A Lisp in 99LOC (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

108 pointsshikaan7mo ago26 comments

26 comments

Holy cow this is —structurally, not just expression— some of the worst C code I have ever seen, with the abuse of the 'double' type, 'T' cast that looks like a declaration, endian dependency, and strict aliasing violations galore… does this even work on a modern compiler? o.O

omoikane7mo ago

It does not, because there is a syntax error on line 81 (extra close parenthesis):

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/blob/2d0fb35b...

Y_Y7mo ago

Brought to you by this marvellous commit with the message "update",

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/commit/40c6c0...

f1shy7mo ago

Certainly not the worst I have seen, by far; but yes, not pretty. IMHO “Just for making it shorter“. I would very much prefer 200 lines of actually readable nice code.

sevensor7mo ago

For reading, I enjoyed fe, which was very clear: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36239175

1 more reply

OhMeadhbh7mo ago

Yeah. It's munged to fit in 99 lines.

eqvinox7mo ago

That's besides my point, which is why I said "structure, not just expression".

It could've used a struct rather than wedging tags into a double's first byte and still be 99 lines.

3 more replies

messe7mo ago

Surpringly readable though, despite all that, if you've ever implanted a language in similar constraints.

messe7mo ago

*implemented.

Too late to edit now.

OhMeadhbh7mo ago

Previously:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32100035

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32095655

and

* https://BI6.US/CO/N/20250420.HTML#/042402

lisper7mo ago

Lisp in ~100 lines of Python:

https://flownet.com/ron/l.py

f1shy7mo ago

Or from the venerable: https://norvig.com/lispy.html

ginko7mo ago

Can’t you just “import lisp”?

lisper7mo ago

Um, no?

    Python 3.11.6 (v3.11.6:8b6ee5ba3b, Oct  2 2023, 11:18:21) [Clang 13.0.0 (clang-1300.0.29.30)] on darwin
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> import lisp
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
    ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lisp'

nivertech7mo ago

A better starting point:

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/blob/main/tin...

jhbadger7mo ago

It's interesting that he seems to have written this for a pocket computer, because there actually was a pocket computer of similar vintage that had LISP built in -- 1989's Casio AI-1000

https://pockemul.com/index.php/2020/04/27/pockemul-1-10-0-ne...

forgotpwd167mo ago

>C code in this project is strongly Lisp-like in compact form

Kinda reminds me J-flavored Whitney's one-page J interpreter.

mark_l_watson7mo ago

The commented longer program listing was fun to read.

coderatlarge7mo ago

can it execute the y-combinator?

f1shy7mo ago

I’m pretty sure does not handle TCO… so probably not, unless with a huge stack.

gbacon7mo ago

See tinylisp-extras.c for TCO.

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/blob/2d0fb35b...

spyrja7mo ago

It doesn't appear to, but you could always add this to the included common.lisp file:

  (define Y (lambda (f) (lambda args ((f (Y f)) . args))))

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

26 comments

eqvinox7mo ago

omoikane7mo ago

It does not, because there is a syntax error on line 81 (extra close parenthesis):

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/blob/2d0fb35b...

Y_Y7mo ago

Brought to you by this marvellous commit with the message "update",

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/commit/40c6c0...

f1shy7mo ago

Certainly not the worst I have seen, by far; but yes, not pretty. IMHO “Just for making it shorter“. I would very much prefer 200 lines of actually readable nice code.

sevensor7mo ago

For reading, I enjoyed fe, which was very clear: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36239175

1 more reply

OhMeadhbh7mo ago

Yeah. It's munged to fit in 99 lines.

eqvinox7mo ago

That's besides my point, which is why I said "structure, not just expression".

It could've used a struct rather than wedging tags into a double's first byte and still be 99 lines.

3 more replies

messe7mo ago

Surpringly readable though, despite all that, if you've ever implanted a language in similar constraints.

messe7mo ago

*implemented.

Too late to edit now.

OhMeadhbh7mo ago

Previously:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32100035

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32095655

and

* https://BI6.US/CO/N/20250420.HTML#/042402

lisper7mo ago

Lisp in ~100 lines of Python:

https://flownet.com/ron/l.py

f1shy7mo ago

Or from the venerable: https://norvig.com/lispy.html

ginko7mo ago

Can’t you just “import lisp”?

lisper7mo ago

Um, no?

    Python 3.11.6 (v3.11.6:8b6ee5ba3b, Oct  2 2023, 11:18:21) [Clang 13.0.0 (clang-1300.0.29.30)] on darwin
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> import lisp
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
    ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'lisp'

nivertech7mo ago

A better starting point:

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/blob/main/tin...

jhbadger7mo ago

It's interesting that he seems to have written this for a pocket computer, because there actually was a pocket computer of similar vintage that had LISP built in -- 1989's Casio AI-1000

https://pockemul.com/index.php/2020/04/27/pockemul-1-10-0-ne...

forgotpwd167mo ago

>C code in this project is strongly Lisp-like in compact form

Kinda reminds me J-flavored Whitney's one-page J interpreter.

mark_l_watson7mo ago

The commented longer program listing was fun to read.

coderatlarge7mo ago

can it execute the y-combinator?

f1shy7mo ago

I’m pretty sure does not handle TCO… so probably not, unless with a huge stack.

gbacon7mo ago

See tinylisp-extras.c for TCO.

https://github.com/Robert-van-Engelen/tinylisp/blob/2d0fb35b...

spyrja7mo ago

It doesn't appear to, but you could always add this to the included common.lisp file:

  (define Y (lambda (f) (lambda args ((f (Y f)) . args))))

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse