindings.
+Tisp is essentially just a collection of functions which provide a high-level runtime for C.
+The language's syntax is defined by the `parse` function, which transforms a string of tisp code into a tisp value.
+The language's semantics are defined by the `eval` function, which transforms a value into its evaluated form (performing any side-effects along the way).
+Then the language defines how to display the results with the `display` function.[^MVC]
+
+[^MVC]: Web and game devs might see this as similar to the model-view-controller design pattern.
+
+Currently the only application which uses tisp as a library is the default CLI interpreter.
+Other possible applications include
+a notebook interface (like [juptyer][] notebook for python),
+game platform (similar to [love2d][] or [pico-8][]),
+a text editor (like lua for [neovim][], or elisp for [emacs][]),
+or a spreadsheet (replacing visual basic).
+
+[jupyter]: https://jupyter.org/
+[love2d]: https://love2d.org/
+[pico-8]: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
+[neovim]: https://neovim.io/
+[emacs]: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
+
+# Interpreter
+
+While tisp is a library first, a default interpreter is provided as a standalone executable,
+enabling execution of tisp programs from the command line.
+It also serves as an example on how to use tisp as a library.
+
+- `-r` launch REPL prompt (Default if no other options given).
+- `-c` run command as tisp code.
+- `-` read from standard input.
+- if no hyphen prefix, run program in file.
+
+# Types
+
+- Integers, decimals, (with scientific notation for both) and rationals.
+- Strings
+ - Supporting backslash escape codes for newline, carriage return, tab, and double quote.
+- Symbols
+ - Variable identifiers as first class objects.
+- Functions (and primitives from host language)
+ - Including captured environment for closures.
+- Macros (and special forms from host language)
+ - Functions which operate on syntax, treating code as data.
+- Pairs
+ - Building block used to construct lists, trees, graphs, stacks, queues, etc.
+- Nil
+- Void
+- Error
+
+# Variables
+
+- `True`
+ - All values except `Nil` are truthy, use `True` as explicit true value.
+- `False`
+ - Equivalent to `Nil`
+- `bt`
+ - Backtrace of procedure call history which caused error
+- `version`
+ - String of current version: `"0.1"`
+
+# Builtins
+
+Procedures defined by the host runtime (currently only C).
+Each procedure is either a primitive which behaves like a normal function,
+or a special form which might not evaluate some of its arguments (eg `quote`, `cond`).
+See the documentation of each primitive for more information.
+
+- `car`, `cdr`
+- `cons`
+- `quote`
+- `eval`
+- `=`
+- `cond`
+- `typeof`
+- `get`
+- `Func`
+- `Macro`
+- `def`
+- `undefine`
+- `defined?`
+- `load`
+- `error`
+
+## IO
+
+- `read`
+- `write`
+- `parse`
+
+## OS
+
+- `cd!`
+- `pwd`
+- `now`
+- `time`
+
+## String
+
+- `Sym`
+- `Str`
+
+## Math
+
+- `+`, `-`, `*`, `/`, `mod`, `^`
+- `<`, `>`, `<=`, `>=`
+- `Int`, `Dec`
+- `floor`, `ceil`, `round`
+- `sin`, `cos`, `tan`
+- `sinh`, `cosh`, `tanh`
+- `arcsin`, `arccos`, `arctan`, `arcsinh`, `arccosh`, `arctanh`
+- `exp`, `log`
+
+# Core Library
+
+Functions defined in eevo, included by default but not required.
+
+- `list`, `list*`
+- `if`, `when`, `unless`
+- `not`, `and`, `or`, `nand`, `nor`
+- `let`, `recur`, `switch`
+- `apply`, `map`
+- `do`, `do0`
+- `compose`
+- `caar`, `cadr`, `cdar`, `cddr`, etc.
+- Type tests `nil?`, `int?`, `string?`, etc.
+- `defmacro`
+- `quasiqutote`
+
+- `length`
+- `last`, `nth`, `head`, `tail`
+- `convert`, `filter`, `keep`, `remove`, `memp`, `member`
+- `reverse`
+- `count`, `every?`, `everyp?`
+- `assoc`
+- `append`, `zip`
+- `push`, `pop`, `peek`, `swap`
+
+- `doc`
+- `repl`
+
+### IO
+
+- `print`, `display`, `println`, `displayln`, `newline`
+- `run`
+
+### Math
+
+- `pi`, `tau`, `e`
+- `/=`,
+- `inc`, `dec`, `truncate`
+- `sqr`, `cube`, `root`, `sqrt`, `cbrt`
+- `logb`, `log10`
+- `csc`, `sec`, `cot`, `arccsc`, `arcsec`, `arccot`
+- `csch`, `sech`, `coth`, `arccsch`, `arcsech`, `arccoth`
+- `abs`, `sgn`, `max`, `min`,
+- `positive?`, `negative?`, `zero?`, `even?`, `odd?`,
+- `dot`, `!`
+
+# Next Steps
+
+This is likely the first and last release of Tisp.
+Tisp has always been a temporary name.
+As the language moves away from the signature lisp style and starts taking more inspiration from
+other languages, a rebrand is in order.
+One of the primary motivators for this release is so I can fundamentally change much of core language,
+such as the syntax, data structures, and type system.
+
+I have already started implementing a new syntax system built on top of s-expressions,
+to remove top level parentheses and forced prefix notation.
+
+While this is the far from the end of the language, a significant revamp is coming.
