Wierd
Wierd is a graphical language developed by Chris Pressey, Ben Olmstead, and John Colagioia, in 1997.
Etymology
The name "Wierd," commonly mistaken for a spelling error or a typo, actually comes from a fusing of the words "weird" and "wired." It is often pronounced like the English word "wired", but with extra stress or lengthening of the diphthong, so that it sounds more like "why-eared" ([ˈwaɪ.iɹd] or [ˈwaɪ.ʔiɹd]).
Syntax and Semantics
In Wierd, there are only two symbols: whitespace and everything else. Non-whitespace characters are followed in lines (starting in the top left corner, going southeast), and when a turn needs to be made to keep on the line, an instruction is executed, based on the angle that the turn required. In the following table, from the spec, it is not clear if these angles are meant to be turns to the left (counterclockwise) or to the right (clockwise); however, the first interpreter running on the first example program suggests that they are turns to the left.
0 degrees NO: No operation, continue as normal.
45 degrees P1: Push a data value of 1 onto the stack.
90 degrees IF: Pop the stack. If the value is zero, continue
executing as normal. If the value is nonzero,
however, reverse direction.
135 degrees GP: Pop the stack. If the value is zero, pops the next
two items from the stack, retrieves (gets) the
value stored at the coordinates specified by these
values (x, then y), and push it onto the stack. If
the first value was nonzero, however, takes the
value stored below the coordinates on the stack,
and stores (puts) it at the coordinates.
180 degrees QU: Jump the gap, if possible. Otherwise, terminate.
225 degrees IO: Pop the stack. If the value is zero, read a
character from input, pushing it onto the stack.
If the value was nonzero, pop the stack, and print
the value to output as a character.
270 degrees IF: See 90 degrees. Included for flexibility.
315 degrees SB: Subtract the top of the stack from the value
beneath it, popping both values, and pushing the
result.
(from the Wierd spec).
According to John Colagioia, it was not supposed to be legal to cross wires, but several Wierd programs are in circulation that rely on this.
Wierd was inspired by Brainfuck and Befunge.