What is Thue?
Thue is an esoteric programming language created by John Colagioia in 2000. It is based entirely on term rewriting systems, meaning the program consists of rules that repeatedly replace substrings of text with other substrings. Instead of traditional syntax, loops, variables, or operators, Thue programs evolve through rewriting — transforming the input string step by step until output appears.
Thue is named after mathematician Axel Thue, whose work on rewriting systems influenced early computer science, formal grammars, and theoretical models such as context-sensitive grammars. The language is intentionally minimal but extremely powerful — capable of Turing-complete computation using nothing but rewriting patterns.
Specs
Language Type: Esoteric / Formal Grammar System
Released: 2000
Creator: John Colagioia
Execution Model: String rewriting rules
Syntax Foundation: Formal language theory and grammar rewriting
Capabilities: Fully Turing-complete
CODE EXAMPLE (Hello World)
A simple Thue “Hello World” program may look like:
a::=Hello, World!
::=a
a
Explanation:
-
a::=Hello, World!is a rewrite rule -
ais the initial state - When rewritten, it becomes the final output
How It Works
- A Thue program consists of two sections:
- Rewrite rules
- Initial string
- Rules follow the format:
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