forwhile 1.0.1

A world-building language for young storytellers

ForWhile

A world-building programming language designed to teach Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) and core simulation concepts to young storytellers through a plain-English, narrative-driven syntax.

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📖 Quick Links

• Language Specification: docs/LANGUAGE_SPEC.md — Reference grammar and design decisions.
• Educator's Guide: docs/EDUCATORS_GUIDE.md — CS concept mapping and 10 classroom exercises.
• Contributor Guidelines: CONTRIBUTING.md — Set up local environment and coverage goals.
• License: LICENSE — MIT License.

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🌟 Philosophy

Every feature in ForWhile is designed to serve a world-building and simulation philosophy:

1. Teaches Real Programming Concepts: Maps directly to classes, objects, traits/properties, composition, methods, constructor methods, loops, and conditions.
2. Easy to Understand: Reads like plain English narration.
3. No Developer Jargon: Avoids being "Python with English words" by replacing technical keywords (like def, class, return) with narrative concepts (like creature, action, play scene).
4. Reinforces World-building: Code reads like a fantasy story or simulation setup.

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⚔️ Syntax Comparison

Here is how ForWhile maps common programming paradigms to storytelling:

Programming Concept	Traditional Language (e.g., Python)	ForWhile Narrative Syntax
Class / Blueprint	class Dragon:	creature Dragon
Instantiation	Ember = Dragon("Ember")	bring Ember to life as Dragon with ("Ember")
State Mutation	Ember.health = 100	give Ember the trait health to 100
Composition (Mixin)	attach Fire to Ember	attach Fire to Ember
Method / Action	def breathe(self):	action breathe
Method Call	Ember.breathe()	Ember does breathe
Constructor	def __init__(self):	when born
Conditional Block	if condition: ... else:	when condition: ... otherwise:
Objects Graph / Edge	alice.friend = bob	alice knows bob as friend
Plural References	[x for x in env if type(x) == Dragon]	the world's Dragon creatures
Event Callback	observer.on('die', callback)	whenever anyone dies
Time-Step Loop	for _ in range(10):	the world ticks 10 times
Functions / Calls	def greet(n): / greet("Bob")	scene greet with (n) / play scene greet with ("Bob")
Getter / Computed	@property \n def power(self):	power is health times 2

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🛠️ Installation

ForWhile requires Python 3.8+. Install it from your local package folder:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ghanashyam03/ForWhile.git
cd ForWhile

# Install the package in editable development mode
pip install -e .

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🚀 Usage & CLI Commands

Once installed, the forwhile command is available directly in your terminal. It supports four subcommands:

1. Start the REPL (forwhile start)

Launch the interactive storytelling environment.

forwhile start

Type help inside the REPL to see a visual cheat sheet of commands.

2. Run a Story File (forwhile run <file.fw>)

Bring a .fw story script to life and see the narration.

forwhile run examples/11_story_structure.fw

3. Check a Story File (forwhile check <file.fw>)

Verify a story file for syntax errors or invalid vocabulary without running it.

forwhile check examples/13_trait_kinds.fw

4. Version Check (forwhile --version)

Print the current version of the ForWhile engine.

forwhile --version

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🏠 Project Structure

ForWhile/
├── forwhile/              # Core Source Code
│   ├── errors.py          # Custom child-friendly errors
│   ├── interpreter.py     # Main AST evaluation, CLI, and REPL
│   ├── lexer.py           # PLY Lexer (tokenization)
│   └── parser.py          # PLY Parser (Abstract Syntax Tree builder)
├── tests/                 # Comprehensive Test Suites
│   ├── test_basic.py
│   ├── test_cli.py
│   ├── test_coverage_boost.py
│   ├── test_examples.py
│   └── ...
├── examples/              # Sample Story Scripts
│   ├── 01_hello.fw
│   ├── 11_story_structure.fw
│   └── 15_ecosystem.fw    # Fox/Rabbit/Grass ecosystem simulation
├── docs/                  # Documentation
│   ├── LANGUAGE_SPEC.md
│   └── EDUCATORS_GUIDE.md
├── editors/vscode/        # VS Code Extension Support
│   ├── package.json       # Extension configuration
│   └── syntaxes/          # Syntax highlighting definition
├── setup.py               # legacy setuptools installation
├── pyproject.toml         # Modern package manifest
└── LICENSE                # MIT License

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🧪 Development & Testing

We maintain a strict code coverage requirement of $\ge 90%$ on forwhile/interpreter.py.

Install test dependencies and run the tests:

pip install pytest pytest-cov
python -m pytest --cov=forwhile --cov-report=term-missing