Whitespace (programming language)

right|206px|thumb|Whitespace [[hello world program with syntax highlighting ]] <!-- make SVG file -->

Whitespace is an esoteric programming language with syntax where <em>only</em> whitespace characters (space, tab and newline) have meaning contrasting typical languages that largely ignore whitespace characters.

As a consequence of its syntax, Whitespace source code can be contained within the whitespace of code written in a language that ignores whitespace making the text a polyglot.

The idea of using whitespace characters as operators for the C++ language had been facetiously suggested five years earlier by Bjarne Stroustrup.

Syntax

Whitespace defines a command as a sequence of whitespace characters. For example, <code>[Tab][Space][Space][Space]</code> performs arithmetic addition of the top two elements on the stack.

A command is written as an instruction modification parameter (IMP) followed by an operation and then any parameters.