diff --git a/core/compile.c b/core/compile.c
index dca3ccb1..d68f625d 100644
--- a/core/compile.c
+++ b/core/compile.c
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ static Slot compile_assign(GstCompiler *c, FormOptions opts, GstValue left, GstV
     GstValue lit = gst_wrap_nil();
     GstScope *scope = c->tail;
     GstBuffer *buffer = c->buffer;
-    FormOptions subOpts;
+    FormOptions subOpts = form_options_default();
     uint16_t target = 0;
     uint16_t level = 0;
     uint16_t flags = 0;
@@ -1064,15 +1064,7 @@ static SpecialFormHelper get_special(const GstValue *form) {
      * problems. */
     if (gst_string_length(name) == 0)
         return NULL;
-    /* One character specials. */
-    if (gst_string_length(name) == 1) {
-        switch(name[0]) {
-            case ':': return compile_def;
-            default:
-                break;
-        }
-    }
-    /* Multi character specials. Mostly control flow. */
+    /* Specials */
     switch (name[0]) {
         case 'a':
             {
diff --git a/gsttests/basic.gst b/gsttests/basic.gst
index 291b2db4..dd30e08e 100644
--- a/gsttests/basic.gst
+++ b/gsttests/basic.gst
@@ -1,8 +1,19 @@
-(do
-(: assert (fn [x e] (if x x (do (print e) (exit 1)))))
+(print "Running basic tests...")
+(def assert (fn [x e] (if x (do (write stdout ".") x) (do (print e) (exit 1)))))
+
 (assert (= 10 (+ 1 2 3 4)) "addition")
 (assert (= -8 (- 1 2 3 4)) "subtraction")
 (assert (= 24 (* 1 2 3 4)) "multiplication")
-(assert (= 0.1 (/ 1.0 10)) "division")
-(exit 0)
-)
+(assert (= 4 (blshift 1 2)) "left shift")
+(assert (= 1 (brshift 4 2)) "right shift")
+
+(var accum 1)
+(var count 0)
+(while (< count 16)
+	(varset accum (blshift accum 1))
+	(varset count (+ 1 count)))
+
+(assert (= accum 65536) "loop")
+
+(print)
+(exit 0)
\ No newline at end of file