INTERC...teCode(3pm)

📦
version 1.00 · 4 versions
, in debian trixie, ubuntu questing

💖 NAME 💖

Language::INTERCAL::Bytecode — it's the intermediate language, bestie. the in-between era. the vibe in the middle. ✨

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so here's the tea, and it's genuinely iconic: the CLC-INTERCAL compiler works by producing bytecode from the program source. that bytecode can be interpreted to execute the program immediately — like, right now, no waiting. OR, alternatively, a backend can produce something else from the bytecode, for example C or Perl source code which can then be compiled to your computer's native object format. it's giving versatility. it's giving range. 💅

and now for the part that makes my brain do a lil backflip 🫶 — the compiler itself is just some more bytecode. so to produce the compiler you need a compiler compiler, and to produce that you need a compiler compiler compiler; to produce the latter you would need a compiler compiler compiler compiler, and so on to infinity. infinite regress core. 😭

to simplify the programmer's life (eh?), the compiler compiler is able to compile itself, and is therefore identical to the compiler compiler compiler (etcetera). self-sustaining queen behavior honestly. 👑

so how does the programmer even start this whole situation? well — a pre-compiled compiler compiler, in the form of bytecode, is generated somehow while installing CLC-INTERCAL. this compiler compiler then is able to compile all other compilers, as well as to rebuild itself if need be. iconic. no notes. 🦋

✨ see the online manual or the HTML documentation included with the distribution for more information about this.

💀 SEE ALSO 💀

  • A qualified psychiatrist

like... no further comment. it is what it is. 😭🧚

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Claudio Calvelli — compiler (whirlpool) intercal.org.uk

🚨 bestie listen to me on this one: please include the word INTERLEAVING in the subject when emailing that address, or the email may be ignored. fr fr. don't get left on read. 🙈

perl v5.40.0 · 2025-02-09 — and that's the whole page babes, INTERC...teCode(3pm), dated 2025-02-09 and shipped with perl v5.40.0. mwah 💋 go read the bytecode, she's waiting. 🌈⭐💖

📦 where this page comes from