Qalb: The Only Arabic Programming Language
By: Meral Abu-Jaser /Arab America Contributing Writer
Qalb is the only Arabic programming language ever developed. It has similar syntax and grammar rules as other programming languages. Basically, it is like Lisp and Scheme, but you do not code in English, you instead code in Arabic. This is why it is so special and unique. Although there are multiple coding languages that are programming in a language other than English, Qalb has a couple of functionality that is interesting to take note of. Now let us jump into this digital world and learn more about Qalb!
Ramsey Nasser: Founder of Qalb
Nasser studied computer science in Beriout. During his academic career, he had to code in English. There was no Arabic syntax language at that time. Computers were, at their earliest, and innovation in the English-language world was the only aspect known.
After he graduated, Nasser joined Eyebeam as a fellow. He started his path in “artist colony and an R&D lab.” The projects he worked on focused on exploring technology, the Internet, and digital networks in artistic methods. This new path that he was taking was the start of his work on Qalb.
The Start of Qalb
Qalb is a new functional programming language that was developed in 2012 by Ramsey Nasser. During an interview, Mr. Nasser mentioned that it was almost impossible to develop a programming language in a language other than English. As a result, he went in a new direction where he would develop a mixture of technology with art in one programming language. Even though Qalb is an easy application but it is difficult to work within the way you would work with C++ of C.
Qalb is focused on using the Arabic syntax. As was stated during the interview, there are millions of students and people who are interested in programming, but English is not their strong language. Therefore, Qalb was invented to help those who face difficulties in working with the English language. This would allow a new era of programmers to test their skills and know if they are passionate about coding or not.
Hence, Qalb is built to help people who speak and write Arabic. Nasser stated “Arabic people have a very intense relationship to text, and a lot of the culture is predicated on language itself. So I wanted to bring as much of the Arab tradition of calligraphy into the computer science tradition of text and source code.”
Advantages that Qalb Offers
Even though Qalb is a newly developed programming language, it still brings a couple of advantages that other programming languages do not have.
One benefit is that it is user-friendly. Qalb provides an easy-to-learn, expressive, yet simple way to implement programming languages. In other words, programmers can implement complex programs without having to deal with jargon or complicated programming languages such as those found in C++. Hence, Qalb is perfect for beginners or for those who want to experiment with programming. This gives the new programmers a chance to learn and understand the basics of programming without going through all the complexity that C++, for example has.
Another advantage is that it is in Arabic. That being said, many people whose native language is Arabic face difficulties programming in English. However, with Qalb, the user does not have to worry about known good English to code. Hence, one can learn the fundamentals of coding in their native language, making it more efficient to get a glimpse of what it means to be a programmer.
What is Next
Well, now that we have an Arabic programming language at hand, we should try to spread the use of it to the Arab regions even though it is ideal to be using the known programming languages such as C++, Python, Java, Ruby, etc. Yet, once institutions in the Arab world start using Qalb, it would become normalized among the Arab world. It is just a matter of practice and usage.
Companies should try and experiment where they would implement what they have at hand into the Qalb programming software. Not to say that it is easy, but we need to start from somewhere! It is exciting to learn a new coding language let alone in Arabic! One’s native language and culture.
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