LOLCODE Tutorial

LOLCODE Tutorial

NOTE: This tutorial is meant only to make an introduction to this language. This will cover LOLCODE 1.2.

The topics:

Introduction:

LOLCODE is an esoteric programming language(esolang) inspired by lolspeak, the language expressed in examples of the lolcat Internet meme. The language was created in 2007 by Adam Lindsay, researcher at the Computing Department of Lancaster University. It is also called a weirdlanguage.

This programming language was made as some sort of joke, so it has no actual use if not, just the fun of it.The language is not clearly defined in terms of operator priorities and correct syntax, but several functioning interpreters and compilers exist.

LOLCODE is a easy to learn programming language if you're used to internet memes or with common abbreviations.

The extensions of a LOLCODE program are .lol or .lols .

Comments:

To add a comment to a LOLCODE code, one must use the keyword BTW.

Example:

BTW zis iz a coment

Multiline comments are also allowed.

Example:

OBTW wow such comment
very multyline
much clear!
many explanation
much grammar
TLDR

Identation is mandatory.

Comments can be placed anywhere in a code except the parameter area of a function.

Data types:

The data types are:

Integers: NUMBR
Strings: YARN
Floats: NUMBAR
Booleans: TROOF
Arrays: BUKKIT (are reserved for future expansion)

HAI WORLD! ^

Let's create our first classic "Hello world" program. In order to do that, we'll first type a few things, every LOLCODE program HAS to have: (colored in red)

HAI 1.2
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!" BTW outputs HAI WORLD
KTHXBYE

Try it yourself

The 1.2 after the first HAI is there to specify the version of LOLCODE we are using.

To output something one writes VISIBLE before it. If it is a YARN(string) then it has to be written between "".

Variables: ^

Let's define some variables:

I HAS A THING BTW THING is null THING R "THREE" BTW THING is now a YARN and equals "THREE" THING R 3 BTW THING is now a NUMBR and equals 3

Another way of defining variables.

I HAS A THING ITZ 12 BTW THING=12

Getting user input: ^

To get user's input we use the GIMMEH .

Example:

   HAI 1.2

                 CAN HAS STDIO?

                 GIMMEH a_thing

                 KTHXBYE

Try it yourself

Conditionals and loops: ^

In LOLCODE a boolean is equal to WIN (true) or FAIL (false)

BOTH OF x [AN] y BTW and: WIN iff x=WIN, y=WIN EITHER OF x [AN] y BTW or: FAIL iff x=FAIL, y=FAIL WON OF x [AN] y BTW xor: FAIL if x=y NOT x BTW unary negation: WIN if x=FAIL ALL OF x [AN] y ... MKAY BTW infinite arity AND ANY OF x [AN] y ... MKAY BTW infinite arity OR

Where x and y in the expression syntaxes above are automatically cast as TROOF values if they are not already so.

Comparisons:

  BOTH SAEM x AN y   BTW x==y

                 BOTH SAEM x AN BIGGR OF x AN y   BTW x >= y

                 BOTH SAEM x AN SMALLR OF x AN y  BTW x <= y

                 DIFFRINT x AN SMALLR OF x AN y   BTW x > y

                 DIFFRINT x AN BIGGR OF x AN y    BTW x < y

Where x and y NUMBR or NUMBAR.

Conditionals:

(expression) O RLY? YA RLY (code block) NO WAI (code block) OIC


        Case:

WTF? OMG (value literal) BTW case 1 (code block) [OMG (value literal) BTW case 2 (code block) ...] [OMGWTF BTW if none of the cases correspond, this will be executed (code block)] OIC

Loops:

The loops are like this:

IM IN YR (label) (operation) YR (variable) [TIL|WILE (expression)] (code block) IM OUTTA YR (label)

To increment or to decrement we use UPPIN (increment by one) and NERFIN (decrement by one). To increment with more than 1 we use UPZ COUNT!! and we specify the value.

Example: UPZ COUNT!!4

Example: let's print 10 times "Iz Caturday an am very seriouz".

HAI 1.2 CAN HAS STDIO? IM IN YR loop UPZ COUNT!!1 VISIBLE "Iz Caturday an am very seriouz" IZ COUNT BIGR THAN 10?, GTFO, KTHX, OIC IM OUTTA YR LOOP KTHXBYE

Notice the GTFO keyword which is the equivalent of break; in other languages. Notice that we close the "if" with the OIC keyword.

Notice that we used commas to separate multiple keywords.

Math: ^

In order to perform mathematical operations we have to use keywords again because implementing the classical +,- etc... operators will result in an error.

SUM OF x AN y BTW + DIFF OF x AN y BTW - PRODUKT OF x AN y BTW * QUOSHUNT OF x AN y BTW / MOD OF x AN y BTW modulo or % BIGGR OF x AN y BTW max SMALLR OF x AN y BTW min

Where x and y are NUMBR or NUMBAR. If at lest one of x or y is a NUMBAR then the result will be a NUMBAR otherwise it will be a NUMBR.

Useful resources and more infos:

Official website.
Another tutorial
Wikipedia page.

Similar to this:

ArnoldC
LOL-python

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