Tree-walking interpreter implementation of santa-lang, written in TypeScript.
santa-lang is a functional, expression-oriented programming language designed for solving Advent of Code puzzles. This TypeScript implementation provides a tree-walking interpreter.
Key language features:
- First-class functions and closures with tail-call optimization
- Pipeline and composition operators for expressive data flow
- Persistent immutable data structures
- Lazy sequences and infinite ranges
- Pattern matching with guards
- Rich built-in function library
- AoC runner with automatic input fetching
Multiple runtime targets are available: CLI and AWS Lambda.
Source Code → Lexer → Parser → Evaluator → Result
↓
Environment (Scopes)
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Lexer | Tokenizes source into keywords, operators, literals |
| Parser | Builds an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) |
| Evaluator | Tree-walking interpreter that executes the AST |
| Environment | Manages variable bindings and closures across scopes |
For detailed implementation internals, see ARCHITECTURE.md.
docker pull ghcr.io/eddmann/santa-lang-prancer:cli-latest
docker run --rm ghcr.io/eddmann/santa-lang-prancer:cli-latest --helpDownload pre-built binaries from GitHub Releases:
| Platform | Artifact |
|---|---|
| Linux (x86_64) | santa-lang-prancer-cli-{version}-linux-amd64 |
| Linux (ARM64) | santa-lang-prancer-cli-{version}-linux-arm64 |
| macOS (Intel) | santa-lang-prancer-cli-{version}-macos-amd64 |
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | santa-lang-prancer-cli-{version}-macos-arm64 |
Lambda layer available: santa-lang-prancer-lambda-{version}.zip
# Run a solution
santa-cli solution.santa
# Run tests defined in a solution
santa-cli -t solution.santa
# Evaluate inline code
santa-cli -e '1 + 2'
# Interactive REPL
santa-cli -rHere's a complete Advent of Code solution (2015 Day 1):
input: read("aoc://2015/1")
part_one: {
input |> fold(0) |floor, direction| {
if direction == "(" { floor + 1 } else { floor - 1 };
}
}
part_two: {
zip(1.., input) |> fold(0) |floor, [index, direction]| {
let next_floor = if direction == "(" { floor + 1 } else { floor - 1 };
if next_floor < 0 { break index } else { next_floor };
}
}
test: {
input: "()())"
part_one: -1
part_two: 5
}
Key language features shown:
input:/part_one:/part_two:- AoC runner sections|>- Pipeline operator (thread value through functions)fold- Reduce with early exit support viabreaktest:- Inline test cases with expected values
Requires Bun or use Docker:
# Install dependencies
make lang/install
make cli/install
# Run tests
make lang/test
make cli/test
# Build CLI binaries
make cli/build
# Build web application
make web/build
# Build Lambda layer
make lambda/buildRun make help to see all available targets:
make help # Show all targets
make shell # Interactive shell in Docker build environment
make lang/test # Run language tests
make cli/test # Run CLI tests
make cli/build # Build CLI binaries
make web/build # Build web application
make lambda/build # Build Lambda layer├── src/
│ ├── lang/ # Core language library
│ │ ├── lexer/ # Tokenization
│ │ ├── parser/ # AST construction
│ │ ├── evaluator/ # Tree-walking interpreter
│ │ └── runner/ # AoC runner support
│ ├── cli/ # Command-line interface
│ ├── web/ # Web application (Next.js)
│ └── lambda/ # AWS Lambda runtime
└── examples/ # Example AoC solutions
The language has been implemented multiple times to explore different execution models and technologies.
| Codename | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|
| Comet | Tree-walking interpreter | Rust |
| Blitzen | Bytecode VM | Rust |
| Dasher | LLVM native compiler | Rust |
| Donner | JVM bytecode compiler | Kotlin |
| Vixen | Embedded bytecode VM | C |
| Prancer | Tree-walking interpreter | TypeScript |
| Name | Description | Language |
|---|---|---|
| Workbench | Desktop IDE | Tauri/React |
| Tinsel | Code formatter | Zig |
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.
