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Show HN: An Easy Programming Language That Runs in the Browser via WebAssembly

32 points by chkas 5y ago

chkas 5y ago
I am a computer science teacher and have developed a teaching and learning programming language with an easy-to-use browser IDE. There are several tutorials integrated - from a programming course for beginners to recursive programming. The programming language and IDE run entirely in the browser, there is no communication with the server after the web page is loaded. Since it is designed as a PWA, it also works offline. This language has a very simple structure: There are numbers and strings as data types, arrays of these data types, and arrays of arrays. Unlike Python, it is statically typed and has explicit end-of-block delimiters. Since the language is kept very compact, it suits beginners on the one hand, and the browser environment on the other. The environment loads quite fast, and the IDE is also able to parse and format the code up to the current line on every "enter". The language is written in C and runs using WebAssembly. JavaScript is used for the graphical user interface and graphical output.
- MobiusHorizons 5y ago
  curious why you chose to have `end` with out `begin` it seems like that is a very well established pattern, so I am assuming you considered it.
  - chkas 5y ago
    Pascal is/was a really decent programming language - just a bit too wordy for my taste.
- chkas 5y ago
  More about the language and demos: https://easylang.online/apps/ https://easylang.online/apps/
- titzer 5y ago
  Nice work!
  - chkas 5y ago
    Thanks
- I_complete_me 5y ago
  I ran this in the REPL: for i = 1 to 5 outputs 1 2 3 4 5 Beginners will love you for this and then later curse you!
e-clinton 5y ago
This is pretty cool. Thanks for making this. If you ever decide to localize, I’d be happy to help translate site copy into Spanish.
- chkas 5y ago
  Thank you for the offer. I will accept it right away. For example, the tutorial "Learn to program" is already localized in German. You can easily add other languages. https://easylang.online/ide/tut_learn188.js https://easylang.online/ide/tut_learn188.js (188 is the current version). The country code for Spanish is "es". It would be great if you could do that. You can then email me the file with the Spanish translation added.

32 points by chkas 5y ago

I am a computer science teacher and have developed a teaching and learning programming language with an easy-to-use browser IDE. There are several tutorials integrated - from a programming course for beginners to recursive programming. The programming language and IDE run entirely in the browser, there is no communication with the server after the web page is loaded. Since it is designed as a PWA, it also works offline. This language has a very simple structure: There are numbers and strings as data types, arrays of these data types, and arrays of arrays. Unlike Python, it is statically typed and has explicit end-of-block delimiters. Since the language is kept very compact, it suits beginners on the one hand, and the browser environment on the other. The environment loads quite fast, and the IDE is also able to parse and format the code up to the current line on every "enter". The language is written in C and runs using WebAssembly. JavaScript is used for the graphical user interface and graphical output.

MobiusHorizons 5y ago
curious why you chose to have `end` with out `begin` it seems like that is a very well established pattern, so I am assuming you considered it.
- chkas 5y ago
  Pascal is/was a really decent programming language - just a bit too wordy for my taste.
chkas 5y ago
More about the language and demos: https://easylang.online/apps/ https://easylang.online/apps/
titzer 5y ago
Nice work!
- chkas 5y ago
  Thanks
I_complete_me 5y ago
I ran this in the REPL: for i = 1 to 5 outputs 1 2 3 4 5 Beginners will love you for this and then later curse you!

e-clinton 5y ago

This is pretty cool. Thanks for making this. If you ever decide to localize, I’d be happy to help translate site copy into Spanish.

chkas 5y ago
Thank you for the offer. I will accept it right away. For example, the tutorial "Learn to program" is already localized in German. You can easily add other languages. https://easylang.online/ide/tut_learn188.js https://easylang.online/ide/tut_learn188.js (188 is the current version). The country code for Spanish is "es". It would be great if you could do that. You can then email me the file with the Spanish translation added.