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0 Kelxquoia
1 =========
2
3 Kelxquoia is an esoteric programming language designed by Chris Pressey on
4 December 23, 2010. It is a self-modifying, in fact self-*destroying*,
5 language which combines grid-rewriting with remotely fungeoid playfield
6 traversal.
7
8 Program State
9 -------------
10
11 There is an instruction pointer (IP) with a location and a direction in an
12 unbounded, two-dimensional Cartesian grid of symbols. As the IP passes over
13 symbols, it executes them and erases them from the playfield (overwrites
14 them with blanks). The program ends when the IP travels off into space, never
15 to return.
16
17 There is a stack. The stack may contain objects of two types, grids and rows.
18 Instructions expect certain types of objects to be present on the stack; if
19 the types are incorrect, or insufficient elements are on the stack, the
20 instruction has no effect. (That means that the state of the stack, too, is
21 unchanged by the instruction.)
22
23 Instructions
24 ------------
25
26 If the IP passes over any symbol _x_, and there is a `'` symbol to the right
27 of the IP's line of travel, a row is popped from the stack, the symbol _x_ is
28 appended (to the rightmost position) of that row, and the new row is pushed
29 back onto the stack. The symbol _x_ is erased, but the `'` is not.
30
31 The instruction `-` pushes an empty row onto the stack.
32
33 The instruction `+` pushes an empty grid onto the stack.
34
35 The instruction `*` pops a row, pops a grid, appends the row to the bottom of
36 the grid, then pushes the new grid. Note that the left-hand edges of every
37 row in a grid line up, but their right-hand edges need not do that. When
38 considered as a grid, all unused squares in the grid are considered to contain
39 blanks.
40
41 The instruction `?` pops a row from the stack, appends a wildcard to it, and
42 pushes the new row back onto the stack.
43
44 The instruction `/` pops a grid called the _replacement_, then pops a grid
45 called the _pattern_, then replaces all non-overlapping occurrences of the
46 pattern in the playfield with the replacement. All overlapping occurrences
47 are untouched, to avoid ambiguity. A few things to note:
48
49 * The replacement must not be any larger than the pattern. If it is, the
50 two grids remain popped but the instruction otherwise has no effect.
51 * If the replacement is smaller than the pattern, it is padded with blanks
52 (to the bottom and to the right.)
53 * There can be at most one wildcard in the pattern. If there are no
54 wildcards in the pattern, there should be none in the replacement. If
55 either of these conditions does not hold, the two grids remain popped
56 but the instruction otherwise has no effect.
57 * Any symbol in the playfield may match the wildcard in the pattern.
58 Where-ever there is a wildcard in the replacement, the symbol that matched
59 the wildcard in the pattern is substituted instead.
60 * If the executed `/` instruction itself is replaced by something during
61 this process, whatever it was replaced with will not be erased.
62 * If the pattern consists only of blanks, or only wildcards, the
63 implementation may choose to halt the program rather than filling the
64 entire playfield with replacement.
65
66 The instructions `>`, `<`, `^`, and `v` cause the IP to begin travelling east,
67 west, north, and south, respectively.
68
69 The instruction `!` clears the stack.
70
71 Executing any other symbol as an instruction has no effect.
72
73 The symbol `$` indicates the initial position of the IP. The initial
74 direction of the IP is always east. If there are multiple `$` symbols in the
75 source code, it is an error and the program is not executed.
76
77 Computational Class
78 -------------------
79
80 The author believes Kelxquoia to be Turing-complete because:
81
82 * Repeated use of the `/` instruction can be used to implement
83 non-overlapping grid-rewriting, which can simulate an arbitrary Turing
84 machine; see below.
85 * Assuming all instructions that have been erased after execution can be
86 restored, the IP can travel in a loop, to indefinitely apply the `/`
87 rewrites.
88 * Instructions that have been erased after execution can be restored by
89 further rewrites of a certain, fixed form.
90 * To effect a conditional halt, a critical direction-changing instruction
91 can be selectively not restored to the playfield.
92
93 ### Simulating a Turing Machine with non-Overlapping Grid-Rewriting ###
94
95 In this section we show how a Turing machine can be simulated with
96 grid-rewriting where we can match only non-overlapping instances of a pattern.
97 (The addition of wildcards does not add any computational power, but does add
98 some expressivity, as it can reduce the number of rewrites that need to be
99 made.) The tape symbols of our machine will be the digits `0`-`9`, and the
100 states of the finite control will be labeled with the lowercase letters
101 `a`-`z`. In addition we will use the `.` symbol to depict whitespace, for
102 clarity.
103
104 We can depict each tape cell with the following 2x2 grid of symbols:
105
106 0T
107 T+
108
109 We arrange the tape cells horizontally in the playfield, and we make sure
110 there is only one such tape:
111
112 0T0T1T2T3T0T0T
113 T+T+T+T+T+T+T+
114
115 We have rewriting rules that extend the tape in either direction, as needed:
116
117 ?T.. -> ?T0T
118 T+.. T+T+
119
120 ..?T -> 0T?T
121 ..T+ T+T+
122
123 We situate the tape head directly below the cell of the tape we wish to
124 affect, and again we make sure there is only one such head. The tape head
125 looks like the following 2x2 grid:
126
127 aH
128 HN
129
130 The upper-left corner contains the finite control label, and the lower-right
131 corner contains a "movement indicator". When the head is ready to move, the
132 movement indicator is changed, and we have the following two rewrite rules
133 implement the move:
134
135 ?H.. -> ..?H
136 HR.. ..HN
137
138 ..?H -> ?H..
139 ..HL HN..
140
141 Now, for each transition rule in the Turing machine, we can compose a
142 grid-rewriting rule which implements it. For example, "In state `f`, if
143 there is a `5` on the tape, write a `7` and move left" corresponds to the
144 rule:
145
146 5T -> 7T
147 T+ T+
148 fH fH
149 HN HL
150
151 From this description it should be fairly evident that this both simulates a
152 Turing machine (not quite arbitrary, but certainly with sufficient symbols
153 and states to be universal) and that the non-overlapping condition poses no
154 obstacle (if the tape and head are arranged as described, these patterns will
155 never match overlapping instances of the playfield).
156
157 Examples
158 --------
159
160 The following example replaces the words `WOW` and `POP`, at the bottom of
161 the program, with `BOB` and `MOM`:
162
163 $+-W*-P*+-B*-M*/
164 ' ' ' '
165 WOW
166 POP
167
168 The state of the playfield at the end of the program would be:
169
170 $
171 ' ' ' '
172 BOB
173 MOM
174
175 The following example rewrites some stuff then restores the instructions that
176 did the rewriting:
177
178 +-0 0*+-1*/+-?*-R*- *+-?*-R*-?*/
179 RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRR
180 $+-0 0*+-1*/+-?*-R*- *+-?*-R*-?*/
181 ' ' ' ' ' '
182
183 00 00 00 00
184
185 The following example extends the previous example to an infinite loop:
186
187 >+-0 0*+-1*/+-?*-R*- *+-?*-R*-?*/v
188 RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
189 $>+-0 0*+-1*/+-?*-R*- *+-?*-R*-?*/v
190 ' ' ' ' ' '
191 ' ' '
192 ^ /*?-*P-*?-+*?-*P-* -+ <
193 P PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP PP P
194 ^ /*?-*P-*?-+*?-*P-* -+ <
195
196 00 00 00 00
197
198 Acknowledgements
199 ----------------
200
201 The contents of this document were taken from the Kelxquoia article on the
202 esolangs.org wiki, which is in the public domain.