Mbare - The Southern Programming Language 🇮🇹

Mbare is a Turing-complete programming language that uses Sicilian keywords instead of English. It's based on the Lox language from "Crafting Interpreters" but with a Southern Italian twist!

✨ Features

• 🎉 Turing Complete - Can compute anything that's computable
• 🇮🇹 Sicilian Keywords - Programming in Southern Italian
• 🚀 Kotlin-Style Syntax - Optional semicolons, just like Kotlin!
• 🔄 Backward Compatible - Old code with semicolons still works

🎉 Turing Complete!

Mbare is officially Turing complete, meaning it can compute anything that's computable! It supports:

• ✅ Variables
• ✅ Control flow (if/else, while loops)
• ✅ Logical operators
• ✅ Arbitrary computation

🚀 Kotlin-Style Syntax

Semicolons are now optional! Write cleaner code, just like Kotlin:

// Modern Kotlin-style (no semicolons)
variabbili a = 0
variabbili b = 1

stampa "Fibonacci:"
mentri (i < 10) {
    stampa a
    variabbili temp = a + b
    a = b
    b = temp
}

Sicilian Keywords

Here are all the keywords in Mbare and their English equivalents:

Sicilian	English	Usage	Status
variabbili	var	Variable declaration	✅ Working
stampa	print	Print statement	✅ Working
su	if	If statement	✅ Working
sannunca	else	Else clause	✅ Working
mentri	while	While loop	✅ Working
e macari / macari	and	Logical AND	✅ Working
o	or	Logical OR	✅ Working
veru	true	Boolean true	✅ Working
falsu	false	Boolean false	✅ Working
nenti	nil	Null/nil value	✅ Working
funzioni	fun	Function definition	✅ Working
ritorna	return	Return statement	✅ Working
pi	for	For loop	⏳ Not yet
classi	class	Class definition	⏳ Not yet
chistu	this	This reference	⏳ Not yet
supiru	super	Superclass reference	⏳ Not yet

Building the Project

# Compile the project
mvn clean compile

# Build the JAR
mvn package

Running Mbare Programs

Interactive Mode (REPL)

java -cp target/mbare-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.bezkup.mbare.Mbare

Then type statements:

> variabbili x = 10
> stampa x
10
> su (x > 5) { stampa "Grande!" }
Grande!

Note: Semicolons are optional but can still be used if you prefer.

Running a Script File

java -cp target/mbare-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.bezkup.mbare.Mbare yourfile.mbare

Examples

Functions with Multiple Parameters

// Define a function with 2 parameters
funzioni somma(a, b) {
    ritorna a + b
}

stampa somma(5, 3)  // 8

// Functions with 3 or more parameters
funzioni somma3(a, b, c) {
    ritorna a + b + c
}

stampa somma3(1, 2, 3)  // 6

Recursion - Factorial

// Classic factorial using recursion
funzioni fattoriali(n) {
    su (n <= 1) {
        ritorna 1
    }
    ritorna n * fattoriali(n - 1)
}

stampa fattoriali(5)   // 120
stampa fattoriali(10)  // 3628800

Recursion - Fibonacci

// Recursive fibonacci
funzioni fib(n) {
    su (n <= 1) {
        ritorna n
    }
    ritorna fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2)
}

stampa fib(0)  // 0
stampa fib(1)  // 1
stampa fib(10) // 55

Closures and Higher-Order Functions

// Function returning a function
funzioni multiplier(factor) {
    funzioni multiply(n) {
        ritorna n * factor
    }
    ritorna multiply
}

variabbili double = multiplier(2)
variabbili triple = multiplier(3)
stampa double(5)  // 10
stampa triple(5)  // 15

Variables and Print

variabbili a = 5
variabbili b = 10
stampa a + b  // 15

Control Flow

variabbili x = 10

su (x > 5) {
    stampa "Grande"
} sannunca {
    stampa "Nicu"
}

While Loops

variabbili i = 0

mentri (i < 5) {
    stampa i
    i = i + 1
}

Fibonacci Sequence (Turing Completeness Proof!)

// Proves Turing completeness: variables + loops = universal computation
variabbili a = 0;
variabbili b = 1;
variabbili n = 10;
variabbili i = 0;

stampa "Fibonacci in Sicilianu:";

mentri (i < n) {
    stampa a;
    variabbili temp = a + b;
    a = b;
    b = temp;
    i = i + 1;
}

stampa "Fattu!";

Output:

Fibonacci in Sicilianu:
0
1
1
2
3
5
8
13
21
34
Fattu!

Logical Operators

variabbili x = 5;
variabbili y = 10;

si (x > 0 e y > 0) {
    stampa "Tutti dui positivi";
}

si (x < 0 o y < 0) {
    stampa "Almenu unu negativu";
} senno {
    stampa "Nenti negativu";
}

Language Features

✅ Currently Working

• Variables - variabbili keyword for declarations
• Print - stampa keyword for output
• Arithmetic - +, -, *, /
• Comparison - >, <, >=, <=, ==, !=
• Logical operators - e (and), o (or), ! (not)
• Control flow - si/senno (if/else)
• Loops - mentri (while)
• Blocks - { } for scoping
• String operations - Concatenation with +
• Boolean values - veru, falsu, nenti

⏳ Future Enhancements

• Functions - funzioni and ritorna
• For loops - pi
• Classes - classi, chistu, supiru
• Recursion - Via functions

Turing Completeness

Mbare satisfies all requirements for Turing completeness:

1. ✅ Arbitrary memory - Variables (variabbili)
2. ✅ Conditional branching - If/else (si/senno)
3. ✅ Iteration - While loops (mentri)

This means mbare can theoretically compute anything that's computable!

Testing

Run example programs:

# Variables
java -cp target/mbare-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.bezkup.mbare.Mbare examples/test_variables.mbare

# Control flow
java -cp target/mbare-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.bezkup.mbare.Mbare examples/test_if.mbare

# Loops
java -cp target/mbare-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.bezkup.mbare.Mbare examples/test_while.mbare

# Fibonacci (Turing completeness proof)
java -cp target/mbare-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.bezkup.mbare.Mbare examples/fibonacci.mbare

# Logical operators
java -cp target/mbare-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.bezkup.mbare.Mbare examples/test_logical.mbare

Language Philosophy

Mbare celebrates the rich linguistic heritage of Sicily while making programming more accessible to Sicilian speakers. The name "mbare" itself is Sicilian, adding authenticity to this Southern programming language.

Grammar

program        → declaration* EOF ;

declaration    → varDecl
               | statement ;

varDecl        → "variabbili" IDENTIFIER ( "=" expression )? ";" ;

statement      → exprStmt
               | ifStmt
               | printStmt
               | whileStmt
               | block ;

exprStmt       → expression ";" ;
ifStmt         → "si" "(" expression ")" statement
                 ( "senno" statement )? ;
printStmt      → "stampa" expression ";" ;
whileStmt      → "mentri" "(" expression ")" statement ;
block          → "{" declaration* "}" ;

expression     → assignment ;
assignment     → IDENTIFIER "=" assignment
               | logic_or ;
logic_or       → logic_and ( "o" logic_and )* ;
logic_and      → equality ( "e" equality )* ;
equality       → comparison ( ( "!=" | "==" ) comparison )* ;
comparison     → term ( ( ">" | ">=" | "<" | "<=" ) term )* ;
term           → factor ( ( "-" | "+" ) factor )* ;
factor         → unary ( ( "/" | "*" ) unary )* ;
unary          → ( "!" | "-" ) unary
               | primary ;
primary        → "veru" | "falsu" | "nenti"
               | NUMBER | STRING
               | IDENTIFIER
               | "(" expression ")" ;

Contributing

Feel free to contribute by:

• Adding more Sicilian expressions and idioms
• Implementing the remaining language features (functions, classes)
• Improving documentation
• Creating example programs

License

See LICENSE file for details.

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Bon travagghiu! (Happy coding!) 🇮🇹