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लिपि lipi
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नेपालीमा प्रोग्रामिङ Programming in Nepali

लिपि (Lipi), a programming language

lipi /li·pi/ n. 1. script; writing. 2. A small programming language you write with Nepali words, and that tells you where you went wrong in Nepali too.

Open the playground Star on GitHub
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RusilKoirala/lipi/master/install.sh | sh
namaste.lip
rakha naam = "Ram";
bhana("Namaste, " + naam);

kaam jod(a, b) {
  farkau a + b;
}

yadi (jod(2, 3) > 4) {
  bhana("thulo!");
} natra {
  bhana("sano");
}
Output

This is the real interpreter, compiled from Go to WebAssembly. Edit the code and press Run.

शब्दकोश · Dictionary

Eight words to learn

Lipi uses everyday Nepali words for the few things every program needs. If you can say it, you can write it.

Read the docs
rakha राख let
Keep a value under a name.
rakha naam = "Sita";
kaam काम function
A piece of work you can call again.
kaam jod(a, b) { … }
farkau फर्काउ return
Send a value back from a kaam.
farkau a + b;
yadi यदि if
Run a block only when the condition holds.
yadi (umer > 17) { … }
natra नत्र else
Otherwise, run this block instead.
} natra { … }
sahi · galat सही · गलत true · false
The two answers a question can have.
rakha thik = sahi;
bhana भन print
Say something on the screen.
bhana("Namaste");
lambai लम्बाइ len
How many letters a string has.
lambai("Pokhara")

गल्ती · Galti

Errors that speak your language

When something goes wrong, Lipi says what happened and on which line, in plain Nepali. Beginners get a message they can read, not a stack trace.

Try breaking a program
terminal

$ lipi hisab.lip

Galti: line 3 ma semicolon birsiyo

Line 3: you forgot a semicolon.

$ lipi naam.lip

Galti: line 7 ma 'umer' bhanne naam bhetiyena

Line 7: no name called 'umer' was found.

$ lipi jod.lip

Galti: line 2 ma sankhya ra string jodna mildaina

Line 2: a number and a string can't be added.

कसरी चल्छ · How it runs

From text to answer in four steps

  1. Lexer

    Reads your file one character at a time and cuts it into tokens: rakha, naam, =, "Ram". Every token remembers its line, which is how a Galti can point at line 3.

  2. Parser

    A Pratt parser arranges the tokens into a tree. Each operator has a strength, so 1 + 2 * 3 becomes 1 + (2 * 3) without any special cases.

  3. Evaluator

    Walks the tree and runs it. Variables live in environments that point to the scope around them, which is what makes closures work.

  4. Everywhere

    The same Go code builds the lipi command for your terminal and the WebAssembly file that runs the editor on this page.

Lipi was built step by step following Writing an Interpreter in Go by Thorsten Ball, with Nepali keywords and error messages swapped in. Read how it works.

लिपि is open source.

Read the code, open an issue, or leave a star if you would like to see it grow. Loops and arrays are next.

Star on GitHub Install Lipi