tiny lento v0.1

this is a temporary repository for use while i complete work on the interpreter and will be moved to the main repo upon completion.

tiny lento is a minimalist, speakable, and rigorously deterministic programming language.
version 0.1 represents the frozen core specification for the language architecture, built on principles of maximum clarity and predictable flow.

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philosophy: speakable code, zero precedence

tiny lento is engineered for audibility.
the design rejects symbolic noise, replacing it with word-ops such as ad for add and xs for multiply.
the code should sound like a set of direct instructions when read aloud.

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key tenets

deterministic evaluation

evaluation is strictly left-to-right, with no operator precedence.
any operational grouping must be achieved explicitly by calling functions.

symmetry (nt-closure law)

every block keyword has a mirrored closing keyword, enforcing clear scope boundaries.
this is known as the nt-closure law, for example:

fn ... ntfn
whlp ... ntwhlp
if ... ntif

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core language features (v0.1)

the v0.1 specification defines the lexical, control flow, and functional primitives of tiny lento.

lexical structure

• space-delimited tokens
• strings wrapped in double periods ..text..
• booleans: tr and nttr

assignment and equality

the word et (equal) serves a dual purpose:

• assignment: when used in statements — x et 5
• equality: when used inside expressions — a et b

control blocks

structured keywords define flow and scope:

if / iffy  — conditional chains
whlp       — while
unlp       — until
dolp       — do-while
folp       — for (range or collection)

folp handles inclusive ranges start to end [by step] or iteration over collections.

functions

function definitions use fn ... ntfn.
they support positional arguments, defaults via et, and variadic capture using nm et restname.

flow control

built-in directives enable controlled reversal of program flow:

• revfile — reverse token parsing for the entire file
• retro — reverse ast execution

these allow intentional, predictable manipulation of execution order.

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documentation structure

this repository contains the definitive technical documentation for the tiny lento language.

document	focus
00_overview.md	high-level philosophy and architectural goals
01_syntax.md	lexing rules and the complete list of reserved words
05_grammar.md	readable ebnf-style grammar definition
08_cheatsheet.md	quick command reference for syntax and ops

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tiny lento is minimal by design.
its clarity comes not from what it adds, but from what it refuses to need.

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© 2025 Travis Halsey (aka "travtherobber")
This document is part of the TinyLento Documentation project.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/