every language, every system
Citrine Programming Language
With Citrine you can easily create apps and games in your
native language on
any computer (Linux, Windows, Mac etc..) and run them on any device, mobile
phone, game console or the web. Share with your friends everywhere!
*
starting with Citrine 0.9.6 these features will become available
Learn Citrine in a minute.
Latest News
Citrine/UZ Update
Roadmap 2024: Media plugin
Pre-order the Citrine Book!
French homepage! (thanks Mario Périard)
Translation Kit Update
Citrine 0.9.5 Sorghvliet released!
More news »
Note: This website is also served over non-HTTPS because some visitors have
to rely on caching proxies due to poor internet connectivity in their countries.
Features
Localized
Write code in your own beautiful native language without foreign keywords or archaic ASCII symbols.
Simple
Just ~5 writing rules. No special syntax for if-then/for/while. No classes, data types etc...
Uniform
No more awkward sublanguages of the past like regex, HTML or SQL. Just one language.
Manual
Citrine is very easy to learn, you create a program by
sending messages to objects. There are 3 types of messages:
unary (no arguments), binary (one argument) and
keyword messages (one or more arguments),
here's how:
☞ x ≔ ‘Hello’ length. ☞ x ≔ 3 + 7. ☞ x ≔ Number between: 0 and: 10.
We use ☞ to declare a new variable. In the second example we send a message +7 to 3, the resulting object will be 10. There is no need for if, while or for statements, to execute code conditionally send true: to a boolean, to run code in a loop, multiply the task by sending ×:
(x ≥ y) true: { ✎ write: ‘buy!’. }.
{ :i ✎ write: i. } × 3.
{ x add: 1. } while: { ↲ x < 9. }.
You can write Citrine in your native language, so, for instance, in Dutch, the third example looks like this:
{ x optellen: 1. }
zolang: { ↲ x < 9. }.
There is no special syntax needed for string interpolation, just send a non-defined message to a string to replace the word specified by the message with the argument:
‘Hola señor!’ señor: ‘Don Quijote’.
To create your own object, send new to the main Object, you can also use other objects as a prototype. You can add new logic to all objects with on:do:, even existing ones. There are no classes.
☞ y ≔ Number new.
y on: ‘double’ do: { ↲ ⛏ × 2. }.
Note that ⛏ refers to the object itself. To store a value as an object property use: ⚿, properties are only accessible from within the object itself and its derivatives.
cat on: ‘name:’ do: { :me
⚿ name ≔ me.
}.
Apart from a few details, that's basically all there is to
it! Now you know Citrine!
For more examples, open the learn-by-example manual, which is available
for all languages supported by Citrine!
* Translated manual available
EXAMPLES (ALL LANGUAGES)
Citrine is a localized scripting language.
For some languages, we have to rely on machine translations
because we haven't found translators yet.
We appreciate any help!
All natural languages are welcome**, even if they are not very common (EGIDS-status 6).
** Artificial languages, fantasy languages, private languages and other
non-natural languages will not be included but you are free to fork the project of course.
Improve Translations
Citrine Online Store
COMING SOON!
Programming with Abstraction & Objects in Citrine is a
book that covers the core language features and includes lots of examples as well
as some exercises. Soon available in:
Dutch, English and Russian.
BUY e-BOOK (coming soon)
BUY PAPERBACK (coming soon)
COMING SOON!
Export your Citrine app/game to
your smartphone, game console or any other
platform!
BUY Export (coming soon)
Do you wish to embed Citrine as a mini language into
your business application?
That is possible of course!
Feel free to contact me to explore the possibilities!
BUY CONSULTANCY
Citrine is free and open source, licensed BSD.
Download the latest version of Citrine and have fun!
Download Citrine 0.9.5
or grab the source...
Free Extra Tools & Language Supplements Download extra software, tools and language supplements for the Citrine Programming Language.
FAQ
Why Citrine?
Because I want to make fun little products in a beautiful, simple Dutch programming language, without English (key)words, ugly sublanguages and archaic ASCII symbols in the mix. I figured some other people might want the same thing but using their own native language instead of just Dutch, so that's why I share it. Have fun!
Why is this page in English?
As a developer, you have to know some English. Nobody is going to change that anytime soon. Writing complex logic in a foreign language is something different though. Citrine allows you to put your thoughts into the words of the language you know best: your mother tongue. That being said, if you want to translate a manual page, feel free to help!
Can I contribute?
Sure, Citrine is open source (Licensed BSD1,2) and we can share code using e-mail or Github or other systems. Citrine is written in C. The Citrine Project is apolitical and everyone is welcome. 1. BSD License explained 2. Citrine Programming Language License on website
Why icons in the language?
To limit verbosity and avoid using cryptic looking ASCII symbols, Citrine uses icons for frequently used operations like declaring a variable. Also, why should we limit our character set to the current configuration of keyboards anyway? Many computer users around the world already use lots of characters that aren't available on their keyboard and it works perfectly fine.
Why not just use AI?
I can imagine an AI layer on top of Citrine that helps you to formulate the code. At the moment I do not have any plans for such a system though.
Other questions?
Consult the Extended Technical FAQ >.
What type of scoping does Citrine use?
Citrine uses dynamic scoping, for instance, the following example prints '2':
☞ f ≔ { q ≔ 2. }.
{☞ q ≔ 1. f run. ✎ write: q.} run.
Can I use inheritance?
Yes. Assuming we have a Cat object that can print its name, here, we override the behaviour for message 'name' with a new response. The ⛏ symbol 'plays' back another response from the same object. Sending the same message invokes the overridden behaviour. If you really want recursion (i.e. invoke the code you're currently running) prefix your message with the word 'recursive'.
Royal cat ≔ Cat new.
Royal cat on: 'name' do: {
↲ ‘your royal highness ’ +
( ⛏ name ).
}.
✎ write:
((Royal cat new name: ‘Diva’) name).
What happens if a message is not understood?
If an object does not understand a message, the message will be ignored (Null Pattern). You can intercept those messages though, similar to PHP's magic methods:
echo ≔ Object new.
echo
on: ‘respond:’
do: { :s ↲ s + s }.
echo ho!.
About us
Gabor de Mooij
Core language design & Linux/BSD implementations.
Software developer from the Netherlands.
Aavesh Jilani
Hindi & Marathi translations (Citrine/HI and Citrine/MR).
Windows, iOS, Android/ARM platform support.
Software developer from India.
The creator of Dragon (programming language)
and Suasive (search engine).
Roman Litwinow
Russian Translations for Citrine/RU,
Russian Language Supplements,
Russian Citrine Website.
Software developer & Language Consultant from Russia.
Special thanks to:
Marek Majkowski (SipHash; Licensed MIT),
Stephen C. Losen (CCGILib; Licensed LGPL),
Dave Gandy (Font Awesome; Licensed SIL OFL 1.1),
JadedCtrl (Haiku Support),
John Calistro (Brazil-Portugese Support),
Tirifto (Czech Support),
Tulenov Temur (Uzbek Support)
Jan Wicijowski (Polish Support),
Twiggler (Windows Support),
Jake Russo (Plugins, CURL Lib Support),
DennisCGc (Bug fixes & improvements),
Takano32 (Various),
Leonora Tindall (Bug fixes & improvements),
Janus (Bug fixes & improvements),
Shinriyo (MacOSX Support),
Bernadette Peeters (English language support),
Sean Eshbaugh (MacOSX Binaries),
Georgel Preput (Romanian Support),
Lina Dapkute (Lithuanian Support),
Mario Périard (French language support, regional homepage),
Muhammad Alvaro Syawal Siregar (Indonesian language support)
& Marianne (Editor, Language Consultant).
contact: gabordemooij at gaborsoftware dot nl
KVK 66696534 BTW/TAX NL002061759B51