LOLCODE
LOLCODE
LOLCODE is a programming language whose entire syntax is written in lolspeak — the "kitty pidgin" dialect of the lolcat image-macro phenomenon that colonized the mid-2000s internet. Adam Lindsay created it in 2007, one year after lolcats became a meme, and it is the only language in this catalogue where the correct way to end a program is KTHXBYE.[1]
The premise sounds disposable — program in cat — but LOLCODE is a real imperative language with variables, types, loops, conditionals, functions, and a maintained specification. The joke was thorough enough to become a language in its own right, which is the same trick INTERCAL pulled in 1972: commit completely, implement everything, and let the absurdity become load-bearing.
A syntax borrowed from a meme
Every LOLCODE keyword is uppercase lolspeak, and the correspondence to conventional constructs is total:
| LOLCODE | Means |
|---|---|
HAI 1.2 | begin the program (with version) |
KTHXBYE | end the program |
BTW | comment to end of line |
OBTW … TLDR | multi-line comment block |
CAN HAS STDIO? | import a library — literally asking permission |
VISIBLE | |
GIMMEH | read input into a variable |
I HAS A x ITZ 5 | declare x, assign 5 |
O RLY? / YA RLY / NO WAI / OIC | if / then / else / endif |
IM IN YR LOOP … IM OUTTA YR LOOP | loop … endloop |
HOW IZ I … IF U SAY SO | define a function … return |
And the types, because a language this committed types its variables in lolspeak too: NOOB (untyped), TROOF (boolean — WIN/FAIL), NUMBR (integer), NUMBAR (float), YARN (string), and BUKKIT (array).[2]
Hello, World is consequently the most readable program in this entire series:
HAI 1.2
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYEThe joke that grew a spec
LOLCODE's afterlife followed a now-familiar esolang arc: the author built a working language as a joke, moved on, and the community refused to let it die. The specification was formalized through successive versions — 1.2 became the reference — and implementations accumulated across the usual targets. Lindsay himself, per the community record, "lost interest (or something like that)," which is the most on-brand possible ending for a language whose canonical program terminator is KTHXBYE.[3]
Where it sits in the wing
Every member of the early esolang canon broke one assumption: INTERCAL broke seriousness, Brainfuck size, Malbolge the programmer, Whitespace visibility, Befunge dimensionality, Unlambda variables. LOLCODE broke vocabulary — the assumption that keywords have to be dignified. Its legacy is the observation that O RLY? is exactly as functional as if, and that a language can be a cultural artifact of its moment — a fossilized piece of 2007 internet that still compiles.
Check your understanding
- What do
WINandFAILrepresent, and which type do they belong to? - How does a LOLCODE program begin and end?
- What does
O RLY?introduce, and what closes it? - Which 2006 internet phenomenon does LOLCODE's syntax imitate?
Show answers
1 — the boolean values of the TROOF type — WIN is true, FAIL is false. 2 — HAI (with a version number) opens it; KTHXBYE ends it. 3 — a conditional — YA RLY is the true branch, NO WAI the else, and OIC closes it. 4 — the lolcats / I Can Has Cheezburger image-macro dialect — lolspeak, circa 2006–2007.