Welcome to the Aurora programming language!

Aurora is a very simple interpreted stack-based language to start my exploration of how programming languages work. When writing this language, I was inspired by the syntax of BASIC as well as some assembly instructions. As this is a very simple language, not much can be done in it, but to see some use cases, check out our examples below!

What am I doing next?

My next step is to add a couple more commands to this language, and then I'll probably convert the Python version into a C/C++ implementation. Then, I'll start working on creating a compiled language using C/C++ (idk which one yet)

Quick Reference

START & END → Required at the beginning and end of the Aurora file

PUSH {value} → Pushes a number to the top of the stack

POP → Discards the top element of the stack

SWAP → Swap the top two elements of the stack

CLEAR → Remove all elements from the stack

ADD → Removes the top two elements of the stack, adds them, and inserts the result onto the stack

SUB → Removes the top two elements of the stack, subtracts the top from the number underneath it, and inserts the result onto the stack

MUL → Removes the top two elements of the stack, multiplies them, and inserts the result onto the stack

DIV → Removes the top two elements of the stack, divides the one underneath by the top, and inserts the result onto the stack

MOD → Removes the top two elements of the stack, divides the one underneath by the top, and inserts the remainer onto the stack

DISPLAY {value} → Prints the specified value. Can print the top of the stack, entire stack, or a string

READ → Gets an integer input from the user and inserts it onto the top of the stack

EQ → Inserts a 1 to the top of the stack if the current top two values are equal (otherwise, 0 is inserted)

NEQ → Inserts a 0 to the top of the stack if the current top two values are not equal (otherwise, 1 is inserted)

GT → Inserts a 1 to the top of the stack if the current top value is greater than the value of the item below it (otherwise, 0 is inserted)

LT → Inserts a 1 to the top of the stack if the current top value is less than the value of the item below it (otherwise, 0 is inserted)

AND → Performs an AND operation on the top two elements of the stack and inserts the result

OR → Performs an OR operation on the top two elements of the stack and inserts the result

NOT → Performs a NOT operation on the top element of the stack and inserts the result

INC → Increments the top element of the stack

DEC → Decrements the top element of the stack

JUMP {line num} → Jumps to the specified line number

JZ {line num} → Jumps to the specified line number if the top element of the stack is 0

JNZ {line num} → Jumps to the specified line number if the top element of the stack is not 0

Examples/Documentation

Addition

Code

START

PUSH 5
PUSH 10
ADD
DISPLAY 5 + 10 = 
DISPLAY TOP

END

Output

5 + 10 = 
15

Subtraction

Code

START

PUSH 8
PUSH 16
SUB
DISPLAY 8 - 16 = 
DISPLAY TOP

END

Output

8 - 16 =
-8

Note that subtraction takes the topmost number in the stack and subtracts it from the number underneath it.

Multiplication

Code

START

PUSH 12
PUSH 5
MUL
DISPLAY 12 * 5 = 
DISPLAY TOP

END

Output

12 * 5 =
60

Division

Code

START

PUSH 18
PUSH 4
DIV
DISPLAY 18 / 4 = 
DISPLAY TOP

END

Output

18 / 4 =
4.5

Note that division takes the second item down in the stack and divides it by the top item Also, trying to divide by 0 will cause an error

Modulus

Code

START  

PUSH 11  
PUSH 4  
MOD  
  
DISPLAY 11 % 4 =  
DISPLAY TOP  
  
END

Output

11 % 4 = 
3

Note that modulus takes the second item down in the stack, divides it by the top item, and returns the remainder Also, trying to mod by 0 will cause an error

Removing items from the stack

Code

START

PUSH 5
DISPLAY STACK
POP
DISPLAY STACK

END

Output

[5]
[]

The pop command simply takes the top item of the stack and discards it

Comments

A comment is a line of text solely for the programmer to read. It is completely ignored by the interpreter.

// This is a comment

Comments are denoted by two forward slashes