Kern 82

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Kern 82 is a programming language created by User:Brian80053 in September 2026 as part of an alternate-history project. It combines German and English keywords and features an elaborate static type system and extensive safety checks. Despite these features, Kern 82 is relatively conventional by esoteric programming language standards.

Language Overview

Kern 82 is a statically typed, imperative programming language designed to resemble practical programming languages of the early 1980s. In its alternate-history setting, it is primarily used in fields requiring high reliability, such as industrial control, embedded systems, and systems programming.

Kern 82 uses both German and English keywords. It is primarily designed for procedural programming but also supports basic object-oriented programming. Its features include variables, arrays, functions, procedures, strings, and strict type checking. Its syntax is influenced by C, Pascal, and Green, the precursor to Ada.

One of Kern 82's main design goals is to combine low-level programming capabilities with strong safety checks. It detects errors such as integer overflow, division by zero, and out-of-bounds array access. Its type system prohibits mixing distinct types, even when they share the same underlying type. Memory-related errors, including use-after-free and double-free, are also explicitly detected.

Unlike esoteric programming languages that deliberately employ unusual or difficult-to-use designs, Kern 82 aims to resemble a programming language that could plausibly have existed in its alternate-history setting.

Implementation

CKern 82 has a compiler written in Haskell that generates C99 code.
Compiler link: [[1]] (The documentation is written in Korean, so readers may find Google Translate helpful.)

What is the Alternate History?

Alternate history is a genre of fiction that explores how history might have unfolded differently. It usually starts with a "What if?" scenario involving a major historical event and imagines an outcome different from what actually happened. Well-known examples include the Wolfenstein video game series and the novel The Man in the High Castle.

For more information about the genre, see [[2]] on Wikipedia.

Examples

Hallo, Welt!

PROZEDUR main()
BEGIN
    SCHREIBEN("Hallo, Welt!");
END

Cat Program

PROZEDUR main()
BEGIN
    CHAR x;
    WHILE (LESEN(x)!=FALSCH)
        BEGIN
        SCHREIBEN(x);
    END
END

Multiplication Table

PROZEDUR main()
BEGIN
    FOR (GANZ i=2; i<=9; i++)
    BEGIN
        FOR (GANZ j=1; j<=9; j++)
        BEGIN
            SCHREIBEN(i, " * ", j, " = ", i*j, " ");
        END
        AUSGABE();
    END
END

Truth Machine

PROZEDUR main()
BEGIN
    GANZ A;
    LESEN(A);
    IF A==0 THEN
    BEGIN
        AUSGABE(0);
    END
    ELSE
    BEGIN
        WHILE(WAHR)
        BEGIN
            AUSGABE(1);
        END
    END
END

Star Triangle Pattern

PROZEDUR main()
BEGIN
    GANZ x = 0;
    LESEN(x);
    FOR (GANZ i = 0; i < x; i++)
    BEGIN
        FOR (GANZ j = 0; j < 2 * x -1; j++)
        BEGIN
            IF j >= x-1-i AND j <= x-1+i THEN
            BEGIN
                SCHREIBEN("*");
            END
            ELSE
            BEGIN
                SCHREIBEN(" ");
            END
        END
        AUSGABE("");
    END
END

Factorial

FUNKTION GANZ factorial(GANZ x)
BEGIN
    IF x == 1 THEN
    BEGIN
        RÜCKGABE 1;
    END
    RÜCKGABE x*factorial(x-1);

END

PROZEDUR main()
BEGIN
    GANZ x = 0;
    LESEN(x);
    GANZ y = factorial(x);
    AUSGABE(y);  
END