Bespoke

Bespoke is an esoteric programming language created in 2025 by Josiah Winslow. It encodes instructions into the lengths of words, similarly to his earlier esolang Poetic. Programs can tend to look like abstract poetry, although a series of instruction mnemonics are often used when developing programs to make the process easier.

Overview

Bespoke has both a stack and a heap for storing data. Arbitrary precision signed integers can be pushed and popped onto the stack, and the heap maps integer addresses to integer values.

Source code for Bespoke is entered in the form of words, in any natural language. Words are considered to consist of any number of alphabetic characters and apostrophes, and any character that is not either of these is ignored and treated as a delimiter. Apostrophes do not delimit words or add to the letter count. Each word is then converted to numbers as follows:

• If a word is less than 10 letters long, it is converted to that single digit.
• If a word is exactly 10 letters long, it is converted to the digit 0.
• If a word is more than 10 letters long, it is converted to a series of digits, representing the number as written in decimal notation (for example, a 12-letter word becomes 12).

The digits are then turned into a series of instructions and executed.

Instructions

In addition to the necessary digit sequences for each instruction, a series of mnemonics that match the digit sequences will also be provided, for readability and ease of use.

1: Heap storage/retrieval (H)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
11	H V	Pop addr, then push the value stored at heap address addr (0 if it doesn't exist).
13	H LDV	Same as 11.
15	H LOADV	Same as 11.
17	H LOADVAL	Same as 11.
19	H LOADVALUE	Same as 11.
12	H SV	Pop addr then val, then store val at heap address addr.
14	H STRV	Same as 12.
16	H STOREV	Same as 12.
18	H STOREVAL	Same as 12.
10	H STOREVALUE	Same as 12.

2: Stack manipulation (DO)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
21	DO P	Pop the top value.
22	DO PN	Pop n, then pop the nth value from the top.
23	DO ROT	Pop n, then rotate the stack by moving the top value down to the nth position.
24	DO COPY	Push a copy of the top value.
25	DO COPYN	Pop n, then push a copy of the nth value from the top.
26	DO SWITCH	Swap the top two values.
27	DO SWITCHN	Pop n, then swap the top value with the nth value from the top.
28	DO TURNOVER	Reverse the stack.
29	DO TURNOVERN	Pop n, then reverse the top n values of the stack.
20	DO ROTINVERSE	Pop n, then rotate the stack backwards by moving the value at the nth position up to the top.

3, 4, and 9: Pushing numbers (PUT, PUSH, and CONTINUED)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
3	PUT	Push multi-digit numbers: follow with length first (where 0 is considered 10), then digits. E.g. PUT XX:I NUMBERZERO pushes 10; PUT XXXXX:TRI BI SEVENTH SEXTET INTEIGHT pushes 32768; PUT XXXXXXXXXX:I BI TRI FOUR FIFTH SEXTET SEVENTH INTEIGHT DIGITNINE NUMBERZERO pushes 1234567890.
4	PUSH	Push single-digit numbers: follow with the digit to push. E.g. PUSH FOUR pushes 4; PUSH SEVENTH pushes 7; PUSH NUMBERZERO pushes 0.
9	CONTINUED	Use immediately after a 3 (PUT), 74 (CONTROL CALL), or 78 (CONTROL FUNCTION) command to use longer multi-digit numbers. E.g. PUT XXXXXXXXXX:TRI I I TRI I BI I I I TRI; CONTINUED XXXX:I BI BI I pushes 31131211131221.

5: Input (INPUT)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
51	INPUT N	Read input as a number and push it onto the stack.
53	INPUT INT	Same as 51.
55	INPUT INTGR	Same as 51.
57	INPUT INTEGER	Same as 51.
59	INPUT INTNUMBER	Same as 51.
52	INPUT CH	Read input as a character and push its Unicode codepoint value onto the stack.
54	INPUT CHAR	Same as 52.
56	INPUT STRING	Same as 52.
58	INPUT STRINGCH	Same as 52.
50	INPUT STRINGCHAR	Same as 52.

6: Output (OUTPUT)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
61	OUTPUT N	Pop n, then output n as a number.
63	OUTPUT INT	Same as 61.
65	OUTPUT INTGR	Same as 61.
67	OUTPUT INTEGER	Same as 61.
69	OUTPUT INTNUMBER	Same as 61.
62	OUTPUT CH	Pop n, then output n as a Unicode codepoint.
64	OUTPUT CHAR	Same as 62.
66	OUTPUT STRING	Same as 62.
68	OUTPUT STRINGCH	Same as 62.
60	OUTPUT STRINGCHAR	Same as 62.

7: Control flow (CONTROL)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
71	CONTROL B	Break out of the current loop.
72	CONTROL IF	Pop cond, then if cond is nonzero, run this block up to the matching 73 (CONTROL END) or 79 (CONTROL OTHERWISE), whichever comes first; otherwise, skip past the matching 73 (CONTROL END) or 79 (CONTROL OTHERWISE), whichever comes first.
73	CONTROL END	End this block.
74	CONTROL CALL	Call a function; follow with multi-digit number (the function's "name") with the same syntax as the 3 (PUT) command. E.g. CONTROL CALL XXX:PRINT SQUARE ROOT calls a function "named" 564.
75	CONTROL WHILE	Define a while loop block; pop cond at the start, and run this block in a loop while cond is nonzero.
76	CONTROL RETURN	Return from the current function.
77	CONTROL DOWHILE	Define a do-while loop block; pop cond at the end, and run this block in a loop while cond is nonzero. (This loop always runs without popping anything the first time through.)
78	CONTROL FUNCTION	Define a function block; follow with multi-digit number (the function's "name") with the same syntax as the 3 (PUT) command. E.g. CONTROL FUNCTION XXX:PRINT SQUARE ROOT defines a function "named" 564.
79	CONTROL OTHERWISE	See 72.
70	CONTROL ENDPROGRAM	Immediately end program execution.

8: Arithmetic operations (STACKTOP)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
81	STACKTOP F	Pop n, then push 1 if n is zero, and 0 otherwise.
82	STACKTOP LT	Pop b then a, then push 1 if a < b, and 0 otherwise.
83	STACKTOP POW	Pop b then a, then push a ^ b. (Negative powers get calculated as abs(b)th roots, rounded down to an integer.)
84	STACKTOP PLUS	Pop b then a, then push a + b.
85	STACKTOP MINUS	Pop b then a, then push a - b.
86	STACKTOP MODULO	Pop b then a, then push a % b. (The result has the same sign as b.)
87	STACKTOP PLUSONE	Pop n, then push n + 1.
88	STACKTOP MINUSONE	Pop n, then push n - 1.
89	STACKTOP PRODUCTOF	Pop b then a, then push a * b.
80	STACKTOP QUOTIENTOF	Pop b then a, then push a / b (rounded down to an integer).

0: Comments (COMMENTARY)

Digits	Mnemonic	Description
00	COMMENTARY INITIALIZE / COMMENTARY TERMINATE	Define a block comment; the digits 00 both start and end the comment.
0 ... 0	COMMENTARY ... INITIALIZE / COMMENTARY ... TERMINATE	Another way to define a block comment; any nonzero digits can go within the ..., and the same digit sequence will both start and end the comment.

Examples

Hello, World!

more peppermint tea?
ah yes, it's not bad
I appreciate peppermint tea
it's a refreshing beverage

but you immediately must try the gingerbread
I had it sometime, forever ago
oh, and it was so good!
made the way a gingerbread must clearly be 
baked

in fact, I've got a suggestion
I may go outside
to Marshal Mellow's Bakery
so we both receive one

This corresponds to the following mnemonics:

PUSH NUMBERZERO
PUT XX:TRI TRI
PUT XXX:I NUMBERZERO NUMBERZERO
PUT XXX:I NUMBERZERO INTEIGHT
PUT XXX:I I FOUR
PUT XXX:I I I
PUT XX:INTEIGHT SEVENTH
PUT XX:TRI BI
PUT XX:FOUR FOUR
PUT XXX:I I I
PUSH SEVENTH DO COPYN
DO COPY
PUT XXX:I NUMBERZERO I
PUT XX:SEVENTH BI
CONTROL DOWHILE
    OUTPUT CH
    DO COPY
CONTROL END

Truth machine

there I stumble
falling up
even whilst I go down
falling out

This corresponds to the following mnemonics:

INPUT N
CONTROL DOWHILE
    DO COPY
    OUTPUT N
    DO COPY
CONTROL END

Fibonacci sequence

Takes a number n as input, and outputs the first n Fibonacci numbers.

read a note I wrote you
it says "someone shall love you,
as big as past lovers did,
put in a collection"
surely it will be
in truth, somebody here is probably isolated
existing in pain without you

This corresponds to the following mnemonics:

PUSH I
PUSH I
INPUT INT
DO COPY
CONTROL WHILE
    PUSH TRI DO ROT
    DO COPY
    OUTPUT INT
    PUT XX:I NUMBERZERO
    OUTPUT CH
    PUSH BI DO COPYN
    STACKTOP PLUS
    DO TURNOVER
    STACKTOP MINUSONE
    DO COPY
CONTROL END

Fun fact: the Fibonacci sequence program was the first ever Bespoke program, written when the specs weren't yet finalized.

Implementation

• Official Python interpreter (contains other example programs)