Clockwork

Clockwork

Clockwork is an esoteric programming language based on the concept of a multi-register mechanical machine (a Turing-complete Minsky register machine). It breaks away from Brainfuck's linear tape and embraces direct, named control over distinct geometric "cogs" (registers).

Language Specification

Memory consists of infinitely many 32-bit unsigned integer registers accessed by their integer ID (0, 1, 2...). The machine maintains a Selected Cog, which focuses on one register at a time. All operations happen on the currently selected register.

Instructions

Command	Argument	Action
COG	[N]	Set focus to Register N.
SET	[V]	Set the selected register's value to V.
WIND		Increment the selected register by 1.
UNWIND		Decrement the selected register by 1.
CONNECT	[N]	Add the value of Register N to the selected register.
CHIME		Output the selected register's value as an ASCII character.
RING		Output the selected register's value as an integer string.
READ		Read one ASCII character from input into the selected register.
MARK	[Label]	Define a jump target label.
SPRING	[Label]	Jump to [Label] if the selected register is NOT 0.
FALL	[Label]	Jump to [Label] if the selected register IS 0.

Syntax Rules

• Instructions and arguments are separated by whitespace.
• Comments are denoted by # and can appear anywhere on a line.
• Labels can be any string without whitespace.

Example

A simple Hello World in hello.clk:

COG 0
SET 72
CHIME
SET 101
CHIME
# ... etc

See examples/ for more complex demonstrations: fibonacci.clk rings the first ten Fibonacci numbers, and factorial.clk computes 5! = 120 with nested gear trains (multiplication by repeated CONNECT).