A Brief Introduction

Welcome to Sheerpower Programming

Sheerpower is a programming language purpose-built for business applications. It compiles quickly, delivers precise numeric computation with 16 digits of guaranteed decimal accuracy, and provides extensive high-performance string handling. Its clean, approachable syntax allows developers to build scalable and efficient programs that process large volumes of data with ease.

This tutorial introduces key features of Sheerpower, such as high-precision math, fast compiling, dynamic data clustering, and a built-in web server.

Developer note:
Sheerpower lets you write straightforward code with a simple, consistent syntax. There is no manual memory management, no deep type system to navigate, and no low-level housekeeping to worry about. Because the language surface is small and uniform, both humans and AIs can produce correct, maintainable Sheerpower programs extremely quickly — often with far less cognitive load than systems languages or even mainstream dynamic languages with large, complex ecosystems.

Simplified Code Structure & Syntax

print "Hello, World"

Program Declaration

A source file may begin with an optional PROGRAM statement. This sets the program name used in crash reports, profiling output, and other system-generated files. The file may end with an optional END statement, which marks the logical end of the program.

Stopping the Program

Use STOP or END to terminate a program. Both perform a normal shutdown: open files are closed, buffers flushed, and resources released.

STOP — may appear anywhere; execution halts at that line.
END — typically appears once at the bottom to mark the program's end. If omitted, the physical end of the file is treated as the logical end.

Optimized Decimal-Precise Arithmetic

Sheerpower's REAL type is a fixed-precision decimal number. Internally it stores two 64-bit integers: one for the whole part (up to 18 decimal digits) and one for the fractional part (up to 16 decimal digits). Because values are kept in base-10—not binary—REAL produces exact decimal results within those limits and avoids the tiny round-off artifacts common to IEEE floating-point.

This design is ideal for business and financial math where pennies matter. Operations use integer arithmetic (including fast multiply-and-shift for division), so typical add/subtract/multiply/ divide on values that fit the 18+16 digit budget are exact. When a result would exceed that fixed precision, it is deterministically rounded using decimal rules.

Performance: Internal benchmarks show REAL is 50—100× faster than Python decimal/Java BigDecimal (even faster when the fraction is zero). Actual results depend on CPU, operation mix, and data.

Example: 0.1 + 0.2 in Sheerpower is exactly 0.3. No tolerance checks or "epsilon" comparisons are needed for equality tests in business logic.

Scope & trade-offs:

Problem: Binary floating-point numbers are very fast, but they cannot represent many decimal values exactly (for example, 0.1 is an infinite binary fraction). This leads to tiny rounding errors that accumulate in business logic.

Solution: Sheerpower stores decimals as two base-10 64-bit integers: an 18-digit whole part and a 16-digit fractional part. This guarantees exact decimal results as long as values stay within range.

Efficiency: All REAL operations use native integer arithmetic, avoiding the slow big-decimal stacks used by many decimal libraries. In practice, this delivers 50x or greater speedups on typical business math workloads.

Takeaway: In Sheerpower, REAL is the default numeric type. Use it for all calculations. For trig functions, Sheerpower automatically converts the value to a hardware float, runs the operation, and returns the REAL result.

print (0.1 + 0.2) - 0.3 // Outputs exactly 0.0

This ensures reliable calculations for applications like financial software.

High-Speed, Uninterrupted Text Processing

Sheerpower is optimized for the heavy text work common in business apps. It manages memory so efficiently that it never needs to pause to "clean up," a process that can cause frustrating garbage collection pauses in many other languages. This approach ensures your application is always fast and responsive.

Sub-Second Compilation

Sheerpower compiles at over 500,000 source lines per second on a modern PC — meaning even large business applications compile within a second or two. For example, a build of 872,133 lines (with 419 include files) compiled in under 2 seconds on a $1200 mini-server. This speed virtually eliminates the compile—wait—test cycle that slows development in other languages.

High-Performance Data Clusters

Sheerpower's cluster feature works like an in-memory spreadsheet, processing hundreds of thousands to millions of rows per second on a modern PC depending on data complexity and available system resources.

Note: Cluster arrays can handle extremely large datasets (tested with hundreds of millions of rows) with fast key lookups, limited primarily by available RAM.

Comprehensive Statistics Package

Sheerpower includes a built-in statistics package with over 30 functions for analyzing data. These functions can be used to identify trends, variability, and relationships in large datasets. Applications include finance, manufacturing, science, and more. For details, see Sheerpower Statistics .

Web Server Integration

Sheerpower includes a built-in web server optimized for memory-to-memory data transfers. This enables very fast web-based transactions with minimal resource usage. For more details, see the tutorials on Sheerpower Internet Services (SPINS) , Browser Scripting , and Fast-CGI for RESTful Endpoints .

Secure Deployment of Applications

Building a Sheerpower program is like compiling and linking in traditional languages. Deployment is optional and does not change runtime behavior. It packages your app for delivery, protects your source, enables secure distribution, and reduces startup times.

No behavior change: Deployed apps run identically to source-based runs.
Single-file delivery: Creates a unity image that bundles your program and all include files.
Source protection: Compaction and encryption virtually eliminate inspection and tampering.
Secure distribution: Supports integrity checks and controlled updates.
Faster startups: Pre-merged include files shorten cold-start time.

Terminology: A "unity image" is a single packaged artifact containing the program plus its required include files.

Summary

Sheerpower is designed for business applications, with a focus on speed, precision, and long-term reliability. It is not intended for system-level programming or memory-limited environments. Key features include:

High-Precision Math: Ensures accuracy for financial and data-focused applications.
High-Speed Compilation: Enables fast development and quick testing cycles.
Clusters for Data Processing: Handles large datasets efficiently.
Integrated Web Server: Supports many transactions per second with low resource use.
Backward Compatibility: Ensures continuity and reduces maintenance costs.
Secure Deployment: Protects source code from unauthorized inspection and enables secure, fast, portable distribution — ideal for commercial software.
Reliability: Eliminates common failure modes like stack overflows and unpredictable performance pauses, ensuring stable operation under load.

In Conclusion:

Sheerpower empowers developers to build fast, accurate, and scalable business software. It excels at applications that process large data volumes and demand reliable performance.

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Looking for the full power of Sheerpower?
Check out the Sheerpower website. Free to download. Free to use.