bloa-src

A minimalist interpreter for the bloa scripting language.

Features

• Variables and expressions (arithmetic, logic, comparison)
• Control flow: if/else, while, for-in, repeat
• Functions with parameters
• Classes with methods and inheritance (extends)
• Modules: use for importing, require for including files
• Built-in functions: print, range, len, str, int, float, append
• Lists, strings, numbers, booleans
• I/O: say (print), ask (input)
• Exception handling: try/except
• Standard library in stdlib/ (math, io, string)

Syntax Examples

Variables and Expressions

x = 42
y = x + 10
say "Result: " + str(y)

Functions

function greet(name) {
  say "Hello, " + name
}

greet("World")

Classes and Inheritance

class Animal {
  function speak(self) {
    say "Animal sound"
  }
}

class Dog extends Animal {
  function speak(self) {
    say "Woof!"
  }
}

d = Dog()
d.speak()

Modules

use math;
say "Square root of 4: " + str(sqrt(4))

Standard Library

The standard library is built-in and automatically available, providing functions without requiring external files:

Math Functions

• sqrt(x): Square root
• pow(base, exp): Power
• sin(x), cos(x), tan(x): Trigonometric functions
• log(x), exp(x): Logarithm and exponential
• abs(x): Absolute value
• floor(x), ceil(x), round(x): Rounding functions
• pi(), e(): Mathematical constants

I/O Functions

• read_file(path): Read file content as string
• write_file(path, content): Write string to file
• exists(path): Check if file/directory exists
• list_dir(path): List directory contents as list of strings
• mkdir(path): Create directory
• rmdir(path): Remove directory
• remove(path): Remove file
• copy_file(from, to): Copy file
• move(from, to): Move/rename file
• file_size(path): Get file size in bytes
• is_dir(path): Check if path is a directory

String Functions

• len(s): String length (built-in)
• split(s, delim): Split string by delimiter
• join(list, sep): Join list of strings with separator
• substr(s, start, len?): Substring
• find(s, sub): Find substring position
• replace(s, old, new): Replace all occurrences
• to_upper(s), to_lower(s): Case conversion
• trim(s): Remove leading/trailing whitespace
• starts_with(s, prefix): Check if string starts with prefix
• ends_with(s, suffix): Check if string ends with suffix
• contains(s, sub): Check if string contains substring
• reverse(s): Reverse string
• repeat(s, n): Repeat string n times

Utility Functions

• random_int(max) or random_int(min, max): Random integer
• random_float(max) or random_float(min, max): Random float
• now(): Current timestamp in milliseconds

All functions are available globally.

say "Square root of 16: " + str(sqrt(16))
say "Pi value: " + str(pi())
say "Uppercase: " + to_upper("hello")

Building

mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
cmake --build .

To create Debian packages for amd64 and i386 (requires multilib tools):

# amd64
mkdir -p package_amd64/DEBIAN package_amd64/usr/local/bin
cp build/bloa package_amd64/usr/local/bin/
# edit control fields then
chmod 0755 package_amd64/DEBIAN
sudo dpkg-deb --build package_amd64 bloa_0.2.0-alpha_amd64.deb

# i386 (after installing g++-multilib libc6-dev-i386)
rm -rf build32 && mkdir build32 && cd build32
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-m32 -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-m32 ..
cmake --build .
mkdir -p package_i386/DEBIAN package_i386/usr/local/bin
cp bloa ../package_i386/usr/local/bin/
# edit control & build
chmod 0755 package_i386/DEBIAN
sudo dpkg-deb --build package_i386 bloa_0.2.0-alpha_i386.deb
# all architecture (use when you just want a generic package, e.g. containing
# scripts or the prebuilt binary for the current host; the package is marked
# "Architecture: all" so dpkg will install it regardless of machine type)
mkdir -p package_all/DEBIAN package_all/usr/local/bin
# copy whatever payload makes sense; we'll just include amd64 binary here as an
# example, but you can replace it with a shell wrapper or source archive
cp build/bloa package_all/usr/local/bin/
cat > package_all/DEBIAN/control <<'EOF'
Package: bloa
Version: 0.2.0-alpha
Section: utils
Priority: optional
Architecture: all
Maintainer: bloa <noreply@local>
Description: bloa language runtime (architecture independent "all" package)
EOF
chmod 0755 package_all/DEBIAN
sudo dpkg-deb --build package_all bloa_0.2.0-alpha_all.deb```

## Releases

A GitHub Actions workflow (`.github/workflows/release.yml`) builds both architectures and packages `.deb` files when a tag is pushed.