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176 points sirbread | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.323s | source

i made an esoteric programming language which i call spellscript. every program is a "spell" written in a "grimoire," and you have to use keywords like summon, enchant, inscribe, and conjure.

it's literally read like a spellbook because the syntax consists of all natural language, and newlines are optional. your code can now be an essay, like everybody wants!

for example, if you want to print something, you'd write: `begin the grimoire. inscribe whispers of "hello, world!". close the grimoire.`

it has variables, dynamic typing, arrays, functions, conditionals, loops, string manipulation, array manipulation, type conversion, and user input, among other (listed in the docs!)

but why? i wanted to see how far you could push natural language syntax while still being parseable. most esolangs are intentionally obtuse (BF, Malbolge), but i wanted something that's weird but readable, like you're reading instructions from a spellbook, which makes it incredibly easy to read and understand. like an anti-esolang? hmm...

github: https://github.com/sirbread/spellscript

docs: https://github.com/sirbread/spellscript/blob/main/resources/...

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egypturnash ◴[] No.45558620[source]
This reads like a vague idea of a spellbook from someone who has never even looked at a caricature of a grimoire, let alone a real one.

I think you should read some actual grimoires before developing this further. I suggest the Picatrix or the PGM as starting points. Maybe a copy of 777 as well.

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1. poolhead45 ◴[] No.45560886[source]
Abstraction is at the core of programming. I get your point — but obsessive adherence to baroque complexity has rarely been the M.O. of computer science in rational circles. More often, an elegant simplification that captures the essence has sufficed.

That said, perhaps something like this would be more thematically appropriate:

'O Master of sublime name and great power, O Saturn: Cold, Sterile, Mournful, Pernicious; Sage and Solitary, Impenetrable and Sure; Thou who knowest no joy, bringest prosperity or ruin, deceivest wisely, judgest truly— I conjure thee, Supreme Father, by thy bounty and ancient cunning, to do as I ask: print("hello world")'