diff --git a/calc.c b/calc.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7505803
--- /dev/null
+++ b/calc.c
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+typedef enum {
+    LITERAL,
+    ADD,
+    SUB,
+    MUL,
+    DIV,
+} ExprKind;
+
+struct Expr;
+
+typedef struct {
+    struct Expr *lhs;
+    struct Expr *rhs;
+} BinOp;
+
+typedef struct {
+    ExprKind tag;
+    union {
+        int64_t literal;
+        BinOp op;
+    } value;
+} Expr;
+
+bool is_numeric(const char character) {
+    return character >= '0' && character <= '9';
+}
+
+void parse_expr(char *input, size_t *offset) {
+}
+
+void parse_factor(char *input, size_t *offset) {
+}
+
+void parse_term(char *input, size_t *offset) {
+}
+
+Expr parse_literal(char *input, size_t *offset) {
+    // the index of the first character of the literal
+    const size_t start = *offset;
+
+    // the index of the character past the last character of the literal
+    size_t end = start;
+
+    while (input[*offset] != '\0' && is_numeric(input[*offset])) {
+        (*offset)++;
+        end = *offset;
+    }
+
+    size_t literal_len = end - start;
+
+    if (literal_len == 0) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Found end of file expecting number");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    // because C standard library functions are utterly deranged and want null terminated strings, we have to hack a little
+    // just set the next character to null to get a nice null terminated string
+    char old_next_char = input[literal_len];
+
+    int64_t value = strtoll(input + start, NULL, 10);
+
+    // and then don't forget to set it back :D
+    input[literal_len] = old_next_char;
+
+    Expr expr;
+    expr.tag = LITERAL;
+    expr.value.literal = value;
+
+    return expr;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv) {
+    if (argc == 1) {
+        printf("provide me an argument please\n");
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    char *input = argv[1];
+
+    size_t offset = 0;
+
+    Expr expr = parse_literal(input, &offset);
+
+    printf("%ld\n", expr.value.literal);
+
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 601aec7..0000000
--- a/main.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <stdint.h>
-
-typedef enum {
-    LITERAL
-    ADD
-    SUB
-    MUL
-    DIV
-    GROUP
-} expr_kind;
-
-typedef struct {
-    expr_kind tag;
-    union {
-
-    } value;
-} expr;
-
-int main(int argc, char **argv) {
-    if (argc == 1) {
-        printf("provide me an argument please\n");
-        return 1;
-    }
-
-    char *input = argv[0];
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
-int parse_expr(char *input, size_t *offset) {}
-
-int parse_factor(char *input, size_t *offset) {}
-
-int parse_term(char *input, size_t *offset) {}
-
-int parse_literal(char *input, size_t *offset) {}