The Somali Programming Language

Soplang is a programming language with syntax inspired by Somali language, making programming more accessible to Somali speakers. It uniquely combines static and dynamic typing systems in one elegant language with a focus on clarity and ease of use.

New to Soplang? Check out our comprehensive Installation Guide for detailed setup instructions on all platforms.

• Powerful type system - Combines both static typing (abn, qoraal, etc.) and dynamic typing (door) in one language
• Somali-based syntax - programming concepts expressed in Somali
• Modern paradigms - supports functional, procedural, and object-oriented programming
• Type safety - enforces type checking at runtime
• Interpreter-based - easy to run on any platform with Python
• Interactive shell - REPL for quick experimentation
• Cross-platform - dedicated installers for Windows, Linux, and macOS
• Docker support - run anywhere with Docker without installation
• File extensions - uses .sop (primary) and .so (secondary) file extensions

// Hello World
qor("Salaan, Adduunka!")  // Prints: Hello, World!

// Variables with dual type system in action
door magac = "Sharafdin"  // Dynamic typing - can change type later
door num = 10             // Also dynamic
num = "new value"         // Valid: dynamic variables can change types

// Static typing examples
qoraal name = "Sharafdin" // Static typing - string only
abn age = 25             // Static typing - number only

// Type safety enforcement
// age = "25"             // Would cause runtime error - type mismatch

// Control flow
haddii (age > 18) {
    qor("Waa qof weyn")   // Is an adult
} ugudambeyn {
    qor("Waa qof yar")    // Is a child
}

// Functions
hawl salaam(qof) {
    celi "Salaan, " + qof + "!"
}
qor(salaam(magac))        // Prints: Salaan, Sharafdin!

• Getting Started
• Language Reference
• Examples
• Contributing Guide
• Docker Guide

For detailed installation instructions, see the Installation Guide.

The easiest way to get started is to download a pre-built installer from our releases page.

You can run Soplang using Docker without installing anything:

# Run the interactive shell
docker run -it --rm soplang/soplang

# Run a Soplang script
docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/scripts soplang/soplang my_script.sop

See the Docker Guide for more details.

If you want to build Soplang from source, refer to the platform-specific build guides:

• Windows: See the Windows Build Guide
• Linux: See the Linux Build Guide
• macOS: See the macOS Build Guide

You can also use our universal build script that automatically detects your platform:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/sharafdin/soplang.git
cd soplang

# Run the universal build script
./build.sh  # (may need chmod +x build.sh on Unix systems)

We provide a Makefile to simplify common development tasks:

# Setup your development environment
make install

# Run the interactive shell
make shell

# Run tests
make test

# Format code
make format

# See all commands
make help

Soplang uses an automated release process powered by GitHub Actions. For details on creating releases, see our Release Process Documentation.

Contributions are welcome! See our Contributing Guide for details on how to get started.

We are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive experience for everyone. Please read our Code of Conduct to understand the community standards we uphold.

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.