initial public commit

LICENSE.txt

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+Copyright 2014, Jay Conrod. All rights reserved.
+
+The Gypsum bootstrap compiler in the `compiler` directory is licensed
+under the GNU General Public License v3, which can be found in
+compiler/LICENSE.txt.
+
+The CodeSwitch virtual machine in the `vm` directory is licensed under
+a 3-clause BSD license, which can be found in vm/LICENSE.txt.
+
+gypsum-mode.el is licensed under a 3-clause BSD license, which can be
+found in tools/gypsum-mode.el itself.
+
+Sample programs in the `examples` directory are under a Creative
+Commons Zero (CC0) license. They should be considered to be in the
+public domain with no restrictions.
+
+Data files in the `common` directory are not expected to by
+copyrightable. In case some jurisdiction considers them copyrightable,
+they are also licensed under CC0 and are in the public domain with no
+restrictions.

README.md

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+# Introduction
+
+Gypsum is an experimental new programming language. In the future, it
+will be useful for developing high-performance desktop and web
+applications and games.
+
+Gypsum is a compiled, statically-typed, object-oriented language. Once
+the compiler is more fully implemented, it will be functional as
+well. The compiler generates bytecode for a virtual machine,
+CodeSwitch. CodeSwitch currently provides basic interpretation and
+memory management. Eventually, it will have an optimizing JIT compiler
+and will be able to execute bytecode for other languages.
+
+The syntax of Gypsum is inspired by Python and Scala. It is designed
+to be simple, requiring less extraneous punctuation than most
+languages. Here's how "hello world" is written:
+
+```
+def main =
+  print("Hello, world!\n")
+```
+
+You can find several simple programs in the `examples` directory.
+
+# Projects
+
+## Compiler
+
+The Gypsum bootstrap compiler can be found in the `compiler`
+directory. It is written in Python (2.7). Once the language is mostly
+complete, the compiler will be rewritten in Gypsum.
+
+To run the compiler:
+
+```
+cd compiler
+./compiler program.gy -o program.csp
+```
+
+To test the compiler:
+
+```
+python -m unittest discover
+```
+
+## Virtual machine
+
+The CodeSwitch virtual machine can be found in the `vm` directory. It
+is intended to be minimal. Currently, it can load packages (.csp
+files), manage memory (including a basic copying garbage collector),
+and interpret bytecode (with a simple switch loop).
+
+To build and test the VM:
+
+```
+cd vm
+make -j
+```
+
+To run a package:
+
+```
+out/driver program.csp
+```
+
+## Other goodies
+
+An experimental Emacs major mode for Gypsum is in
+`tools/gypsum-mode.el`. It provides basic syntax highlighting.
+
+To install, use `M-x package-install-file`, then add this to your `.emacs`:
+
+```
+(require 'gypsum-mode)
+```
+
+## Dependencies
+
+* Python 2.7 is needed to run the compiler and to generate some files
+  needed for CodeSwitch.
+* PyYAML is needed to parse some data files needed for the Gypsum
+  compiler and for CodeSwitch.
+* G++ 4.8 or any other C++ compiler which supports C++11 is needed to
+  build CodeSwitch. Other binutils are assumed as well.
+* GNU Make 3.81 is needed to build CodeSwitch.
+
+Gypsum and CodeSwitch were developed and tested on Ubuntu 13.10. They
+will hopefully work on other platforms with minimal modification, but
+nothing else is supported right now.