Yapton

Yapton is a small educational programming language that lets kids not only learn Python faster but also write Python-style programs with slang-inspired keywords. A Yapton file (.yap) is translated to Python in memory and then run with the normal Python runtime. It is intended as a friendly bridge to Python, not as a replacement for it.

What this project does

Yapton keeps ordinary Python syntax, data types, loops, expressions, and standard-library imports. It adds the following alternative words:

For example:

fanumtax math

vibe greet(name):
    yap("Welcome,", name)

name = spill("What is your name? ")
greet(name)

Project roles

The codebase has three clear responsibilities:

Requirements

• Python 3.10 or newer
• PowerShell, Command Prompt, or another terminal
• Git, only if you want to publish the project on GitHub
• Download and use library of Yapton straight from

Check that Python is available:

py --version

If py is not found, install Python from python.org and make sure the installer option to add Python to PATH is enabled.

Run it locally (Windows / PowerShell)

Open PowerShell in this project folder, then create a fresh virtual environment and install Yapton in editable mode:

cd "C:\path\to\Yapton"
py -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install -e .

Run an example:

yap sample2.yap

Or run the larger example:

yap sample5.yap

See the built-in language reference at any time:

yap --slang-help

If PowerShell blocks activation

Activation is optional. Use the environment's Python directly instead:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -e .
.\.venv\Scripts\yap.exe sample2.yap

Run a new program

1. Create a file ending in .yap, such as hello.yap.
2. Add Yapton/Python code.
3. Run yap hello.yap while the environment is active.

Indentation and colons work exactly like Python. Regular Python can be mixed with the Yapton keywords shown above.

Sample guide

Why yap works reliably in this folder

Windows chooses yap.bat in the current folder before an installed yap command. This project launcher deliberately uses python -m yapton.cli instead of a hard-coded path to venv\\Scripts\\python.exe. That means it uses the same Python installation that installed Yapton and will not break merely because a virtual-environment folder was moved, deleted, or created on another computer.

Contributing

When adding a slang keyword, update both NAME_MAP and print_slang_help() in src/yapton/__init__.py, then add or update a .yap example that demonstrates it. Before committing, run an example and yap --slang-help to confirm the command still works.

Current status

Yapton is an early educational prototype. Because programs ultimately execute as Python, only run .yap files you trust.