LOLCODE, the LOLCat Programming Language

Cat at computer: “I can has programming language?”

The moment Anil Dash published his now-famous blog entry on the grammar used by lolcats, Cats Can Has Grammar, the door to studies that were equal parts silly and serious was opened. Not to be content with mere lexical and semiotic analysis of lolcats, some folks have taken it to the next level: the LOLCODE programming language.

LOLCODE is your standard Algol-style programming language (Algol is the grandfather of just about every popular current programming language) married to the lolcat captioning style — that is, ALL CAPS and I CAN HAS SILLY CAT GRAMMER AND SPELING KTHXBYE.

Here’s HAI WORLD, the LOLCODE version of “Hello, World!”:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYE

Here’s something that outputs the numbers 1 through 10, a classic beginner’s exercise:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
I HAS A VAR
IM IN YR LOOP
	UP VAR!!1
	VISIBLE VAR
	IZ VAR BIGGER THAN 10? KTHXBYE
IM OUTTA YR LOOP
KTHXBYE

And finally, here’s a program to print the contents of a specified file:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"?
	AWSUM THX
		VISIBLE FILE
	O NOES
		INVISIBLE "ERROR!"
KTHXBYE

If someone’s working on an IDE for this language, I have very important stylistic advice: it should make heavy use of the Impact font, just like all those lolcat captions. Bonus points if it’s Impact with a white fill and black stroke!

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Comments (12)

  1. Steve C wrote::

    I’m sure its the only Computer Language where the nested exception handling, designed to allow your running executable to have nine lives before abnormal termination. Just stay alert and be careful how you move that mouse while programming in it. (lol)

    Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 2:50 pm #
  2. arcane wrote::

    More Golden Words from Gooey … well done :)

    Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 4:05 pm #
  3. ginny wrote::

    Can we has debuggerr now? Huzban need for werkz. Awsum win!!1!

    Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 11:22 pm #
  4. Bernd Haug wrote::

    I WANTS TEH EXECPTIONS!!!1!

WHOA LOOK
 PLZ OPEN FILE "INPUTS HEREE!" I WANTS INPUTS
OOOOPS!!!1! I FAILS
 INVISIBLE "UGH :("
 KTHXBYE
FOR WINS
 VISIBLE TEH INPUTS
SO WHATEVER
 CLOES INPUTS
KTHXBYE

    Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 3:24 pm #
  5. Bernd Haug wrote::

    Ur blog is in my commentz killin my indents!!1!

    Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 3:25 pm #
  6. Joey deVilla wrote::

    @Bernd: I added <code> and <pre> tags to the code in your comment, so now YOU CAN HAS INDENTZ!!1!!1!

    Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 6:59 pm #
  7. Rohan Jayasekera wrote::

    You are no longer permitted to make me laugh so hard. It hurts.

    Sunday, June 3, 2007 at 1:39 am #
  8. The Virtual One wrote::

    MY BOOBIES IS IN UR FACE

    /that is all

    Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 12:08 am #
  9. Michael Cogle wrote::

    I’m studying LOLCODE at cambridge in my second year.

    Monday, February 4, 2008 at 9:47 am #
  10. heheh wrote::

    errorz in ur 1-10 exapmlez meow:)

    Friday, April 4, 2008 at 1:46 am #
  11. john locke wrote::

    omgzwtfs?
    you spells BYE teh wrongs…

    i you wants make “KTHXBAI”
    ;) -ciaoooo

    KTHXBAI

    Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 5:04 pm #
  12. Diane wrote::

    At last! A programming language I understand :)
    Thanks for the smiles!

    Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 11:38 pm #