🟠 Mars – A Grid Programming Language 🟠

Tutorial

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What is a Grid Programming Language?

A Grid Programming Language is a programming model where data is stored and manipulated inside a two-dimensional grid (rows and columns).

Instead of variables and memory addresses, programs operate by:

• Creating a grid
• Moving a cursor to a specific cell
• Reading or writing values at the cursor position

Mars is an experimental grid-based programming language designed to explore this concept.

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Core Concepts

• Grid: A 2D table of cells (rows × columns)
• Cell: A single position in the grid, which may contain a value or Null
• Cursor: Points to the currently active cell
• All operations act on the current cursor position

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Control Statements in Mars

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CREAT X, Y

Create a new grid.

• Creates a grid with:

  • X rows
  • Y columns

• All cells are initialized to Null

• The cursor is automatically set to (0, 0)

• If a grid already exists, it should be closed before creating a new one

Example

CREAT 10, 10

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MOVE X, Y

Move the cursor to a specific cell.

• The grid must be created before using this command

• Moves the cursor to:

  • row X
  • column Y

• Coordinates are zero-based

Example

MOVE 3, 4

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WRITE VALUE

Write a value into the current cell.

• Writes VALUE to the cell at the current cursor position
• Overwrites any existing value in that cell

Example

WRITE 3

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READ

Print the entire grid.

• Displays the current state of the grid
• Shows all cells, including Null cells
• Used for debugging or inspecting the grid

Example

READ

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CLOSE

Destroy the current grid and free memory.

• Releases all memory used by the grid
• Resets the grid state to Null
• After CLOSE, no grid exists
• MOVE, READ, or WRITE cannot be used until a new grid is created

Example

CLOSE

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Example Program

CREAT 5, 5
MOVE 3, 4
WRITE 3
READ
CLOSE

This program:

1. Creates a 5×5 grid
2. Moves the cursor to cell (3,4)
3. Writes the value 3 into that cell
4. Prints the grid
5. Frees all allocated memory

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Notes

• All commands are executed sequentially

• Mars is designed for simplicity and experimentation

• Future versions may include:

  • Reading individual cells

  • Ranges and rows

  • Expressions and formulas

  • Variables and control flow