scl/README.md

SCL: Simple CAS Language

v1.0

SCL aims to be a human-friendly Computer Algebra System (CAS) inspired by maxima that feels like writing on paper. In its current state, SCL can be used as a functional programming language capable of performing simple arithmetic. The codebase is about 2,400 lines of handwritten C, including a parser, interpreter, and runtime. It uses a linked environment scoping model.

Usage

To download and run:

git clone https://git.signorovitch.org/scl/scl -b stable && cd scl
make release
./scl.out

Syntax

SCL's syntax will feel familiar to other functional programming languages.

> x = 3 + 3 * 3; x + 1
= 13
> f(x) x + 1
> f(1)
= 2
> \x, y 2 * x + y $ (2, 3)
= 7
> f(g) g(2)
> f(\x 2 * x)
= 4

Here's a simple factorial function, using recursion:

> fac(n) = {
>   f(n, a) = {
>     if n == 1
>       a
>     else
>       f(n - 1, a * n);
>   }
>
>   f(n, 1);
> }

SCL's syntax is quite flexible. The above function could be more concisely written as:

> fac(n) (n, 1) -> f(n, a) ? n == 1 a f(n - 1, a * n)