Soplang

The Somali Programming Language

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

The implementation is in Rust. Soplang runs through a compiled pipeline: Cranelift JIT for run and an AOT build path for standalone binaries. See COMPILER_PLAN.md.

Project structure

Path	Description
src/	Rust implementation: lexer, parser, semantic, HIR, runtime, Cranelift JIT, and AOT build backend.
examples/	Soplang example programs (.sop files).
benchmarks/	Compiler benchmark programs, RESULTS.md, README, and run_benchmarks.sh to regenerate results.
legacy-interpreter/	Legacy interpreter code, now in the separate repo soplang/soplang-interpreter.
docs/	Documentation (installation, language reference, contributing).
windows/, linux/, macos/	Platform-specific build and packaging scripts.

Features

• Dual type system — Static typing (abn, qoraal, etc.) and dynamic typing (door)
• Somali-based syntax — Keywords and concepts in Somali
• Modern paradigms — Functional, procedural, and object-oriented support
• Interactive shell — REPL powered by the compiled JIT pipeline
• Compiled execution — Cranelift JIT for running files, AOT build for standalone binaries

Example

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

door magac = "Sharafdin"
abn age = 25

hawl salaam(qof) {
    celi "Salaan, " + qof + "!"
}
qor(salaam(magac))

Running Soplang

Build and run:

cargo build --release

./target/release/soplang examples/hello.sop        # JIT run
./target/release/soplang -i    # REPL
./target/release/soplang -c 'qor("Salaan!")'
./target/release/soplang --build examples/hello.sop -o hello_aot
./hello_aot

Or: make build, make run FILE=examples/hello.sop, make shell, make test, make bench.

CLI notes

• soplang <file.sop>: run via Cranelift JIT.
• soplang --build <file.sop> -o <out>: build a standalone native binary.
• soplang --build ... --opt-level 0..3: tune AOT optimization level.
• soplang --strict: enable stricter static typing checks.

AOT backend note

Current AOT backend is implemented by generating a temporary Rust runner and compiling it to a native executable. This is the supported strategy for now; it can be replaced later with a direct LLVM IR (inkwell) backend.

Benchmark results

The compiler (Cranelift JIT) is benchmarked with Criterion. Summary (release build, in-process):

Benchmark	Mean time
fib(25) recursive	~25.6 ms
loop sum 1..100k	~9.9 ms
nested loops 200×200	~4.2 ms
string concat 1k	~0.67 ms
list ops 5k elements	~1.3 ms
object create 2k	~252 µs

How to run: cargo bench or bash benchmarks/run_benchmarks.sh (regenerates RESULTS.md).
Details: benchmarks/RESULTS.md. Benchmark names and performance notes: benchmarks/README.md.

Legacy interpreter

The legacy tree‑walking interpreter has been moved to a dedicated repository:

• soplang/soplang-interpreter

All new development (compiler, JIT, AOT, CLI) happens here in the Rust implementation.

Documentation

• Getting started
• Build guide — Build from source on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Language reference
• Installation
• Contributing
• Rust implementation plan (complete) — Phases 1–7 done
• Compiler plan (in progress) — Cranelift + LLVM

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.