A time capsule of internet slang eras, doubling as a bioinformatics scripting language.
- Why This Exists
- Background
- Installation
- Quick Start
- Dialects
- Commands
- Usage
- Creating a New Dialect
- Examples
- Running Tests
- License
- Contributing
- Acknowledgments
As someone who moved between countries and languages, I've always paid attention to how people actually talk — the slang, the in-jokes, the words that date you to a specific moment online. Moving to the US, I went through the same process with English internet culture: learning what "I can has" meant in 2008, what "no cap" meant in 2020, and what "skibidi" means now.
Slang is ephemeral. The words people use to say "this is good" rotate every few years, and each generation's vocabulary becomes incomprehensible to the next. This project treats that as a feature: each era of internet slang becomes a selectable dialect for the same set of DNA analysis operations. The biology doesn't change — only the way you talk to it.
bioLOLPython is a time capsule. New dialects are generated quarterly from whatever is trending, so the project accumulates a running record of how the internet spoke at each point in time.
LOLCODE is an esoteric programming language created in 2007 by Adam Lindsay, based on lolspeak — the broken-English caption style from the lolcat meme era. LOLPython, by Andrew Dalke, adapted the concept into a Python transpiler.
bioLOLPython extends LOLPython with bioinformatics commands and a dialect system that maps internet slang from different eras to the same DNA analysis operations.
From PyPI:
pip install bioLOLPython
Or install with pipx for an isolated CLI tool:
pipx install bioLOLPython
For development:
git clone https://github.com/ChenHsieh/bioLOLPython.git
cd bioLOLPython
pip install -e .
HAI GENZOME 1.0
DNA GO X ITZ "ATGCGTAC"
GC BOMB X
TRANSLATE X
VISIBLE "protein: " + X
KTHXBYE
Save as hello.lolz and run:
bioLOL hello.lolz
Or use Chinese internet slang:
666 基因组
安排 X 是 "ATGCGTAC"
YYDS检测 X
翻译 X
xswl "蛋白质: " + X
撤了
bioLOL --dialect wangyuyan hello_cn.lolz
Or brainrot:
SKIBIDI GENOME
SIGMA X RIZZ "ATGCGTAC"
AURA CHECK X
LOOKSMAX X
HAWK TUAH "protein: " + X
MOGGER OUT
bioLOL --dialect brainrot hello_brainrot.lolz
Each dialect represents a different era of internet slang. The biology stays the same — only the syntax changes.
| Dialect | Era | Vibe |
|---|---|---|
lolcat | ~2005-2012 | I CAN HAS BIOINFORMATICS? |
taiwan_ptt | ~2010-2020 | 484很純？PTT/Dcard鄉民用語 (Taiwanese internet slang) |
wangyuyan | ~2015-2020 | 666这基因组YYDS (Chinese internet slang) |
gen_z | ~2018-2023 | no cap this DNA is bussin fr fr |
brainrot | ~2023-2026 | skibidi DNA sigma rizz |
New dialects are generated quarterly by AI based on current internet trends. For the full gallery with command cheat sheets, see GALLERY.md.
| Operation | lolcat | gen_z | brainrot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | HAI GENZOME | YO ITS GIVING GENOME | SKIBIDI GENOME |
| Declare DNA | DNA GO X ITZ "ATGC" | NO CAP X IS "ATGC" | SIGMA X RIZZ "ATGC" |
| GC content | GC BOMB X | VIBE CHECK X | AURA CHECK X |
| Reverse complement | REVERSE THAT X | UNO REVERSE X | FANUM TAX X |
| Transcribe | TRANSCRIBE X | MAIN CHARACTER X | EDGING X |
| Translate | TRANSLATE X | GLOW UP X | LOOKSMAX X |
| Complement | COMPLEMENT X | MIRROR CHECK X | REVERSE UNO X |
| Length | HOW LONG X | BESTIE HOW LONG X | GYATT HOW LONG X |
| Find ORF | FIND ORF X | UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT X | SIGMA GRIND X |
| Motif search | MOTIF HUNT X FOR "CCC" | LIVING RENT FREE X FOR "CCC" | SUSSY SEARCH X FOR "CCC" |
| Mutate | I CRAVE VIOLENCE X | CAUGHT IN 4K X | ONLY IN OHIO X |
| Align | ALIGN A WIT B | RIZZ CHECK A AND B | MEWING CONTEST A VS B |
VISIBLE "..." + X | SPILL "..." + X | HAWK TUAH "..." + X | |
| End | KTHXBYE | PERIODT | MOGGER OUT |
bioLOLPython supports 14 biological operations, each mapped to dialect-specific syntax:
| Command | Description | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Declare | Define a named DNA sequence | — |
| GC content | Calculate GC percentage | GC content: 50.00% |
| Reverse complement | Reverse complement a sequence | Modifies variable in place |
| Transcribe | DNA → RNA (T→U) | Modifies variable in place |
| Translate | DNA → protein (codon table) | Modifies variable in place |
| Complement | Complement without reversing | Modifies variable in place |
| Length | Sequence length in bases | X is 8 bases long |
| Find ORF | Find first open reading frame (ATG…stop) | ORF sequence and length |
| Motif search | Find all occurrences of a pattern | Positions of each match |
| Mutate | Random single-base substitution | Reports position and change |
| Align | Global pairwise alignment (Biopython) | Similarity score and rating |
| Print strings and/or variables | Supports + concatenation | |
| Start / End | Program delimiters | Greeting message on start |
DNA sequences are validated against IUPAC nucleotide codes (ACGTUNRYSWKMBDHV) on declaration.
bioLOL script.lolz # default (lolcat)
bioLOL --dialect gen_z script.lolz # Gen Z mode
bioLOL --dialect brainrot script.lolz # brainrot mode
bioLOL # lolcat REPL
bioLOL --dialect brainrot # brainrot REPL
Try it at bioLOL.streamlit.app — includes a dialect selector and example scripts for each era.
To run locally:
pip install streamlit
streamlit run streamlit_app.py
bioLOL --list-dialects # show available dialects
bioLOL --update # fetch latest from registry (24h cache)
bioLOL --update --force # bypass cache
User dialects are stored in ~/.bioLOL/dialects/.
Dialects are YAML files. Drop one into ~/.bioLOL/dialects/ for personal use, or add it to bioLOLPython/dialects/definitions/ and open a PR.
name: mydialectera: "~2025-2026"description: "One-line description of the vibe."commands:
init:
pattern: "MY START COMMAND"greeting: "Welcome message with emoji"end:
pattern: "MY END COMMAND"declare:
pattern: 'MY DECLARE {name} WITH {seq}'reverse:
pattern: "MY REVERSE {name}"gc_content:
pattern: "MY GC {name}"response: "GC content: {value:.2f}%"print:
pattern: "MY PRINT"transcribe:
pattern: "MY TRANSCRIBE {name}"translate:
pattern: "MY TRANSLATE {name}"align:
pattern: "MY ALIGN {a} WITH {b}"response: "Score: {score:.2f} {rating}"mutate:
pattern: "MY MUTATE {name}"response: "Mutated {name} at pos {pos}: {old} -> {new}"length:
pattern: "MY LENGTH {name}"response: "{name} is {value} bases"complement:
pattern: "MY COMPLEMENT {name}"find_orf:
pattern: "MY ORF {name}"orf_found: "ORF: {orf} ({length} bp)"orf_missing: "No ORF in {name}"motif:
pattern: 'MY MOTIF {name} FOR {pattern}'found: "Found {count} match(es) for '{pattern}' in {name}:"position: " pos {start}-{end}"not_found: "No matches for '{pattern}' in {name}"examples:
GC Content: | MY START COMMAND MY DECLARE X WITH "ATGCATGC" MY GC X MY END COMMANDAll 14 commands are required. The dialect is validated on load.
| Placeholder | Captures |
|---|---|
{name} | A variable name (word characters) |
{a}, {b} | Variable names for two-sequence commands |
{seq} | A quoted DNA sequence (e.g., "ATGC") |
{pattern} | A quoted search pattern |
Use the generator script to create a dialect with the Claude API:
# Specify name, era, and description
python scripts/generate_dialect.py "cottagecore""~2020-2022" \
"gentle pastoral internet aesthetic meets DNA" \
--validate \
-o bioLOLPython/dialects/definitions/cottagecore.yaml
# Or let Claude pick the name and era from a theme
python scripts/generate_dialect.py \
--auto "what's trending on TikTok right now" \
--validate \
-o bioLOLPython/dialects/definitions/new.yamlRequires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable and pip install anthropic.
A GitHub Action runs quarterly to generate a new dialect based on current internet trends. It:
- Calls the Claude API to generate a dialect YAML
- Validates the output against the required schema
- Runs the full test suite
- Opens a PR for human review
To trigger manually: Actions > "Generate New Dialect" > Run workflow. You can optionally provide a custom theme.
Requires the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY repository secret (Settings > Secrets > Actions).
Example scripts are in the examples/ directory:
| File | Dialect | What it does |
|---|---|---|
test_bio.lolz | lolcat | GC content, transcription, translation |
test_alignment.lolz | lolcat | Pairwise sequence alignment |
test_violence.lolz | lolcat | Random mutation |
test_transcribe.lolz | lolcat | DNA → RNA |
test_translate.lolz | lolcat | DNA → protein |
gen_z_demo.lolz | gen_z | Full sequence analysis workflow |
brainrot_demo.lolz | brainrot | Full sequence analysis workflow |
wangyuyan_demo.lolz | wangyuyan | Full sequence analysis workflow (Chinese) |
taiwan_ptt_demo.lolz | taiwan_ptt | Full sequence analysis workflow (Taiwanese) |
Run any example:
bioLOL examples/test_bio.lolz
bioLOL --dialect gen_z examples/gen_z_demo.lolz
bioLOL --dialect brainrot examples/brainrot_demo.lolz
pip install pytest
pytest
96 tests covering the BioSeq class, interpreter commands across all dialects, and dialect loading/validation.
Requires Python >= 3.8. Dependencies: biopython, ply, pyyaml.
Contributions welcome — especially new dialects. The easiest way to contribute:
- Write a YAML dialect file following the format above
- Add your dialect name to
bioLOLPython/dialects/definitions/index.txt - Add example scripts to
examples/ - Run
pytestto verify - Open a PR
Or use the AI generator as a starting point and customize from there.
- LOLPython by Andrew Dalke (public domain) — the original inspiration
- Bioinformatics extensions, dialect system, and curation by Chen Hsieh
- Development assisted by Claude (Anthropic) and ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- Every generation of internet users who invented words that made the previous generation confused