Stack programming language

BookOwl

Stack 1.1 has been released. Please see the end of this post for details.
Introduction
As you can probably tell from the title, this topic is about my new programming language, Stack. Stack is a stack-oriented programming language that is written in Reverse Polish notation.

Before I can show you Stack, you need to know what a stack-oriented programming language is.

Wikipedia wrote:
A stack-oriented programming language is one that relies on a stack machine model for passing parameters.
Stack-oriented programming languages operate upon one or more stacks, each of which may serve different purposes. Because of this, programming constructs in other programming languages may need to be modified for use in a stack-oriented programming language. Adding to this, some stack-oriented programming languages operate in Reverse Polish or postfix notation - that is, the arguments or parameters for some command are stated before the actual command itself. For example, in RPN, one would say “2, 3, multiply” instead of “multiply, 2, 3” (prefix or Polish notation) or “2 multiply 3” (infix notation).

For more information, please see the wikipedia page on Stack-oriented programming language. Now that that's out of the way, I can show how Stack works.

Tutorial
Here is a simple “Hello, World!” program written in Stack:

"Hello, World" print

Let's break this down. Stack operates on tokens, which come in two types: Literals and Operators. There are 4 different types of literals.

Strings
Numbers
Bools
and
Names

“Hello, World!” is a string. 5 and 3.14159 and -6 are numbers. true and false are the only two bools. Anything else that isn't a operator is a name, such as x or pi.
When Stack encounters a literal, all that it does is put it on the stack until an operator pops it off.

Operators
An operator performs an action. There are 22 built-in operators. Most operators work by popping token(s) off the stack, perform an action or calculation, and then push the result(s) back onto the stack. For example, the * operator pops two tokens from the stack, multiplies them, and then pushes the result onto the stack. The print operator works simerly, it pops a token from the stack annd then prints it. It does not push any tokens onto the stack.
A list of operators and a description of each can be found here.

So, when stack executes

"Hello, World" print

, it

Pushes the “Hello, World!” string token to the stack.
Runs the print operator which pops the “Hello, World!” token and prints it.
There are no tokens left, so the program is done.

Examples:
This section includes example Stack programs. If you have one, please post it and I may add it here!

PLEASE NOTE:
You MUST have a space at the end of each line of text in order for Stack to know where one token ends and another begins. If you do not have the spaces, you will have very weird errors.

Factorial Calculator:

"Factorial Calculator" print 
"Enter a number" input 
number 
in set 
1 c set 
1 r set 
39 
c get in get 1 + = if goto 
r get c get * r set 
c get 1 + c set 
15 goto 
in get string " factorial is " concat r get string concat print

@Zatnic made a

short choose your own adventure type thing:

98 ending set 
"***THE STACK STORY***" print 
"By someone awesome" print 
23 goto 
o1 o2 msg get " / Enter option number:" concat input "1" = if pop get goto 
"Hi, This is ***THE STACK STORY*** / 1: Do something / 2: Stack is cool" msg set 
34 o1 set 45 o2 set 10 goto 
"You go do something; what do you do? / 1: Fly through a cloud! / 2: Read a story" msg set 
56 o1 set 23 o2 set 10 goto 
"Well, this is a story about HTML!!! / 1: Realistic HTML / 2: Unrealistic HTML" msg set 
67 o1 set 71 o2 set 10 goto 
"OK, how do you fly? / 1: In an airplane / 2: Duh, I'm a fairy; I fly with my wings" msg set 
82 o1 set 86 o2 set 10 goto 
"HyperText Markup Language, commonly referred to as HTML, is the standard markup language used to create web pages --Wikipedia" ending get goto 
"An HTML page woke up, and <blink>ed its <i>s / 1: Use CSS instead of <blink> / 2: OK, continue" msg set 
90 o1 set 94 o2 set 10 goto 
"You get in an airplane and go to fly through a cloud, but unfortunately, the cloud is taking a walk!" ending get goto 
"You flutter over to a nearby cloud and say, 'Hi, Cloudy! Can I fly through you?' / Cloudy looks affirmative in a cloudy sort of way, and you fly through!" ending get goto 
"Fine, the page <style>i {animation-duration: 1s;animation-name: blink;animation-iteration-count: 3;animation-timing-function: step-ending;}@keyframes blink {from {opacity: 1;}50% {opacity: 0;}to {opacity: 1;}}</style>ed its <i>s" ending get goto 
"Then the user closed the tab and the page died" ending get goto 
" / END" concat input "I said, 'END' / The story's over!" input ending get 3 + goto

Version 1.1 Changes:
Everything that I said above is still true, however version 1.1 added several new features including:

The Stack Extension Protocol, a way to extend the language.
The Stack API, a simple way to run Stack code from anywhere in a project and get it's result.
Help on setting up a Stack Language Environment, a personalized execution environment containing a user's version of the Stack Language, his/hers extensions, and other data.

For more info on these features please see the notes page on the latest Stack release.

Links:
Stack: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/65692742/
Stack Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SwdhFJw_odmBCcUfCe1zcq7N8u-kQ7mPdzyrSQczGXM/edit?usp=sharing
Stack Studio: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/1327736/
Stack Change Log: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/67819620/

Please tell me what you think!

Last edited by BookOwl (Aug. 27, 2015 16:25:28)

al-x

You might consider changing the name because Stack is the name for a Scratch 1.4 mod. Link to old Scratch forums page for Stack

blob8108

al-x wrote:
You might consider changing the name because Stack is the name for a Scratch 1.4 mod

I wouldn't worry about it; it's been a long time, and people are unlikely to confuse the two

BookOwl

blob8108 wrote:
al-x wrote:
You might consider changing the name because Stack is the name for a Scratch 1.4 mod
I wouldn't worry about it; it's been a long time, and people are unlikely to confuse the two

Ok

BookOwl

Stack 1.1 has been released!

Please see the first post for details.

NoMod-Programming

BookOwl wrote:
Stack 1.1 has been released! Please see the first post for details.

Awesome!!!

Zatnik

I made a (very short) choose your own adventure type thing:

98 ending set 
"***THE STACK STORY***" print 
"By someone awesome" print 
23 goto 
o1 o2 msg get " / Enter option number:" concat input "1" = if pop get goto 
"Hi, This is ***THE STACK STORY*** / 1: Do something / 2: Stack is cool" msg set 
34 o1 set 45 o2 set 10 goto 
"You go do something; what do you do? / 1: Fly through a cloud! / 2: Read a story" msg set 
56 o1 set 23 o2 set 10 goto 
"Well, this is a story about HTML!!! / 1: Realistic HTML / 2: Unrealistic HTML" msg set 
67 o1 set 71 o2 set 10 goto 
"OK, how do you fly? / 1: In an airplane / 2: Duh, I'm a fairy; I fly with my wings" msg set 
82 o1 set 86 o2 set 10 goto 
"HyperText Markup Language, commonly referred to as HTML, is the standard markup language used to create web pages --Wikipedia" ending get goto 
"An HTML page woke up, and <blink>ed its <i>s / 1: Use CSS instead of <blink> / 2: OK, continue" msg set 
90 o1 set 94 o2 set 10 goto 
"You get in an airplane and go to fly through a cloud, but unfortunately, the cloud is taking a walk!" ending get goto 
"You flutter over to a nearby cloud and say, 'Hi, Cloudy! Can I fly through you?' / Cloudy looks affirmative in a cloudy sort of way, and you fly through!" ending get goto 
"Fine, the page <style>i {animation-duration: 1s;animation-name: blink;animation-iteration-count: 3;animation-timing-function: step-ending;}@keyframes blink {from {opacity: 1;}50% {opacity: 0;}to {opacity: 1;}}</style>ed its <i>s" ending get goto 
"Then the user closed the tab and the page died" ending get goto 
" / END" concat input "I said, 'END' / The story's over!" input ending get 3 + goto

BookOwl

Zatnik wrote:

I made a (very short) choose your own adventure type thing:

98 ending set 
"***THE STACK STORY***" print 
"By someone awesome" print 
23 goto 
o1 o2 msg get " / Enter option number:" concat input "1" = if pop get goto 
"Hi, This is ***THE STACK STORY*** / 1: Do something / 2: Stack is cool" msg set 
34 o1 set 45 o2 set 10 goto 
"You go do something; what do you do? / 1: Fly through a cloud! / 2: Read a story" msg set 
56 o1 set 23 o2 set 10 goto 
"Well, this is a story about HTML!!! / 1: Realistic HTML / 2: Unrealistic HTML" msg set 
67 o1 set 71 o2 set 10 goto 
"OK, how do you fly? / 1: In an airplane / 2: Duh, I'm a fairy; I fly with my wings" msg set 
82 o1 set 86 o2 set 10 goto 
"HyperText Markup Language, commonly referred to as HTML, is the standard markup language used to create web pages --Wikipedia" ending get goto 
"An HTML page woke up, and <blink>ed its <i>s / 1: Use CSS instead of <blink> / 2: OK, continue" msg set 
90 o1 set 94 o2 set 10 goto 
"You get in an airplane and go to fly through a cloud, but unfortunately, the cloud is taking a walk!" ending get goto 
"You flutter over to a nearby cloud and say, 'Hi, Cloudy! Can I fly through you?' / Cloudy looks affirmative in a cloudy sort of way, and you fly through!" ending get goto 
"Fine, the page <style>i {animation-duration: 1s;animation-name: blink;animation-iteration-count: 3;animation-timing-function: step-ending;}@keyframes blink {from {opacity: 1;}50% {opacity: 0;}to {opacity: 1;}}</style>ed its <i>s" ending get goto 
"Then the user closed the tab and the page died" ending get goto 
" / END" concat input "I said, 'END' / The story's over!" input ending get 3 + goto

COOL! I will add that to the examples.

Jonathan50

Very cool!

liam48D

Jonathan50 wrote:
Very cool!

Very necro!

Jonathan50

liam48D wrote:
Jonathan50 wrote:
Very cool!
Very necro!

Oops!

ChocolatePi

liam48D wrote:
Jonathan50 wrote:
Very cool!
Very necro!

necro-
combining form
prefix: necro-

relating to a corpse or death.
“necromancy”

ev3coolexit987654

BookOwl wrote:

@Zatnic made a

short choose your own adventure type thing:

98 ending set 
"***THE STACK STORY***" print 
"By someone awesome" print 
23 goto 
o1 o2 msg get " / Enter option number:" concat input "1" = if pop get goto 
"Hi, This is ***THE STACK STORY*** / 1: Do something / 2: Stack is cool" msg set 
34 o1 set 45 o2 set 10 goto 
"You go do something; what do you do? / 1: Fly through a cloud! / 2: Read a story" msg set 
56 o1 set 23 o2 set 10 goto 
"Well, this is a story about HTML!!! / 1: Realistic HTML / 2: Unrealistic HTML" msg set 
67 o1 set 71 o2 set 10 goto 
"OK, how do you fly? / 1: In an airplane / 2: Duh, I'm a fairy; I fly with my wings" msg set 
82 o1 set 86 o2 set 10 goto 
"HyperText Markup Language, commonly referred to as HTML, is the standard markup language used to create web pages --Wikipedia" ending get goto 
"An HTML page woke up, and <blink>ed its <i>s / 1: Use CSS instead of <blink> / 2: OK, continue" msg set 
90 o1 set 94 o2 set 10 goto 
"You get in an airplane and go to fly through a cloud, but unfortunately, the cloud is taking a walk!" ending get goto 
"You flutter over to a nearby cloud and say, 'Hi, Cloudy! Can I fly through you?' / Cloudy looks affirmative in a cloudy sort of way, and you fly through!" ending get goto 
"Fine, the page <style>i {animation-duration: 1s;animation-name: blink;animation-iteration-count: 3;animation-timing-function: step-ending;}@keyframes blink {from {opacity: 1;}50% {opacity: 0;}to {opacity: 1;}}</style>ed its <i>s" ending get goto 
"Then the user closed the tab and the page died" ending get goto 
" / END" concat input "I said, 'END' / The story's over!" input ending get 3 + goto

:O PERFECT

Jonathan50

ChocolatePi wrote:
liam48D wrote:
Jonathan50 wrote:
Very cool!
Very necro!
necro-
combining form
prefix: necro-

relating to a corpse or death.
“necromancy”

Necromancer is a character from J.R.R Tolkein's The Hobbit.
Necroposting is then posting on a ‘dead’ topic where the discussion has ended, not an old topic.

liam48D

Jonathan50 wrote:
ChocolatePi wrote:
liam48D wrote:
Jonathan50 wrote:
Very cool!
Very necro!
necro-
combining form
prefix: necro-

relating to a corpse or death.
“necromancy”
Necromancer is a character from J.R.R Tolkein's The Hobbit.
Necroposting is then posting on a ‘dead’ topic where the discussion has ended, not an old topic.

i am sensei

WooHooBoy

This is pretty great! I'd like to see comments added, and XOR and binary ops and stuff.

Will you consider making this is a different language other that Scratch?

gtoal

WooHooBoy wrote:
This is pretty great! I'd like to see comments added, and XOR and binary ops and stuff.

Will you consider making this is a different language other that Scratch?

Just download an implementation of forth…

BookOwl

Thanks to everybody who has complimented this! It means a lot!

WooHooBoy wrote:
This is pretty great! I'd like to see comments added, and XOR and binary ops and stuff.

Will you consider making this is a different language other that Scratch?

I am actually porting Stack to Python right now! I am adding several new features, including:

Better control flow tools. Now more half working if statements or gotos!
User-defined functions! YAY!!!
Better boolean Ops
And more!

I still need to add a few things, like lists and comments. I'll add binary operators to the list.

Once I finish and have a free afternoon, I will put this up on Github and you guys can try it out.

WooHooBoy

BookOwl wrote:
Thanks to everybody who has complimented this! It means a lot!
WooHooBoy wrote:
This is pretty great! I'd like to see comments added, and XOR and binary ops and stuff.

Will you consider making this is a different language other that Scratch?
I am actually porting Stack to Python right now! I am adding several new features, including:
Better control flow tools. Now more half working if statements or gotos!
User-defined functions! YAY!!!
Better boolean Ops
And more!
I still need to add a few things, like lists and comments. I'll add binary operators to the list.
Once I finish and have a free afternoon, I will put this up on Github and you guys can try it out.

I actually started my won Python port too :p

BookOwl

Stack 2.0 Status Update!
I have completed a working prototype compiler/interpreter for Stack 2.0. I still need to add some more built-in functions, but it should be done soon!
Here are some example programs and their output:

HelloWorld.stack

'Hello, World!' print
'Nice to meet you, '
'Who are you? ' input
concat
print

The output (User input is italic):

Hello, World!
Who are you? Bob
Nice to meet you, Bob

Please note that my name is not Bob!
Here is another, more complicated example:

factorial.stack

'Factorial Calculater' print
{ 'Enter a number ' input num n set
{ dup 1 = not { dup 1 - fact call * } if } fact def
n get fact call 
'The factorial of' print n get print 'is' print print prog call } prog def
prog call

The output:

Factorial Calculater
Enter a number 5
The factorial of
5.0
is
120.0
Enter a number 20
The factorial of
20.0
is
2.43290200817664e+18
Enter a number done
<program exits>

Both of these programs actually run in the prototype interpreter.

Discuss Scratch