Var'aq

var'aq is a programming language based loosely upon the grammatical structure of the Klingon language. It was created as part of a speculative exercise in imagining what the computer culture of the fictional Klingon race might be like, and was created by Brian Connors and Chris Pressey c. 2000.

The language is a stack-based language based loosely on PostScript, with aspects of the Lisp language added for handling data structures.

The following keywords are currently supported:

Control Structures

• ifyes/HIja'chugh
• ifno/ghobe'chugh
• choose/wIv
• ~ (quote/lI'moH)
• name/pong
• set/cher
• repeat/vangqa'
• eval/chov

Stack Operations

• pop/woD
• dup/latlh
• exch/tam
• clear/chImmoH
• remember/qaw
• forget/qawHa'

Arithmetic Operators

• add/boq
• sub/boqHa'
• mul/boq'egh
• div/boqHa'egh
• mod/chuv
• pow/law'qa'moH
• rand/mIS
• add1/wa'boq
• sub1/wa'boqHa'
• pi/HeHmI'
• e/ghurmi'
• clip/poD
• smooth/Hab
• howmuch/'ar

Trig/Log operators

• sin/joq
• cos/joqHa'
• tan/qojmI'
• atan/qojHa'
• ln/ghurtaH

Relational Operators

• All relational operators have been implemented. Thanks to j proctor for null?/pagh'a', negative?/taH'a', int?/HabmIa', and number/mIa'.

I/O Operators

• The var'aq I/O model remains to be defined, but the basic console I/O functions are now present.

List Operators

• All list operators are now available

String Operators

• strtie/tlheghrar
• streq?/tlheghrap'a'
• strcut/tlhleghpe'
• strmeasure/tlheghjuv
• compose/naQmoH

tlhIngan Hol has names for the numbers and there are also pIqaD (the Klingon writing system) versions of those numbers:

||pagh|| wa'|| cha'|| wej|| loS|| vagh|| jav|| Soch|| chogh|| Hut|| wa'maH||
||0   || 1  || 2   || 3  || 4  || 5   || 6  || 7   || 8    || 9  || 10    ||

Sample Program

Name: hello, world
Dialect: English
Version: 5 June 2000
Comments: Not the canonical var'aq "hello, world";
          actually prints "What do you want, universe?" in Klingon

~ nuqneH { ~ 'u' ~ nuqneH disp disp } name
nuqneH

External links

• Documentation and a var'aq interpreter
• Writing Klingon Characters