The INTERCAL Programming Language
Revised Reference Manual

Donald R. Woods
and
James M. Lyon

C-INTERCAL revisions:
Louis Howell
and
Eric S. Raymond

Copyright © 1973 by Donald R. Woods and James M. Lyon
Copyright © 1996 by Eric S. Raymond
Redistribution encouraged under GPL


Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
    1. Origin and Purpose
    2. Acronym
    3. Acknowledgements
  2. Fundamental Concepts
    1. Sample Program
    2. Uses for INTERCAL
  3. Description
    1. Variables
    2. Constants
    3. Arrays
    4. Operators
      1. Binary Operators
        1. Return Type of Select
      2. Unary Operators
      3. Precedence
  4. Statements
    1. General Format
    2. Labels
    3. Identifiers and Qualifiers
    4. Statements
      1. Calcuate
      2. NEXT
      3. FORGET
      4. RESUME
      5. STASH
      6. RETRIEVE
      7. IGNORE
      8. REMEMBER
      9. ABSTAIN
      10. REINSTATE
      11. GIVE UP
      12. Input
      13. Output
      14. COME FROM
    5. Comments
  5. Outside Communication
    1. Motivation
    2. Turing Text Model
    3. Example Program
  6. TriINTERCAL et al.
    1. Motivation
    2. Abandon All Hope ...
    3. Compiler Operation
    4. Data Types
    5. Operators
      1. Binary Operators I
      2. Unary Operators
        1. Unary Logical Operators
        2. Binary Operators II
        3. Unary Arithmetic Operators
      3. Examples
    6. Beyond Ternary
  7. Subroutine Library
    1. Usage
    2. Available Functions
    3. Automagical Inclusion of the System Library
  8. Programming Hints
    1. Description
    2. Analysis
    3. Program Listing
    4. Programming Suggestions
  9. Error Messages
    1. Format
    2. Messages
  10. The C-INTERCAL Compiler
    1. Character Set
    2. Usage and Compilation Options
    3. Runtime Options
    4. PLEASE Politesse Checking
  11. The Atari Implementation
  12. The Princeton Compiler


Note: The above web pages contain all the information contained in the standard INTERCAL manual. However, I have rearranged and edited the contents in order to make full use of the medium. Any errors in this document are my responsibility.

Brian Raiter
breadbox [whirlpool] muppetlabs [spot] com

* Since all other reference manuals have Appendices, it was decided that the INTERCAL manual should contain some other type of removable organ.

** This footnote intentionally unreferenced.