Hoc

Hoc, which stands for High Order Calculator, is a remarkable interpreted language specifically designed for floating-point calculations. Its primary function is to serve as a robust and convenient calculator that can easily evaluate complex expressions like 1+2*sin(0.7). However, Hoc is not just any ordinary calculator. In fact, it enables you to assign values to variables, define custom functions, and apply loops, conditionals, and other programming language constructs.

The Hoc language was initially introduced in the popular book The Unix Programming Environment, authored by Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike in 1984. This book, along with its authors, has played a pivotal role in introducing Unix and its outstanding programming tools to a significant number of individuals. Some readers were particularly struck by Kernighan and Pike's accomplishment in developing an interpreter with such ease, something that was previously considered attainable only by experts.

One of these admirers was Nadav Har'El, the creator of the Hoc package. Nadav, at the tender age of 11, manually entered the source code of "Hoc 6" from Kernighan and Pike's book and started using it. Over the next decade, he continued to improve upon it by adding features that he wished to have. The package in its current state is a result of ten years of careful refinement of Hoc, boasting numerous enhancements compared to the original version described in the book.

Furthermore, the code was adjusted to be compatible with a broad range of compilers and machines that have come out since 1984, most notably on ANSI C compilers. Although it is still feasible to operate the code using K&R C compilers, it is unlikely that those are still in use these days.

Regarding installation, the process starts with running the configure command to generate the Makefile. Following that, simply compile and install Hoc by executing the make and make install commands.