The story of Soplang

Empowering Somalia with native technology

A Somali programming language designed to bring coding closer to Somali speakers and promote programming in the local language.

Created by Sharafdin Yusuf. Developed and maintained by Somast.

Our story

Why we started

Programming lessons almost always arrive in another language first. Keywords, errors, and examples assume English, so the first obstacle is not the idea. It is the words.

Soplang started in 2023 to remove that obstacle. Keywords such as door, qor, haddii, and hawl are Somali, so a learner can read a program the way they read a sentence. Error messages are in Somali too, and the docs are written around that syntax.

First of its kind

Somali syntax, from the first line

Soplang is the first Somali programming language, created to make coding accessible to Somali speakers using native Somali syntax and keywords.

example.sop
door qiimo = 150
door canshuur = 0.1
door wadarta = qiimo + (qiimo * canshuur)

haddii (wadarta > 100) {
    qor("Qiimaha wuu sareeyaa: " + wadarta)
} ugudambeyn {
    qor("Qiimuhu waa macquul: " + wadarta)
}

Our mission

Software you can write in Somali.

Dhis software adigoo adeegsanaya afkaaga hooyo. Every keyword, tutorial, and release is meant to make the next Somali speaker more at home in code.

Language details

Name
Soplang
Stands for
Somali Programming Language
First release
October 2023
Current version
v2.0.0
Syntax
Somali keywords
Created by
Sharafdin Yusuf
Maintained by
Somast
Home
Somalia

At a glance

History

Started in February 2023 and officially released in October 2023.

Built with

The v2.0.0 release runs on a Python interpreter. The next release is a compiler written in Rust, already on the main branch.

Ecosystem

Language, standard library, REPL, documentation, and a VS Code extension.

Goal

Digital inclusion, and a place for the Somali language in software.

Coming soon

The future of Soplang

The next release replaces the interpreter with a compiler written in Rust: faster programs, standalone binaries, and type checks before your code runs. More of the language is being documented in Somali and English.