International Phonetic Esoteric Language

WIP

Also known as IPEL. An esoteric, stack-based programming language based around IPA symbols. 100% not associated with the IPA.

Basic Information

IPEL uses a single stack to store and handle information. All instructions push to the stack after executing.

Types that can go onto this stack are Numbers and Strings.

Each instruction can have arguments and return values.

Code is read using an instruction pointer iterating through the code left to right. This instruction pointer can jump backwards or forwards though the program based on the instructions read and the stack.

Types

There are 2 types in IPEL: Numbers and Strings.

Numbers

Numbers can be integers or floats. Numbers also represent boolean values: 0 and negative values are falsy, and positive values are truthy.

Number literals can only be pushed in a single digit from 0-9. Additional manipulation will be needed to input larger numbers.

Strings

Strings are just sequences as characters. These are delimited by <>. Strings are always truthy and equal to 1.

Instructions

Arguments and Returns

Arguments are always taken from the stack via implicit popping. Any instruction can have any number of arguments, which will be noted below.

All instructions return output to the stack. If an instruction has no return value, it does nothing after execution. For instructions that return multiple values, the return values are pushed sequentially (if an instruction returns a,b, it will push a, then b).

Instructions

Literal-related

Character	Returns	Comment
0-9	number	0-9 → STACK
<c>	string	Push the string into the stack, left to right, as their ASCII/Unicode values

Uvulars: String operations

Uvulars represent various string operations.

Character	Arguments	Returns	Comment
q	string a, b	ab	Concatenation.
ɢ	string a	number	String length. Will peek at the stack, and return the length of the top element when converted to a string.
ʀ	string a	numbers	Converts a string to their numeric value; pushes character by characters.
ʁ	string a	strings	Splits a string into its individual characters. Will be pushed into the stack in reverse order (first character on top)
ɴ	string a, number b	string	Returns the character at that location, 0-indexed.
χ	number a	string	Converts from a number to a character, based on its ASCII/Unicode value.

Dentals, Alveolars, Postalveolars: Mathematics

Dentals, alveolars, and postaveolars represent mathematical instructions. These are always read from left to right. They all return to STACK.

Character	Arguments	Returns	Comment
t	number a, b	a + b	Addition
d	number a, b	a - b	Subtraction
θ	number a, b	a * b	Multiplication
ð	number a, b	a / b	Division; will return 0 if b == 0.
n	number a, b	a % b	Modulo
ʃ	number a, b	a ^ b	Exponent; Base a, exponent b
ʒ	number a, b	log a (b)	Logarithm; Base a, exponent b
s	number a, b	a >> b	Bit shift a to the right b bits
z	number a, b	a << b	Bit shift a to the left b bits
r	number a, b	a AND b	Bitwise AND
ɾ	number a, b	a OR b	Bitwise OR
ɹ	number a, b	a XOR b	Bitwise XOR
l	number a	NOT a	Bitwise NOT
ɬ	number a	-a	Inverts the sign of a.
ɮ	number a	round(a)	Rounds a to the nearest integer

Retroflexes: Comparisons and Logical Operators

Retroflex consonants represent comparisons. They (almost) always take 2 arguments. For all instructions, ASCII order is used for strings. Empty strings are always last.

Character	Arguments	Returns	Comment
ʈ	a, b	a > b	Returns 1 if true, 0 if false.
ɖ	a, b	a < b	Returns 1 if true, 0 if false.
ʂ	a, b	a >= b	Returns 1 if true, 0 if false.
ʐ	a, b	a <= b	Returns 1 if true, 0 if false.
ɳ	a, b	a == b	Returns 1 if true, 0 if false.
ɽ	a, b	a and b	Logical AND. Returns 1 if both arguments are truthy, 0 otherwise.
ɻ	a, b	a or b	Logical OR. Returns 1 if either argument is truthy, 0 otherwise.
ɭ	a	not a	Logical NOT. Returns 1 if the argument is falsy, 0 otherwise.

Palatals: Stack Utilities

Palatals represent various stack utilities.

Character	Arguments	Returns	Comment
c	a		Pop and discard the top element of the stack.
ɟ		a	Copy the top element of the stack.
ɲ			Swap the top and bottom elements of the stack.
ç		number	Pushes the number of elements in the stack.
ʝ	number	a	Pushes the number-th element from the bottom.
j	number		Rotates the stack number elements towards the bottom.
ʎ			Sorts the stack. Numbers go before strings.

I/O

Character	Arguments	Returns	Comment
ɪ		number a	Waits for STDIN, then pushes a number to the stack. Will convert any characters to their ASCII/Unicode values.
i		string a	Waits for STDIN, then pushes the string to the stack.
o	a		Prints a to STDOUT. Prints a string.

Control Flow

Some vowels are used as flow control. Certain pairs of vowels are used as delimiters for the flow control structures.

Character	Structure	Comment
ɑ ɒ	Truthy-Jump	On ɒ, pop the stack. If the stack is truthy, jump to the nearest ɑ.
ɘ e	Falsy-Jump	On e, pop the stack. If the stack is falsy, jump to the nearest ɘ.
ɐ	Jump	Pop the stack. Jumps to the a-th instruction, 0-indexed and ceil(a)-ed. If a is a string, will jump to the beginning.
ɛ ə ɜ	If-Else	On ɛ, pop the stack. If truthy, execute the code immediately after up to ə, then jump to ɜ. Otherwise, jump to ə and execute to ɜ and continue.
œ ɶ	Loop	On œ, pop a from the stack. If truthy and a number, execute the code inside ceil(a) times, jumping from ɶ to œ. Otherwise, jump to ɶ