A language that speaks for itself — literally.
Ethos is a programming language with English-based syntax. Every statement is a sentence. Every sentence ends with a period. No brackets, no semicolons, no cryptic symbols. It transpiles to Python, so it's quick to get running and easy to extend.
Extensions come in two kinds — Soft Traits (Python packages) and Hard Traits (compiled C/C++/Rust binaries loaded via ctypes). Both are managed by Forge, the companion package manager.
I built this myself as a solo side project. I'm a Class 9 student from India and I wrote every line of this.
ask "What's your name? " into name.
set greeting to "Hello, ".
say greeting.
say name.
set score to 95.
if score is above 90.
say "That's an A.".
otherwise if score is at least 75.
say "That's a B.".
otherwise.
say "Keep going.".
end.
A combined installer for both Ethos and Forge is on the releases page. That's the easiest way to get both tools at once. There's also a standalone compiled .exe for Ethos only on the same page if that's all you need. The installer sets up PATH and registers the .ethos file extension automatically.
See LINUX_INSTALL.md for all options — OBS repos, AUR, and the universal tarball.
The pre-built binary on the releases page is a standalone compiled executable. No Python needed.
Python 3.10 or newer.
git clone https://github.com/AmanCode22/ethos-lang.git
cd ethos-lang
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py # opens the REPL
python main.py hello.ethos # runs a fileEvery statement ends with .. The lexer splits on . that aren't inside quoted strings, so decimal numbers like 3.14 work fine inside expressions.
All keywords are case-insensitive. SET, Say, REPEAT, HOW TO all work. String contents are never touched — only bare words outside quotes get lowercased.
Indentation is completely ignored. The parser tracks block depth through block-opening keywords and end. statements. Indent for readability, not correctness.
set x to 10.
set name to "Aman".
set result to x times 3 plus 1.
String slicing:
set piece to name from 0 to 3.
In-place operations:
add 5 to score.
subtract 1 from lives.
Delete a variable:
delete variable temp.
| Write this | Means |
|---|---|
plus |
+ |
minus |
- |
times |
* |
divided by |
/ |
to the power of |
** |
say "Hello.".
say result.
say 42.
ask "Enter something: " into response.
ask takes exactly four tokens: ask, the prompt string, into, and the variable name.
if score is above 90.
say "A".
otherwise if score is at least 75.
say "B".
otherwise.
say "C".
end.
One end. closes the whole chain. Comparisons: is, is not, is above, is below, is at least, is at most. Logical: and, or, not.
Repeat N times:
repeat 5.
say "again".
end.
Counted range:
count from 1 to 10 variable i.
say i.
end.
With a custom step:
count from 10 to 0 variable i stepping -1.
say i.
end.
While loop:
while lives is above 0.
subtract 1 from lives.
end.
how to greet with name.
say "Hey,".
say name.
end.
run greet with "Aman".
run and run function do the same thing. Multiple parameters are comma-separated after with.
bring in math.
note this is a single line comment.
notes.
this spans
multiple lines.
endnotes.
Inspect generated Python without running it:
python.
set x to 5 plus 3.
pythonend.
Prints PY_GEN: x = 5 + 3.
Trace tokens before each statement:
debug.
set x to 10.
debugend.
Prints DEBUG: set x to 10.
ethos myprogram.ethos # run a file
ethos # open the REPL
ethos --version # check version
ethos -vThe REPL tracks open blocks — when you start an if, while, repeat, count, or how to, the prompt switches to ... and buffers input until you close with end.. Session history saves to ~/.ethos/.ethos_history. Type exit or quit to leave.
Soft Traits are Python packages. Forge installs them into ~/.ethos/traits/, which Ethos prepends to sys.path at startup. Use them with bring in.
Hard Traits are compiled shared libraries. At startup, Ethos scans ~/.ethos/traits/hard_traits/, reads each trait's manifest.json, loads the .so with ctypes.CDLL, and wires up every exported function's signature. The Hard Trait SDK for C/C++ and Rust is currently under development.
Both kinds are managed by Forge → github.com/AmanCode22/forge
- macOS
.pkginstaller - Android via Termux
- Hard Trait SDK for C/C++ and Rust
- Eventually: rewrite the core in C, C++, or Rust
Expected later (not planned right now): LSP support, VSCode/Zed extensions, Ethos Studio GUI IDE.
Solo project, but contributions are welcome — especially Hard Trait SDK bindings for Go, Java, Zig, or any language other than C/C++ and Rust (which I'm handling myself). Bug reports and fixes always appreciated. Open an issue before starting anything large so we don't duplicate effort.
ethos-lang/
├── main.py
├── requirements.txt
└── src/ethos/
├── cli.py — REPL and file runner
├── lexer.py — sentence splitter and tokenizer
├── parser.py — transpiler to Python
└── executer.py — runner and Hard Trait loader
Build instructions: BUILDING.md
Full language reference: DOCS.md
Linux installation: LINUX_INSTALL.md
- Forge (package manager) → github.com/AmanCode22/forge
- ethos-builder (build scripts, packaging) → github.com/AmanCode22/ethos-builder
Apache 2.0. See LICENSE.