JAW (just a word) is a pseudocode and commenting language.
Spec first — Implement later
Editor theme in screenshot: Barva by ovcharovcoder.
See the installation docs for setup instructions:
Global variables: [<identifier>] — description
Inline assignment: [<identifier>]: description or [<identifier>]: description = value
[V] — a 1D vector
[L]: length of [V]
[L]: length of [V] = 0
One-line: /<name> [<arg>]: <description>, ...
Two-line: /<name> on one line, arguments on the next.
/Add [A]: an integer, [B]: an integer
/Subtract
[A]: an integer, [B]: an integer
Syntax: [<number>] — <action>
[1] — [V]: array = [82,3,47,15,61]
[2] — Sort [V]
[3] — Filter [V]
[>] [V]
[^] code comment (under a step), [*] general comment. Both support multi-line continuation until the next JAW construct.
[1] — sort [V]
[^] this sorts the vector
using a quicksort variant
[*] a general note
that spans multiple lines
Syntax: [!] — <log-statement>
Supports variable refs inline, log-level decorators (#error, #warn), and multi-line with indentation. An optional title ending in : on the first line is italicized.
[!] — simple log
[!] — #error something went wrong with [V]
[!] — Title:
multi-line log content
[V]@[P] added to [R]
Syntax: [>] <return-value>
[>] [A] + [B]
[>] /LastAdd[ [X] ]
Simple: [<step>] — <condition> ? /True[ args ] | /False[ args ]
Chained: [<step>] — <cond> ? /A[ args ] | <cond> ? /B[ args ] | /C[ args ]
Complex (multi-step branches) using [+] and [-] blocks:
[1] — [R] == Admin ? /Grant[ [R] ] | /Deny[ [R] ]
[1] — [R] == Admin ? /Grant[ [R] ] | [R] == User ? /Limit[ [R] ] | /Deny[ [R] ]
[1] — [R] == Admin ?
[+] — /Grant[ [R] ]
[-] — /Deny[ [R] ]
[~] is the loop marker — a condition (while) or iteration expression (for-each) governs repetition.
[~] — [P] < [L]
[1] — [P] += 1
[~] — [X] in [V]
[1] — do something with [X]
[~] — ([A], [B]) in [1]
[1] — [A] * 0.5
[2] — ([B] * 3) + 1
[>] — [1] ** [2]
[&] marks steps that execute concurrently. The algorithm continues after all complete.
[&]
[1] — Fetch data from API
[2] — Load cache from disk
[2] — Process results
#name or #name:value attach metadata to variables, steps, or functions.
[V] — a vector #mutable #type:list
[1] — sort [V] #complexity:O(nlogn)
/add #pure [A]: an integer, [B]: an integer
@ accesses elements by index:
[1] — [V]@[P]
[^] vector [V] at position [P]
[1] — [D]@[K]
[^] Dictionary [D] at key [K]
Standard notation: +, -, *, /, ==, >, <, >=, <=, !=, << (append), etc.
See the Glossary for a complete reference of all markers and terms.
One of the pain points in developing an explicit pseudocode language is determining how much of the syntax should be defined up front, and how much is at the user's discretion. JAW is flexible enough that plain text can be used in place of exact syntax. Meaning, one could write in natural language what a certain step should perform, or which function should be called with what arguments.