Rivulet: an esolang inspired by calligraphy and other experiments in natural language && code
Daniel Temkin
22 min
22 min 105
105 Fahrplan
[Rivulet](https://github.com/rottytooth/Rivulet) eschews keywords entirely. This is not done to move *away* from natural language (as in APL's use of mathematical symbols) but instead to draw from an aspect of natural language usually ignored in prog language design: calligraphic writing. Rivulet code is written in flowing lines inspired by handwritten natural and constructed languages. Its logic is alien to most programming languages but makes perfect sense in support of its visual representation of tightly-packed tangles of lines.
In this short talk, I'll introduce this new language alongside other esolangs that draw from less-considered aspects of natlangs and conlangs, embracing their ambiguity and expressive power.
Here is a piece of code in the [Rivulet](https://github.com/rottytooth/Rivulet) language. It shows seven different ways to write the number zero:
```
1 ╵ ╰──╮ ╭───╯╭──╯
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