LOLCODE is an esoteric programming language heavily inspired by Internet memes and Internet slang expressions such as LOL. The language is not (yet) clearly defined in terms of operator priorities and correct syntax, but several parsers do exist.
Syntax edit
LOLCODE is written in heavily compressed English Internet slang, and a person who understands this slang can often understand a LOLCODE programme without prior experience. Here follows a Hello world programme.
HAI
BTW IZ HUGS TIEM EVRY CATURDAY
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "Hello world!"
KTHXBYEIn all LOLCODE programmes, HAI introduces the program and KTHXBYE terminates it. BTW denotes a comment, making the parser ignore the rest of the line. CAN HAS is a library/file inclusion statement, that is ignored in current implementations of LOLCODE. VISIBLE prints "Hello world!" to the screen.
Other commands include I HAS A variable for declaring variables, LOL variable R value for assigning them. To send error messages to the front end you use INVISIBLE instead of VISIBLE.
Loops are created with IM IN YR label, and ended with KTHX. Loops lack counters or conditions, and thus do not cease inherently. They must be manually broken with the GTFO command.
Future Goals edit
Since the LOLCODE language is still very young, and in heavy development, a list of future goals has been created. This list is general, but does not necessarily mean the whole community is behind them.
- LOLCODE needs to be approachable.
- LOLCODE needs to be fun, both to code in, and to read the code of (if it's not fun, then the community is doing something wrong).
- LOLCODE should be teaching language.
- LOLCODE should be a clean, and kid safe.
{{compu-prog-stub}} {{web-stub}} [[Category:Esoteric programming languages|LOLCODE]]