NURU✨PROGRAMMING✨LANGUAGE

A Swahili Programming Language of its kind built from the ground up.

Installation

To get started download the executables from the release page or follow the instructions for your device below:

Linux

• Download the binary:

curl -O -L https://github.com/AvicennaJr/Nuru/releases/download/v0.1.5/nuru_linux_amd64_v0.1.5.tar.gz

• Extract the file to make global available:

sudo tar -C /usr/local/bin -xzvf nuru_linux_amd64_v0.1.5.tar.gz

• Confirm installation with:

nuru -v

Android (Termux)

• Make sure you have Termux installed.
• Download the binary with this command:

curl -O -L https://github.com/AvicennaJr/Nuru/releases/download/v0.1.5/nuru_android_arm64_v0.1.5.tar.gz

• Extract the file:

tar -xzvf nuru_android_arm64_v0.1.5.tar.gz

• Add it to path:

echo "alias nuru='~/nuru'" >> .bashrc

• Confirm installation with:

nuru -v 

Windows

• Make a bin directory if it doesn't exist:

mkdir C:\bin

• Download the Nuru Program Here
• Rename the downloaded program from nuru_windows_amd64_v0.1.5.exe to nuru.exe
• Move the file nuru.exe to the folder C:\bin
• Add the bin folder to Path with this command:

setx PATH "C:\bin;%PATH%"

• Confirm installation with:

nuru -v

Building From Source

• Make sure you have golang installed
• Run the following command:

go build -o nuru main.go

• You can optionally add the binary to $PATH as shown above
• Confirm installtion with:

nuru -v

Syntax

Nuru, although still in its early stage, intends to be a fully functional programming language, and thus it has been baked with many features.

Defining A Variable

To initiliaze a variable use the acha keyword:

acha x = 2;
acha y = 3;

andika(x*y) // output is 6

You can reassign values to the variable after it has been initiliazed:

x = 10

andika(x*y) // output is 30

Note that Semicolons ";" are OPTIONAL

Comments

Nuru supports both single line and multiple line comments as shown below:

// Single line comment

/*

Multiple
Line
Comment 
*/ 

Arithmetic Operations

For now Nuru supports +, -, / and *. More will be added. The / operation will truncate (round to a whole number) as Floating points are not supported yet.

Nuru also provides precedence of operations using the BODMAS rule:

2 + 2 * 3 // output = 8

2 * (2 + 3) // output = 10

Types

Nuru has the following types:

Type	Syntax	Comments
BOOL	kweli sikweli	kweli == true, sikweli == false
INT	1, 100, 342, -4	These are signed 64 bit integers
STRING	"" "mambo" "habari yako"	They MUST be in DOUBLE QUOTES "
ARRAY	[] [1, 2, 3] [1, "moja", kweli]	Arrays can hold any types
DICT	{} {"a": 3, 1: "moja", kweli: 2}	Keys can be int, string or bool. Values can be anything

Functions

This is how you define a function in Nuru:

acha jumlisha = fn(x, y) {
        rudisha x + y
    }

andika(jumlisha(3,4))

Nuru also supports recursion:

acha fibo = fn(x) {
	kama (x == 0) {
		rudisha 0;
	} au kama (x == 1) {
			rudisha 1;
	} sivyo {
			rudisha fibo(x - 1) + fibo(x - 2);
	}
}

If Statements

Nuru supports if, elif and else statements with keywords kama, au kama and sivyo respectively:

kama (2<1) {
    andika("Mbili ni ndogo kuliko moja")
} au kama (3 < 1) {
    andika ("Tatu ni ndogo kuliko moja")
} sivyo {
    andika("Moja ni ndogo")
}

While Loops

Nuru's while loop syntax is as follows:

acha i = 10

wakati (i > 0) {
	andika(i)
	i = i - 1
}

Arrays

This is how you initiliaze and perform other array operations in Nuru:

acha arr = []

// To add elements

sukuma(arr, 2)
andika(arr) // output = [2]
// Add two Arrays

acha arr2 = [1,2,3,4]

acha arr3 = arr1 + arr2

andika(arr3) // output = [2,1,2,3,4]

// reassign value

arr3[0] = 0

andika[arr3] // output = [0,1,2,3,4]

// get specific item

andika(arr[3]) // output = 3

Dictionaries

Nuru also supports dictionaris and you can do a lot with them as follows:

acha mtu = {"jina": "Mojo", "kabila": "Mnyakusa"}

// get value from key 
andika(mtu["jina"]) // output = Mojo

andika(mtu["kabila"]); // output = Mnyakusa

// You can reassign values

mtu["jina"] = "Avicenna"

andika(mtu["jina"]) // output = Avicenna

// You can also add new values like this:

mtu["anapoishi"] = "Dar Es Salaam"

andika(mtu) // output = {"jina": "Avicenna", "kabila": "Mnyakusa", "anapoishi": "Dar Es Salaam"}

// You can also add two Dictionaries

acha kazi = {"kazi": "jambazi"}

mtu = mtu + kazi

andika(mtu) // output = {"jina": "Avicenna", "kabila": "Mnyakusa", "anapoishi": "Dar Es Salaam", "kazi": "jambazi"}

Getting Input From User

In Nuru you can get input from users using the jaza() keyword as follows:

acha jina = jaza("Unaitwa nani? ") // will prompt for input

andika("Habari yako " + jina)

How To Run

Using The Intepreter:

You can enter the intepreter by simply running the nuru command:

nuru
>>> andika("karibu")
karibu
>>> 2 + 2
4

Kindly Note that everything should be placed in a single line. Here's an example:

>>> kama (x > y) {andika("X ni kubwa")} sivyo {andika("Y ni kubwa")}

Running From File

To run a Nuru script, write the nuru command followed by the name of the file with a .nr extension:

nuru myFile.nr

Issues

Kindly open an Issue to make suggestions and anything else.

Contributions

All contributions are welcomed. Clone the repo, hack it, make sure all tests are passing then submit a pull request.

License

MIT

Authors

Nuru Programming Language has been authored and being actively maintained by Avicenna