The Freak Book#

Learn FREAK from the first program to the compiler's insides, with every listing compiled and run before it was printed.

This is a book you read in order. It starts by installing the compiler and printing one line, and it ends inside the compiler that printed it. Along the way it teaches the language that ships today, shows where the next compiler already behaves differently, and marks clearly the parts of FREAK that exist only on paper so far.

If you want to look something up instead, the reference pages in the sidebar are organised by topic. This book is organised by what you need to know next.

Three kinds of statement#

FREAK has two compilers and one specification, and they do not agree yet. The book never blurs them.

The introduction explains each of these, and how the checking works.

Part I: First sortie#

Everything you need to write small, complete programs.

• Introduction: what FREAK is, the two compilers, and how to read this book
• 1. Getting started: installing, checking the installation, your first program, your first project
• 2. A guessing game: a whole program built one step at a time
• 3. Pilots, values and types: names, numbers, truth values, and the rules that connect them
• 4. Tasks: defining work, passing values in, giving values back
• 5. Control flow: choosing with if and when, repeating with counting, conditional and list loops

Still to be written#

The remaining parts are planned and listed here so you can see where the book is going. Their chapters appear in the sidebar as they are finished.