TAML
| Paradigm(s) | imperative declerative |
|---|---|
| Designed by | User:LabRicecat |
| Appeared in | 2021 |
| Computational class | Unknown |
| Reference implementation | Unimplemented |
| Influenced by | ini |
| File extension(s) | .taml |
TAML, the Text Adventure Markup Language, is an esoteric programming language intending to lay out the program as a kind of text adventure-like tree structure.
Language overview
A TAML program, called an Adventure consists of a set of Questions, where each one has a fixed amount of Answers. Syntactically these are split into three parts: Name, Event and Answers.
Typically a question would look like this
[Start] # Name
Hello my dear adventurer. # Event
{Greetings!} HappyAnswer # Answers
{Go away!} RudeAnswer
This successfully creates a Question called Start which executes its Event and afterwards leaves the user with two Answers to pick from.
The output of this program might look like this:
Hello my dear adventurer. [1] Greetings! [2] Go away! >
The # indicates a comment and every character afterward until a newline will be ignored.
Questions
As a Adventure might have multiple Questions, the TAML interpreter will always pick the first defined one as a starting point.
There is no limit on how many Questions are allowed, but all must have a non-empty, unique name and not contain any whitespaces in them.
Events
Events are an optional part of a Question which performs specific actions.
Special instructions can be performed by using the <instruction args...> syntax.
Variables can be inserted via $name. Everything else will be printed to the console as is.
Variables
Variables are stored in a global hashmap. When an undefined variable is accessed, it gets replaced by an empty string.
All variables are stored as strings. They are castable to a number using %(<expr>).
Names must not start with a digit but can contain a-z A-Z 0-9 as well as . _ and :
Literals
Number literals have to consist of only numbers and at most one . to indicate a floating point.
String literals have to start and end with a double quote ", they support all ANSI escape sequences, starting with a slash /.
Instructions
| Syntax | Description |
|---|---|
input -> VAR
|
Prompts the user and stores the input into VAR
|
expr (EXPR) -> VAR
|
Calculates the simple C-like expression into VAR (See Expressions)
|
var NAME is VAL
|
Sets the variable <name> to Val.
|
if VAL <BODY>
|
Executes BODY if VAL is truthy. (See Expression)
|
else <BODY>
|
Executes BODY if the last if failed
|
ask QUESTION
|
Jumps to the Question |
textspeed MILLISECONDS
|
Sets the speed at which the Events text gets printed |
clear
|
Clears the screen |
Expressions
TAML evaluates expressions very similar to the C programming language.
Truthy is not 0, and every operator returning a boolean value will always return 1 or 0.
Supported operators are:
| Operator | C equivalent | Name | On Strings | On Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
+ plus
|
+
|
Plus | concatenates | adds |
- minus
|
-
|
Minus | errors | subtracts |
* multiplied
|
*
|
Asterisk | error | multiplies |
/ divided
|
/
|
Slash | concatenates and inserts the systems directory slash (/, \ ...)
|
divides |
equals
|
==
|
Equals | truthy if both strings are the same | truthy if both numbers are the same |
greater
|
>
|
Greater | errors | truthy if left is greater than right |
less
|
<
|
Less | errors | truthy if left is less than right |
not
|
!
|
Not | errors | turns truthy to falsy and vice versa |
and
|
&&
|
And | errors | truthy if left and right are truthy |
or
|
||
|
Or | errors | truthy if left or right are truthy |
xor
|
^
|
Exclusive Or | errors | truthy if left or right, but not both are truthy |
Note: Not can be used to invert the operator that follows.
1 not equals 2 # truthy 1 not greater 2 # same as C's <= 1 not plus 2 # 1 - 2 => -1 not not 1 # 1
The opposite of And is Or. Exclusive Or's opposite is Equals.
Answers
Answers are just as the Event optional and can be left out.
The syntax looks like this:
{OPTION} QUESTION
After the Event of an Question is finished, a list of all Answers gets printed and the user has to pick one. Starting with index 1.
Special cases:
| OPTION empty? | QUESTION empty? | Only Answer? | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| yes | no | yes | Asks QUESTION after the Event |
| no | yes | no | Exits the program when picked |
| yes | yes | yes | Exits the program after the Event |
Examples
Not enough? Add some lol!
Hello, World!
[HELLO_WORLD] Hello, World!
Cat program
[CAT] <input -> foo> $foo
Infinite cat program
[CAT]
<input -> foo>
$foo
{} CAT
Interpreters
None!