TSL — Small Language for JavaScript

TSL (Time Script Language) is a small, simple programming language that compiles to JavaScript. Designed for learning, game prototyping, and writing clean, readable code with minimal syntax.

Version: 1.0.0  |  Status: Stable  |  Backend: JavaScript  |  Website: tsl.timeandtime.online

---

Features

• Simple syntax — colon (:) and indentation for blocks, no braces or keywords
• Full compiler pipeline — Lexer → Parser → AST → Validator → Generator
• JavaScript backend — generates clean, readable, valid JavaScript
• Deterministic output — same source always produces the same JavaScript
• Rich type support — numbers, strings, booleans, null, arrays, objects
• Control flow — if/else, for, while, break, continue
• Functions — declarations, parameters, return, recursion, closures
• Error reporting — clear errors with filename, line, column, and source context
• CLI tool — build, check, and run from the command line
• 100+ examples — algorithms, data structures, and game patterns

---

Quick Start

Install

git clone https://github.com/TimeAndTimeStudio/TSL.git
cd TSL

No dependencies required. TSL runs on Node.js.

Compile a TSL file

node src/cli.js hello.tsl

Build to JavaScript

# Output to stdout
node src/cli.js build hello.tsl

# Write to file
node src/cli.js build hello.tsl -o hello.js

Run the generated JavaScript

node hello.js

CLI Commands

node src/cli.js <file.tsl>          # Compile and show generated JS
node src/cli.js build <file.tsl>    # Build to stdout
node src/cli.js build <file.tsl> -o <output.js>  # Build to file
node src/cli.js check <file.tsl>    # Validate only
node src/cli.js --version           # Show version

---

Example

# Fibonacci
function fib(n):
    if n <= 1:
        return n
    return fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2)

for i in range(10):
    print(fib(i))

Compiles to:

function fib(n) {
  if (n <= 1) {
    return n;
  }
  return fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2);
}

for (let i of range(10)) {
  console.log(fib(i));
}

---

Compiler Pipeline

TSL Source
    ↓
  Lexer        → Tokens
    ↓
  Parser       → AST
    ↓
  Validator    → Valid AST
    ↓
  Generator    → JavaScript
    ↓
  JavaScript   → Runtime

---

Documentation

Topic	File
Project overview	docs/en/README.md
Getting started	docs/en/getting-started.md
Language reference	docs/en/language.md
Syntax reference	docs/en/syntax.md
Variables	docs/en/variables.md
Data types	docs/en/data-types.md
Operators	docs/en/operators.md
Control flow	docs/en/control-flow.md
Functions	docs/en/functions.md
Arrays	docs/en/arrays.md
Objects	docs/en/objects.md
CLI	docs/en/cli.md
Errors	docs/en/errors.md
Compiler architecture	docs/en/compiler.md
Project architecture	docs/en/architecture.md
Examples	docs/en/examples.md

---

Examples

Basic

Example	Description
hello.tsl	Hello World
variables.tsl	Variables and assignment
math.tsl	Arithmetic operations
if.tsl	If statement
while.tsl	While loop
for.tsl	For loop
functions.tsl	Function declaration
arrays.tsl	Arrays
objects.tsl	Objects

Algorithms

Example	Description
fibonacci.tsl	Recursive Fibonacci
bubble_sort.tsl	Bubble sort
quick_sort.tsl	Quick sort
merge_sort.tsl	Merge sort
binary_search.tsl	Binary search
factorial_loop.tsl	Factorial
gcd.tsl	Greatest common divisor
prime.tsl	Prime check

Data Structures

Example	Description
stack.tsl	Stack
queue.tsl	Queue
linked_list.tsl	Linked list
binary_tree.tsl	Binary tree
hash_table.tsl	Hash table
graph.tsl	Graph

Dynamic Programming

Example	Description
knapsack.tsl	0/1 Knapsack
lcs.tsl	Longest common subsequence
coin_change.tsl	Coin change
edit_distance.tsl	Edit distance
dijkstra.tsl	Dijkstra's algorithm

Traversal

Example	Description
dfs.tsl	Depth-first search
bfs.tsl	Breadth-first search

---

Tests

# Run all unit tests
npm test

# Run release test suite
cd release-test && node run-all-tests.js

Test results:

Suite	Status
AST	✓ Pass
Lexer	✓ Pass
Parser (expressions + statements)	✓ Pass
Validator	✓ Pass
Generator	✓ Pass
Variable Semantics	✓ Pass
Integration	✓ Pass
CLI	✓ Pass

---

Project Structure

tsl/
├── src/
│   ├── cli.js        # Command-line interface
│   ├── compiler.js   # Main compiler orchestrator
│   ├── lexer.js      # Tokenizer
│   ├── parser.js     # Expression & statement parser
│   ├── ast.js        # AST node definitions
│   ├── validator.js  # Semantic validation
│   ├── generator.js  # JavaScript code generation
│   └── errors.js     # Error types
├── examples/         # 100+ TSL examples
├── tests/            # Unit & integration tests
│   ├── ast/
│   ├── cli/
│   ├── generator/
│   ├── integration/
│   ├── lexer/
│   ├── parser/
│   └── validator/
├── docs/             # Documentation
├── release-test/     # Standalone release verification
└── README.md         # This file

---

License

GPL-3.0