A Brief Introduction

Welcome to Sheerpower Programming

Sheerpower is a programming language designed for business applications. It offers fast compilation, accurate math (16 decimal digits of guaranteed accuracy), and a simple syntax. Developers can build scalable, efficient programs for handling large volumes of data.

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

Note for Beginners:
In Sheerpower, your code expresses intent. The language automatically manages complex systems like memory handling and task execution. You don't need to worry about low-level implementation details. This allows developers to stay focused on writing clean business code.

Simplified Code Structure & Syntax

program hello_world print "Hello, World" end

Program Declaration

A source file may begin with an optional PROGRAM statement. This sets the program name used in crash reports, profiling, and other system-generated files. The file may end with an optional END statement that 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 — can appear anywhere; execution halts at that line.
END — typically appears once at the bottom to mark the file’s end. If omitted, the physical end of the file is treated as the program’s 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 floats are fast but introduce tiny errors (e.g., 0.1 cannot be represented exactly).

Solution: Store decimals as two base-10 64-bit integers (18-digit whole, 16-digit fraction) for exact results within range.

Efficiency: Integer arithmetic avoids the overhead of big-integer decimal stacks, yielding large speedups on typical business math.

Takeaway: Use REAL for money, invoices, tax and accounting logic. For heavy trigonometry or very large exponents, hardware floating-point remains faster.

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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a$ b$ x y

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