pseudocode-i18n

Current version: 0.3.2. License: GNU GPL-3.0-or-later.

pseudocode-i18n lets students, teachers and developers write the same pseudocode language in several natural languages, while keeping one common semantic model underneath.

Write a normal .pseudo file, in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German or English. The language can be detected automatically. The same source can then be checked, formatted, executed, transpiled bidirectionally with Python, or exported/rendered as a Mermaid flowchart/algorigram.

# language: fr

age est un entier
age = 17

Si age >= 18 Alors:
    Afficher "Majeur"
Sinon:
    Afficher "Mineur"
Fin

Transpiles to:

age: int
age = 17

if age >= 18:
    print("Majeur")
else:
    print("Mineur")

Why this project?

Pseudocode used in classrooms is rarely standardized. The same ideas are written as Afficher, Écrire, Mostrar, Escribir, Print, Display, Si ... Alors, If ... Then, FinSi, Fin, or with indentation only.

pseudocode-i18n deliberately accepts these common teaching variants, maps them to one AST, and provides one predictable canonical formatter.

Main goals:

• one source extension for every language: .pseudo;
• automatic language detection with an explicit override when needed;
• tolerant input, but deterministic canonical formatting;
• indentation-based block semantics, like Python;
• optional FinSi / FinPour / FinFonction-style terminators;
• a generic optional terminator (Fin, Fim, Fine, Ende, End);
• localized types, constants, operators, input/output verbs and control flow;
• bidirectional Python transpilation for the supported subset, without losing useful type information;
• a shared language definition for CLI, Pygments, MkDocs and VS Code integrations.

Install

python -m pip install pseudocode-i18n

On a system-managed Python installation where you deliberately use system packages:

python -m pip install --break-system-packages pseudocode-i18n

The package installs two equivalent commands:

pseudo
pseudocode

One .pseudo extension, automatic language detection

Every pseudocode source file uses the same extension, regardless of language:

algo.pseudo

In the normal case, the language is detected from the source:

pseudo algo.pseudo

If detection needs to be overridden, put a universal metadata directive at the beginning of the file:

# language: es

or force it from the CLI:

pseudo --lang es algo.pseudo

Resolution order is:

CLI/API > # language: xx > project configuration > automatic detection > fallback

The canonical form is # language: fr. The aliases # language fr, # lang: fr, # lang fr and the equivalent // ... forms are also accepted; language and lang are synonyms and the colon is optional.

Pseudocode in several languages

The bundled languages are intentionally documented in this pedagogical order: French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, then English.

Français

Si note >= 10 Alors:
    Afficher "Admis"
Sinon:
    Afficher "Ajourné"
Fin

Español

Si nota >= 10 Entonces:
    Mostrar "Aprobado"
Sino:
    Mostrar "No aprobado"
Fin

Italiano

Se voto >= 10 Allora:
    Mostra "Promosso"
Altrimenti:
    Mostra "Non promosso"
Fine

Português

Se nota >= 10 Então:
    Mostrar "Aprovado"
Senão:
    Mostrar "Reprovado"
Fim

Deutsch

Wenn note >= 10 Dann:
    Ausgeben "Bestanden"
Sonst:
    Ausgeben "Nicht bestanden"
Ende

English

If grade >= 10 Then:
    Display "Passed"
Else:
    Display "Failed"
End

Flexible conditionals, canonical formatting

French conditionals accept, among others:

Si condition:
Si condition
Si condition Alors:
Si condition Alors

Sinon, Sinon Si, optional Alors, optional colons, specific terminators and generic Fin are also accepted.

For example, all these tolerant variants converge with pseudo format toward:

Si condition Alors:
    Afficher "oui"
Sinon Si autre_condition Alors:
    Afficher "peut-être"
Sinon:
    Afficher "non"
Fin

Indentation determines the actual block structure. End markers are always optional.

Input and output synonyms

Vocabulary is language data rather than parser code.

French examples:

Afficher "Bonjour"
Écrire "Bonjour"
Ecrire "Bonjour"

Saisir n
Lire n

Spanish examples:

Mostrar "Hola"
Escribir "Hola"

Leer n
Introducir n

Matching is case-insensitive, and accentless equivalents of declared accented spellings are generated automatically.

Variables and optional types

Type declarations are never mandatory. You can write ordinary Python-like assignments:

a = 2
a = a + 2

or add pedagogical type declarations:

a est un entier
a, b sont des flottants
nom est une chaîne
notes est un tableau
d est un dictionnaire
vus est un ensemble
coordonnees est un tuple

They are preserved in Python as annotations:

a: int
a: float
b: float
nom: str
notes: list
d: dict
vus: set
coordonnees: tuple

Bundled semantic type families:

The same model is localized in all six bundled languages.

Vide / null values are not empty collections

A localized null constant has the same semantic role as Python None:

x = Vide

becomes:

x = None

Spanish accepts Vacío and its automatically generated accentless form Vacio; the other languages provide their own localized vocabulary.

This is distinct from empty collections:

[]              # empty list
{}              # empty dictionary, exactly like Python
Ensemble()      # empty set -> set()
Tuple()         # empty tuple -> tuple()
Dictionnaire()  # empty dictionary -> dict()

Assignment forms

All of these are accepted as assignments:

a = 2
a := 2
a <- 2
a ← 2
2 -> a
2 → a

The canonical formatter emits =.

Membership and mathematical notation

Localized word operators and mathematical symbols are equivalent.

French examples:

x Dans E
x Inclus Dans E
x ∈ E

x Pas Dans E
x Non Dans E
x Non Inclus Dans E
x ∉ E

They transpile to Python in / not in.

Repeat loops

Repeat a fixed number of times:

Répéter 5 fois:
    Afficher "Bonjour"
Fin

becomes:

for _ in range(5):
    print("Bonjour")

Post-test repeat-until loop:

n = 0
Répéter:
    n = n + 1
Jusqu'à n >= 5

becomes:

n = 0
while True:
    n = n + 1
    if n >= 5:
        break

The body therefore executes at least once.

Run, check, transpile and format

Run directly:

pseudo programme.pseudo

Check syntax:

pseudo check programme.pseudo

Transpile pseudocode → Python:

pseudo transpile programme.pseudo -o programme.py
pseudo transpile -i programme.pseudo -o programme.py
pseudo transpile -input programme.pseudo -output programme.py

Transpile Python → pseudocode:

pseudo transpile programme.py -o programme.pseudo --lang fr
pseudo transpile -i programme.py -o programme.pseudo --lang fr
pseudo transpile -input programme.py -output programme.pseudo --lang fr

The direction is inferred from .pseudo versus .py. Unsupported Python statements fail explicitly rather than being approximated silently.

Canonical formatting in place:

pseudo format programme.pseudo
pseudo format programme.pseudo --check

Flowchart / algorigram export and rendering

Export Mermaid source:

pseudo flowchart programme.pseudo -o programme.mmd

Render directly to SVG or PNG:

pseudo render programme.pseudo -o programme.svg
pseudo render programme.pseudo -o programme.png
pseudo render programme.mmd -o programme.svg
pseudo render programme.mmd -o programme.png

pseudo svg is an SVG-only alias. Rendering uses Mermaid CLI, auto-detects Chromium/Chrome when possible, and uses a transparent background by default.

Python API

Automatic language resolution is the default:

from pseudocode_i18n import (
    detect_language, format_pseudocode, parse, render_mermaid,
    to_mermaid, transpile, transpile_python,
)

source = '''
Si x > 0 Alors:
    Afficher x
Fin
'''

detection = detect_language(source)
tree = parse(source)
python_source = transpile(source)
canonical_source = format_pseudocode(source)
mermaid = to_mermaid(source)
pseudo_again = transpile_python(python_source, language="fr")
render_mermaid(mermaid, "programme.svg")

Force a language when needed:

python_source = transpile(source, language="fr")

detect_language() returns the selected ISO 639-1 code together with confidence/scores through a LanguageDetection object.

Project configuration and custom synonyms

Canonical project file:

pseudocode.config.yml

Example:

language: auto
fallback_language: fr

format:
  colons: true
  indent: 4
  end_markers: true

render:
  browser: auto
  background: transparent
  mermaid_cli: auto

languages:
  fr:
    keywords:
      display:
        add:
          - Montrer

lang: is a supported alias for the project-level language: key. The canonical spelling in documentation remains language::

lang: es
fallback_language: fr

This makes Montrer an additional French display synonym without modifying the parser.

Bundled language data live in:

pseudocode_i18n/languages/fr.yml
pseudocode_i18n/languages/es.yml
pseudocode_i18n/languages/it.yml
pseudocode_i18n/languages/pt.yml
pseudocode_i18n/languages/de.yml
pseudocode_i18n/languages/en.yml

They define vocabulary, patterns, end forms, type names, method/function aliases and flowchart labels. This is the preferred place for language-specific evolution.

Add another language

Languages use ISO 639-1 two-letter codes.

For example:

yarn generate nl

creates the Dutch language scaffold, inserts it before English in the supported-language order, and regenerates its documentation page/navigation. Fill the translations, then run the command again to validate/regenerate.

Development

Bootstrap:

corepack enable
yarn setup

Run tests:

yarn test

Run the documentation locally:

yarn dev

LAN/mobile documentation server:

yarn dev:lan

Full validation before committing/releasing:

yarn bfc

yarn bfc synchronizes the project version from package.json, validates version consistency, lints, runs tests, regenerates/checks/builds the documentation, and builds the Python package.

Version source of truth

package.json is the single source of truth for the project version.

yarn version:sync

synchronizes derived Python metadata and the version displayed in this README. MkDocs narrative pages can use:

__PSEUDOCODE_I18N_VERSION__

and site/hooks/version.py replaces that placeholder from package.json during the documentation build.

Documentation policy

Documentation is part of every change. Grammar, CLI, configuration, formatting, transpilation, flowcharts, language data, highlighting vocabulary and development workflow changes must update their corresponding documentation in the same revision.

The MkDocs home page is generated from this README, so the repository landing page and documentation landing page cannot silently drift apart.

License

GNU General Public License version 3 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later). See LICENSE.

AUTRES PROJETS de ce développeur

The Pseudocode ecosystem is split into small reusable projects so that each integration can share the same grammar instead of reimplementing it:

• pygments-lexer-pseudocode-i18n — Pygments lexer using the common multilingual semantic vocabulary and Python-like token categories.
• mkdocs-pseudocode-i18n — MkDocs integration for pseudocode in teaching/documentation sites.
• vscode-pseudocode — editor integration for .pseudo files, formatting and language-aware authoring.

The core project is pseudocode-i18n and its documentation is published at rod2ik.gitlab.io/pseudocode-i18n.