Quick to get started

Algorab allows students to start practising quickly by being easy to install on all platforms and simple to use thanks to its low-ceremony syntax, allowing teachers to save time on the first lessons.

println("Hello World")

val name = ask("What's your name?")

println("Hello $name!")

print("Hello World")

name = input("What's your name?")

print(f"Hello {name}!")

printf("Hello World\n");

char word[256];

fgets(word, sizeof(word), stdin);

printf("Hello %s!\n");

Hello World

What's your name?

Alice

Hello Alice!

Expressive

Most algorithms and data structures are tedious to write in languages such as Python, C or Java, while not being easy to reread. Algorab imports concepts from functional programming such as algebraic data types and pattern matching to make classic algorithmic problems clear and concise to describe.

enum LinkedList[A]:

  case Empty

  case Node(head: A, tail: LinkedList[A])

  def append(element: A): LinkedList[A] = this match

    case Empty            then Node(head, Empty)

    case Node(head, tail) then Node(head, tail.append(element))

class LinkedList:

    def append(self, element):

        pass

class Empty(LinkedList):

    def append(self, element):

        return Node(element, Empty())

class Node(LinkedList):

    def __init__(self, head, tail):

        self.head = head

        self.tail = tail

    def append(self, element):

        return Node(self.head, self.tail.append(element))

#include <stdlib.h>

typedef struct Node {

    int head;

    struct Node *tail;

} LinkedList;

LinkedList *createNode(int head, LinkedList *tail) {

    LinkedList *result = malloc(sizeof(LinkedList));

    result->head = head;

    result->tail = tail;

    return result;

LinkedList *append(LinkedList *list, int element) {

    if(list == NULL) return createNode(element, list);

    else return createNode(list->head, append(list->tail, element));

Active assistance for students in their learning

Most programming languages do not provide the necessary tools for beginners to understand the issues they encounter, resulting in dropouts and times losses. Algorab has clear and precise error messages to help students understand and solve problems on their own.

record User(name: String, age: Int)

val user = User("John", 20)

println("Hello ${user.username} !")

Error: Unknown record field.

At ./myscript.algo, line 4, character 22

println("Hello ${user.username} !")

                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hint: user is of type User.

      Did you mean user.name?

Industry-relevant skills

Algorab encourages the use of good programming practices such as error handling, correct naming, adding comments and writing tests. With Algorab, students acquire skills that can be applied to the languages used in the professional world.

---

Create a new user.

- param  name the user's name. Should not be empty.

- param  age the user's age. Should be positive.

- return a new User with the given fields.

---

def createUser(name: String, age: Int): User can Throw[UserError] =

  if name.isBlank then throw(UserError.BlankName)

  else if age < 0 then throw(UserError.NegativeAge)

  else User(name, age)

test createUser with

  assertEquals(createUser("Sofia", 23), User("Sofia", 23))

  assertThrows(createUser("", 23), UserError.BlankName)

  assertThrows(createUser("Sofia", -23), UserError.NegativeAge)

Comparison chart

A more detailed comparison will be available when the project will be in a more mature state.

Feature	Python	C	Algorab
Strong static typing
Meaningful error messages
Expressivity
Teaching good practices
Rich ecosystem

Algorab