LATERALUS

What Is Lateralus?

Lateralus is a proprietary programming language (v2.4.0) created by bad-antics. It combines pipeline-driven data flow, algebraic data types, Hindley-Milner type inference, and built-in scientific/crypto engines into a language built for scientists, security researchers, and software engineers.

It ships two tightly-coupled languages and a full compiler / VM stack:

Repository Layout

Compiler Pipeline

Source (.ltl)
    │
    ▼  Lexer  (lexer.py)         → Token stream
    │
    ▼  Parser (parser.py)        → AST  (ast_nodes.py — 106 node types)
    │
    ▼  SemanticAnalyzer (ir.py)  → IRModule (three-address code) + errors
    │
    ├──▶ BytecodeGenerator       → .ltbc bytecode → VM execution
    ├──▶ PythonTranspiler        → .py   (Python 3.10+)
    ├──▶ CTranspiler             → .c    (hosted or freestanding C99)
    ├──▶ JSTranspiler            → .js   (ES2022+)
    └──▶ WASMTranspiler          → .wat  (WebAssembly Text)

Source (.ltasm)
    │
    ▼  Assembler (two-pass)      → .ltbc bytecode → VM execution

The Compiler class in compiler.py orchestrates everything. The Target enum selects: BYTECODE, PYTHON, C, ASM, or CHECK (type-check only).

Key Modules

Lexer — lateralus_lang/lexer.py

Tokenizes .ltl and .ltasm source into a stream of Token objects. 559 lines; token kinds defined in the TK enum.

• Keywords, operators (|>, =>, ::, ?)
• String interpolation, hex/binary literals
• Single-line (//, #) and multi-line (/* … */) comments
• Every token carries a Span for error reporting

Parser — lateralus_lang/parser.py

Recursive-descent parser, 1,756 lines. Produces a Program AST node containing imports + body statements.

Expression precedence chain:

pipeline → logical → comparison → bitwise → shift → additive
→ multiplicative → power → unary → postfix → primary

v1.5 additions: _parse_pattern(), _parse_type_match_expr() for match-as-expression.

AST — lateralus_lang/ast_nodes.py

949 lines, 106 node types organized as Stmt and Expr subtrees. Every node carries a Span.

Node (base)
├── Program
├── Module
├── Stmt
│   ├── FnDecl / AsyncFnDecl
│   ├── LetDecl
│   ├── ReturnStmt
│   ├── IfStmt / MatchStmt
│   ├── WhileStmt / ForStmt / LoopStmt
│   ├── TryStmt  (try / recover / ensure)
│   ├── ImportStmt
│   ├── ExprStmt
│   └── BlockStmt
└── Expr
    ├── Literal  (int, float, str, bool, nil)
    ├── Ident, BinOp, UnaryOp
    ├── CallExpr, IndexExpr, FieldExpr
    ├── LambdaExpr, ListExpr, MapExpr
    ├── AwaitExpr, CastExpr
    ├── TypeMatchExpr      (v1.5)
    ├── ResultExpr          (v1.5)
    └── OptionExpr          (v1.5)

v1.5 pattern nodes: WildcardPattern, LiteralPattern, BindingPattern, TypePattern, EnumVariantPattern, TuplePattern, ListPattern, OrPattern.

Type System — lateralus_lang/type_system.py

871 lines. Hindley-Milner inference with Robinson unification.

IR — lateralus_lang/ir.py

Three-address intermediate representation. SemanticAnalyzer walks the AST and emits IRInstr objects into an IRModule. Feeds bytecode generation and powers type/error checking.

Codegen Backends — lateralus_lang/codegen/

Virtual Machine — lateralus_lang/vm/

Built-in Engines

CLI Commands

All commands are available as lateralus <cmd>, ltlc <cmd>, or python -m lateralus_lang <cmd>.

Language Features by Version

Standard Library — 59 Modules

Located in stdlib/, written entirely in .ltl:

Testing

43 test files with 1,976 tests, all managed via pytest.

# Full suite
pytest tests/ -v --tb=short

# Specific areas
pytest tests/test_parser.py -v
pytest tests/test_type_system.py -v
pytest tests/test_v15_features.py -v
pytest tests/test_c_backend.py -v

# Health check
python scripts/health_check.py

# Master runner
python scripts/run_all_tests.py --suite all_new

Test File Coverage

LateralusOS

A bare-metal operating system written in Lateralus (transpiled to freestanding C99) + x86_64 assembly. Located in lateralus-os/.

User Applications → GUI Desktop → System Services → Shell
→ Kernel (scheduler, IPC, VFS, network) → Memory Manager
→ HAL (interrupts, timers, I/O) → Bootstrap (C + ASM) → Bare Metal

VS Code Extension

Located in vscode-lateralus/. Supports VS Code and VSCodium.

# Install
make vscode-install

# Or use the workspace task:
# "Install Lateralus VS Code Extension"

Development Setup

# Requirements: Python 3.10+
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

# Verify installation
lateralus --version        # → LATERALUS 2.4.0
lateralus info             # Toolchain details

# Run all tests
pytest tests/ -v --tb=short

# Run a program
lateralus run examples/hello.ltl

# Interactive REPL
lateralus repl

# LateralusOS (additional requirements)
# nasm, gcc, ld, grub-mkrescue, xorriso, qemu-system-x86_64

Make Targets

Public API

from lateralus_lang import (
    # Compiler pipeline
    Compiler, CompileResult, Target,
    compile_file, compile_source,
    run_file, run_source,

    # Lexer / Parser
    lex, Token, TK, LexError,
    parse, ParseError,

    # Intermediate Representation
    analyze, IRModule,

    # Virtual Machine
    VM, Bytecode, assemble,

    # Code generation
    generate_bytecode, transpile_to_python,

    # REPL
    start_repl, REPL,

    # Error handling
    LTLError, ErrorContext, ErrorReporter, Severity,
    get_bridge, ErrorBridge,
)

Roadmap

Rules of Engagement