The question
What does code look like when it speaks Nyanja?
Almost every programming language borrows its keywords from English. NyanjaLang starts from a different language: Nyanja, spoken by millions across Zambia and Malawi. The goal was a real language, not a translation layer, with its own syntax, its own interpreter and a place to run it.
What I built
A full interpreter, from text to result
- A complete interpreter written in Python that reads NyanjaLang source and runs it.
- A web deployment so anyone can try the language in a browser, no install needed.
- A Cultural Data Toolkit: an NLP preprocessing pipeline for Nyanja/Chewa text, built to support the language work.
InputSourceA program written in NyanjaLang
ReadTokensWords and symbols the language knows
UnderstandSyntax treeThe program's structure
RunResultThe interpreter executes it
Why it matters
The hardest kind of software, in my own language
Writing a language touches everything: parsing, data structures, error handling and the experience of the person typing. It’s the project that proves I can go deep, not just wide.