A beginner friendly programming language with Kannada keywords. Write them in English letters or in ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ, and run your code right here in the browser.
namaskara idu hesaru = "Kannada"; helu "Namaskara, " + hesaru + "!"; matte sigona
Every keyword works in both scripts. Switch a whole program with one click.
Nothing to install. Your code is saved automatically and easy to share.
Mistakes are explained in Kannada with an English hint and the exact line.
Variables, conditions, loops, functions, arrays and input. Concepts that carry over to any language.
13 examples to start from, from helu to recursion.
A dynamically typed toy language written in TypeScript. Every example below can be opened in the playground with Try it.
Every program starts with namaskara and ends with matte sigona. Anything outside of them is ignored, so you can write notes there. Statements end with a ;.
This line is ignored namaskara helu "Namaskara Jagattu!"; matte sigona This too
Use // for a single line comment and /* ... */ for comments spanning multiple lines. In the playground, Ctrl + / comments out the selected lines.
namaskara // idu ondu comment /* Idu dodda comment */ helu "Comments are ignored"; matte sigona
Create variables with idu ("this is"). Several can be declared at once, separated by commas. A variable declared without a value is khali. Use = to change a value and +=, -=, *=, /=, %= to update it.
namaskara idu a = 10; idu b = "two", c; a = a + 1; a *= 2; helu a, b, c; matte sigona
Numbers and strings work like in other languages, strings can use "double" or 'single' quotes and escapes like \n, \t and \". sari and thappu are the booleans, khali means empty (null), and [ ] makes an array.
namaskara idu sankhye = 10 + (15 * 20) / 4; idu dashamaamsha = 3.14; idu shabda = "Namaskara \"anna\""; idu nijavaa = sari; idu sullu = thappu; idu enuilla = khali; idu patti = [1, "eradu", sari]; helu sankhye, dashamaamsha, shabda; helu nijavaa, sullu, enuilla, patti; matte sigona
helu ("say") prints values. Separate several values with commas and they are printed on one line with spaces in between.
namaskara helu "Hello World"; idu a = 10; { idu b = 20; helu a + b; } helu 5, 'ok', khali, sari, thappu; matte sigona
Arithmetic: + - * / %. Comparison: == != < <= > >=. Logical: mattu (and, &&), athava (or, ||) and alla (not, !). Adding a string to a number joins them.
namaskara idu a = 7; helu a + 3, a - 3, a * 3, a / 2, a % 3, -a; helu a > 5, a == 7, a != 7; helu (a > 5) mattu (a < 10), sari athava thappu, alla sari; helu "Score: " + a; matte sigona
enadru (if) runs a block when its condition is sari. Add any number of illa andre (else if) blocks and finish with an optional enu illa andre (else). thappu, khali, 0 and "" count as false, everything else as true.
namaskara idu a = 10; enadru (a < 20) { helu "a is less than 20"; } illa andre (a < 25) { helu "a is less than 25"; } enu illa andre { helu "a is greater than or equal to 25"; } matte sigona
ellivargu ("until when", while) repeats its block as long as the condition is sari. Use saaku nilsu ("enough, stop") to leave the loop and munde nodu ("look ahead") to skip to the next round.
namaskara idu a = 0; ellivargu (a < 10) { a += 1; enadru (a == 5) { helu "loop olaginda helu", a; munde nodu; } enadru (a == 7) { saaku nilsu; } helu a; } helu "done"; matte sigona
prathi ("for every") is a counting loop: prathi (start; condition; step). The loop variable only exists inside the loop. Every part is optional, prathi (;;) loops until saaku nilsu.
namaskara prathi (idu i = 1; i <= 5; i += 1) { helu i, "x 9 =", i * 9; } matte sigona
Create functions with kelasa ("work") and give back a value with kodu ("give"). A function without kodu gives khali. Functions can call themselves (recursion), be stored in variables and passed to other functions.
namaskara kelasa jodisu(a, b) { kodu a + b; } kelasa factorial(n) { enadru (n <= 1) { kodu 1; } kodu n * factorial(n - 1); } helu jodisu(2, 3); helu factorial(5); matte sigona
Arrays hold a list of values: [1, 2, 3]. Read and change elements with list[index], indexes start at 0. Strings can be indexed too. Use uddha, serisu and tegi to get the length, add and remove elements.
namaskara idu hannu = ["mavu", "bale"]; serisu(hannu, "halasu"); hannu[0] = "seebe"; prathi (idu i = 0; i < uddha(hannu); i += 1) { helu i, hannu[i]; } helu hannu, "Kannada"[0]; matte sigona
Kannada Script comes with a few helpful functions. Each one also has a Kannada script name, e.g. ಉದ್ದ for uddha. See the table in Keywords.
namaskara helu uddha("namaskara"), uddha([1, 2]); helu sankhye("41") + 1, pada(41) + 1; helu poorna(7 / 2); idu stack = []; serisu(stack, 1); serisu(stack, 2); helu tegi(stack), stack; matte sigona
kelu ("ask") reads a line of input and gives it as a string, use sankhye to turn it into a number. In the playground, answers come from the Input tab (one per line), otherwise the browser asks you.
namaskara idu hesaru = kelu("Ninna hesaru? "); idu a = sankhye(kelu("Ondu sankhye: ")); helu "Namaskara " + hesaru + "!", a, "x 2 =", a * 2; matte sigona
Every keyword can also be written in Kannada script, and variable names can use Kannada letters and digits (೦–೯). Mix both as you like. The ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ button in the playground converts a program between the two.
ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ ಇದು ಹೆಸರು = "ಕನ್ನಡ"; ಏನಾದ್ರು (ಉದ್ದ(ಹೆಸರು) > ೨) { ಹೇಳು "ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ " + ಹೆಸರು; } ಏನೂ ಇಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ರೆ { ಹೇಳು ಖಾಲಿ; } ಮತ್ತೆ ಸಿಗೋಣ
When something goes wrong, Kannada Script tells you what happened, in Kannada with an English hint. Syntax errors show the line and column, in the playground that line is highlighted and you can jump to it. Infinite loops and runaway recursion are stopped automatically.
namaskara idu a = 10 helu a; matte sigona
Both spellings work everywhere. Use whichever you find easier.
namaskaramatte sigonaheluiduenadruilla andreenu illa andreellivarguprathisaaku nilsumunde nodukelasakodusarithappukhalimattuathavaallauddha(x)ಉದ್ದLength of a string or array
serisu(list, x)ಸೇರಿಸುAdds x to the end of the array, gives the new length
tegi(list)ತೆಗಿRemoves the last element and gives it back
sankhye(x)ಸಂಖ್ಯೆConverts to a number: sankhye("42") is 42
pada(x)ಪದConverts any value to a string
poorna(x)ಪೂರ್ಣRounds down to a whole number: poorna(7 / 2) is 3
kelu(prompt)ಕೇಳುReads a line of input as a string
Install Kannada Script from npm, save your programs as .kans files and run them from the terminal.
$ npm i -g kannada-scriptNeeds Node.js 14 or newer
namaskara helu "Namaskara Jagattu!"; matte sigona
Any text editor works
$ kannadascript hello.kanskelu() reads from your keyboard
Want to improve Kannada Script itself? See the development guide to build it from source.