287 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
287 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
# Thun
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A Dialect of Joy.
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Version 0.5.0
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> Simple pleasures are the best.
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[Joy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_%28programming_language%29) is a
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programming language created by Manfred von Thun that is easy to use and
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understand and has many other nice properties. **Thun** is a dialect of
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Joy that attempts to stay very close to the spirit of Joy but does not
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precisely match the behaviour of the original version written in C. It
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started as a Python project called "Joypy", but after someone claimed that
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name on PyPI before me I renamed it to Thun in honor of Manfred Von Thun.
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Now there are interpreters implemented in several additional languages
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(C, Nim, Prolog, Rust).
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Joy is:
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* [Purely Functional](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purely_functional_programming)
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* [Stack-based](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack-oriented_programming_language)
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* [Concatinative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concatenative_programming_language)
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(See also [concatenative.org](http://www.concatenative.org/wiki/view/Concatenative%20language))
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* [Categorical](https://joypy.osdn.io/notebooks/Categorical.html)
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The best source (no pun intended) for learning about Joy is the
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information made available at the
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[website of La Trobe University](http://www.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/research/research-projects/past-projects/joy-programming-language)
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| [(mirror)](https://www.kevinalbrecht.com/code/joy-mirror/)
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which contains source code for the original C interpreter, Joy language source code for various functions,
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and a great deal of fascinating material mostly written by Von Thun on
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Joy and its deeper facets as well as how to program in it and several
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interesting aspects. It's quite a treasure trove.
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* [Wikipedia entry for Joy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_%28programming_language%29)
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* [Homepage at La Trobe University](http://www.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/research/research-projects/past-projects/joy-programming-language)
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[(Kevin Albrecht's mirror)](https://www.kevinalbrecht.com/code/joy-mirror/)
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* [The original Thun/Joypy site](https://web.archive.org/web/20220411010035/https://joypy.osdn.io/)
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## Example Code
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Here is an example of Joy code. This function `square_spiral` accepts
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two integers and increments or decrements one of them such that the new
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pair of numbers is the next coordinate pair in a square spiral (like the
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kind used to construct an [Ulam Spiral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulam_spiral)).
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For more information see [Square Spiral Example Joy Code](https://joypy.osdn.io/notebooks/Square_Spiral.html).
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square_spiral [_p] [_then] [_else] ifte
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_p [_p0] [_p1] &&
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_p0 [abs] ii <=
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_p1 [<>] [pop !-] ||
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_then [ !-] [[++]] [[--]] ifte dip
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_else [pop !-] [--] [++] ifte
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It might seem unreadable but with familiarity it becomes as legible as any other notation.
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## Project Hosted on [SourceHut](https://git.sr.ht/~sforman/Thun)
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* [Source Repository](https://git.sr.ht/~sforman/Thun)
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([mirror](https://github.com/calroc/Thun))
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* [Bug tracker](https://todo.sr.ht/~sforman/thun-der)
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([old tracker](https://osdn.net/projects/joypy/ticket/))
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* [Forums](https://osdn.net/projects/joypy/forums/)
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* [Mailing list](https://osdn.net/projects/joypy/lists/)
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## Documentation
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This document describes Joy in a general way below, however most of the
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documentation is in the form of [Jupyter Notebooks](https://joypy.osdn.io/notebooks/index.html)
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that go into more detail.
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**[Jupyter Notebooks](https://joypy.osdn.io/notebooks/index.html)**
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There's also a [Function Reference](https://git.sr.ht/~sforman/Thun/tree/trunk/item/docs/reference) that lists each
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function and combinator by name and gives a brief description. (It's
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usually out of date, I'm working on it.)
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**[Function Reference](https://git.sr.ht/~sforman/Thun/tree/trunk/item/docs/reference)**
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### Building the Docs
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Run `make` in the `docs` directory. (This is a lie, it's more complex than
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that. Really you need to run (GNU) make in the `docs/notebooks` and
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`docs/reference` dirs first, _then_ run `make` in the `docs` directory.)
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## Directory structure
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Thun
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|-- LICENSE - GPLv3
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|-- README.md - this file
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|-- archive
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| |-- Joy-Programming.zip
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| `-- README
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|-- docs
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| |-- dep-graphs - Generated dependency graphs.
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| |-- html - Generated HTML docs.
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| |-- notebooks - Jupyter Notebooks and supporting modules
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| `-- reference - Docs for each function.
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|-- implementations
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| |-- defs.txt - common Joy definitions for all interpreters
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| |-- C - interpreter
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| |-- GNUProlog - interpreter
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| | type inference
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| | work-in-progress compiler
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| |-- Nim - interpreter
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| |-- Ocaml - work-in-progress interpreter
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| `-- Python - interpreter
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`-- joy_code - Source code written in Joy.
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`-- bigints
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`-- bigints.joy
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## Installation
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Clone the repo and follow the instructions in the individual
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`implementations` directories. There isn't really any installation. You
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can put the binaries in your ``PATH``.
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(I had the Python package set up to upload to PyPI as "Thun", but the
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whole Python distribution story seems unsettled at the moment (2023) so
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I've gone back to the *old ways*: there is a single script ``joy.py``
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that gets modified (``defs.txt`` is inserted) to create a ``joy`` script
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that uses the "shebang" trick to pretend to be a binary. In other words,
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run ``make`` and put the resulting ``joy`` script in your PATH, if that's
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what you want to do. In a year or two the Python folks will have sorted
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things out and we can go back to ``pip install Thun`` or whatever.)
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## Basics of Joy
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The original Joy has several datatypes (such as strings and sets)
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but the Thun dialect currently only uses four:
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* Integers, signed and unbounded by machine word length (they are
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[bignums](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrary-precision_arithmetic).)
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* Boolean values ``true`` and ``false``.
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* Lists quoted in `[` and `]` brackets.
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* Symbols (names).
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Joy is built around three things: a __stack__ of data items, an __expression__
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representing a program to evaluate, and a __dictionary__ of named functions.
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### Stack
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Joy is [stack-based](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack-oriented_programming_language).
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There is a single main __stack__ that holds data items, which can be integers, bools,
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symbols (names), or sequences of data items enclosed in square brackets (`[` or `]`).
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We use the terms "stack", "quote", "sequence",
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"list", and others to mean the same thing: a simple linear datatype that
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permits certain operations such as iterating and pushing and popping
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values from (at least) one end.
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> In describing Joy I have used the term quotation to describe all of the
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> above, because I needed a word to describe the arguments to combinators
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> which fulfill the same role in Joy as lambda abstractions (with
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> variables) fulfill in the more familiar functional languages. I use the
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> term list for those quotations whose members are what I call literals:
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> numbers, characters, truth values, sets, strings and other quotations.
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> All these I call literals because their occurrence in code results in
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> them being pushed onto the stack. But I also call [London Paris] a list.
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> So, [dup *] is a quotation but not a list.
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From ["A Conversation with Manfred von Thun" w/ Stevan Apter](http://archive.vector.org.uk/art10000350)
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### Expression
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A Joy __expression__ is just a sequence or list of items. Sequences
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intended as programs are called "quoted programs". Evaluation proceeds
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by iterating through the terms in an expression putting all literals
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(integers, bools, or lists) onto the main stack and executing functions
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named by symbols as they are encountered. Functions receive the current
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stack, expression, and dictionary and return the next stack, expression,
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and dictionary.
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### Dictionary
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The __dictionary__ associates symbols (names) with Joy expressions that
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define the available functions of the Joy system. Together the stack,
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expression, and dictionary are the entire state of the Joy interpreter.
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### Interpreter
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The Joy interpreter is extrememly simple. It accepts a stack, an
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expression, and a dictionary, and it iterates through the expression
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putting values onto the stack and delegating execution to functions which
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it looks up in the dictionary.
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All control flow works by
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[Continuation Passing Style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation-passing_style).
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__Combinators__ (see below) alter control flow by prepending quoted programs to the pending
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expression (aka "continuation".)
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-------------------------------
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From here it kinda falls apart...
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### Literals and Simple Functions
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TODO
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### Combinators
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The main loop is very simple as most of the action happens through what
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are called __combinators__. These are functions which accept quoted programs on the
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stack and run them in various ways. These combinators reify specific
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control-flow patterns (such as `ifte` which is like `if.. then.. else..` in other
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languages.) Combinators receive the current
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expession in addition to the stack and return the next expression. They
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work by changing the pending expression the interpreter is about to
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execute. (The combinators could work by making recursive calls to the
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interpreter and all intermediate state would be held in the call stack of
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the implementation language, in this joy implementation they work instead
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by changing the pending expression and intermediate state is put there.)
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joy? 23 [0 >] [dup --] while
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23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
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### Core Words
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This is the *basis* set of functions, the rest of functions in the Thun
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dialect of Joy are defined in terms of these:
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branch
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dip
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i
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loop
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clear
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concat
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cons
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dup
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first
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pop
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rest
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stack
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swaack
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swap
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truthy
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inscribe
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+ - * / %
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< > >= <= != <> =
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lshift rshift
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--------------------------------------------------
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Copyright © 2014 - 2023 Simon Forman
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This file is part of Thun
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Thun is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
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terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
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Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any
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later version.
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Thun is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
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WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
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FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
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details.
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You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
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with Thun. If not see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
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