🐍 Pyth — The Ultra-Compact Language Built for Code Golf

What is Pyth?

Pyth is a code-golf-oriented esoteric language created by Isaac Grosbaum. It was designed to make writing the shortest possible programs easier — especially for algorithm competitions and problem-solving platforms.

The language includes many built-in functions, automatic behaviors, stack-style operations, and syntactic shortcuts. This allows complex logic to be expressed using only a handful of characters. Pyth takes heavy inspiration from Python and functional programming but compresses everything into symbolic shorthand.

Specs

Language Type: Code Golf / Esoteric

Creator: Isaac Grosbaum

Execution Model: Expression-based evaluation

Syntax Style: Highly symbolic, compact operators

Focus: Minimizing character count

CODE EXAMPLE (Hello World)

A Pyth “Hello World” program is:

"Hello World"

Yes — that’s the entire program.

Pyth automatically prints the evaluated expression, making explicit output functions unnecessary.

How It Works

Pyth uses implicit output: the final expression is printed automatically.
Many common algorithms are represented as single characters.
Examples of shortcut behaviors:
- + → addition or concatenation
- J → join list
- M → map function
- L → list creation or comprehension
- P → print explicitly (optional)
Strings, numbers, lists, and lambdas can be composed rapidly.

Because so many operations are implicit, Pyth solutions often look like mathematical puzzles rather than normal code.

Strengths

Extremely powerful for short competitive code.
Many built-ins reduce the need for boilerplate.
Naturally supports functional and list-based logic.
Encourages elegant, condensed patterns of problem solving.

Weaknesses

Hard to read without knowing the shortcuts.
Debugging can be confusing due to symbolic overloading.
Programs become cryptic and nearly unreadable after time.
Limited use outside golf competitions and esolang study.

Where to Run

Pyth can be executed on:

TIO.run
GitHub interpreters
Online code golf platforms
Browser-based playgrounds

Some environments include symbol reference sheets for quick lookup.

Should You Learn It?

For real development: No

For code-golf competitions: Yes — highly recommended

For exploring symbolic programming and functional math: Yes

For writing understandable, maintainable software: No

Summary

Pyth is a compact, expression-driven esolang optimized for writing the shortest possible solutions. With powerful built-ins, implicit behavior, and symbolic shortcuts, it enables concise algorithms that look more like mathematical expressions than code. While impractical for normal programming, Pyth has earned a lasting place in esolang and code-golf culture.