Grow from sentences to Python

If Python still feels hard, this guide starts with something simpler and changes one small idea at a time until you are writing Python. The five-minute part starts after installation. If nme --version does not work yet, follow the Windows, macOS, or Linux installation guide first.

#0. Try it with nothing installed

No installation, and it works on a phone. Open needmoreeasy.com in a browser (nmelang.com goes to the same place). Type a program on the left and the Python it becomes appears on the right; press Run and the result appears underneath. The compiler and a Python engine both run inside the browser, so the program never leaves that tab.

The in-browser engine cannot use files, the network, or installed packages. When a program needs those, follow the install steps below.

The five minutes below start after installing. If nme --version does not work yet, follow the Windows, macOS and Linux install guide first.

#1. Hello World

Create a UTF-8 file named hello.nme (in the same folder where you ran nme --version; any text editor works — on Windows, Notepad saves UTF-8 by default):

show Hello world!

Run it:

nme run hello

Expected output: Hello world! You just wrote a complete program. There are no quotes or parentheses.

Shortcuts work from the start: nme r hello runs, and if hello.nme is the only program in the folder, plain nme r finds it for you. Later, nme install <package> installs a Python package (guide 24). nme c hello checks a program without running it, and nme b hello shows the readable Python it turns into — add -o hello.py to save it as a file.

#2. Have a conversation

Replace the file with (then run nme run hello again):

What is your name?
Hello name!

NME remembers that name holds the answer, so it inserts that value into the second sentence automatically. More complex questions can use ask name, but the ordinary question is enough for a first program.

The same ideas work in Korean and can be mixed immediately:

이름이 뭐예요?
안녕하세요 이름!

#3. Repeat without a colon

For one repeated sentence, replace the file with (put both lines in one file — English and Korean mix freely):

3 times Welcome to NME
3번 안녕하세요

For several sentences, replace the file with (indent the extra lines with four spaces):

repeat 3 times
    show First sentence
    둘째 문장 말해줘

If indentation is still uncomfortable, replace the file with this version that uses an explicit closing word instead:

set score to 0
while score is less than 3
show score
add 1 to score
end

set score to 0 stores a number, while score is less than 3 keeps going for as long as that stays true, and add 1 to score increases it.

The same style supports break, and/or, else if, and else; Korean spellings are 멈춰, 그리고/또는, 아니면 만약에, and 아니면.

#4. Make a number game

Replace the file with:

set answer to random number from 1 to 10
ask number guess Pick a number from 1 to 10

if guess equals answer
    show Correct!

if guess is less than answer
    show Go higher

if guess is greater than answer
    show Go lower

The game asks a question and waits for your typed answer. Run the complete Korean version:

nme run examples/guessing-game.ko

The English version is examples/guessing-game.nme:

nme run examples/guessing-game

The random number, numeric input, comparisons, and output compile to ordinary Python. No list literal, function call, equals sign, or colon was required.

#5. Lists and waiting — still only sentences

A list is written the way you would say it out loud. Replace the file with:

set friends to list of Mina, Ada
for each friend in friends
    show Hello friend
    wait 1 second
end

Add to a list the same way:

set friends to empty list
append Mina to friends
append Ada to friends
show friends

Nothing above needed quotes, brackets, colons or =. Sentence syntax is not a beginner's toy that you leave behind — it is the language. Guides 01–12 and 86–88 are written this way from start to finish, and they cover output, questions, lists, loops, conditions, files of your own making, stories, the screen, a stopwatch and cooldowns.

Two more levels exist for the day you want them: a shorter beginner syntax, and ordinary Python, which NME keeps exactly as you typed it. Neither is needed to finish a program, and both are described in the language reference. If you are here to learn to program, stay on sentences — the next section shows you the Python your sentences already became.

#6. Check, build, and compile

nme check hello
nme build hello -o hello.py
python3 hello.py

(On Windows: py hello.py.)

For an optional standalone native executable:

python3 -m pip install nuitka
nme compile hello.nme -o hello

(On Windows: py -m pip install nuitka. The install guide adds the optional [app] extras.)

NME automatically chooses python3 on macOS/Linux and py on Windows. The advanced --python option is only for unusual local setups.

#7. Let NME simplify Python

First create old_program.py with a couple of lines such as print("hi") and for i in range(3): print(i) — or reuse the hello.py from section 6. Then run:

nme convert old_program.py --level beginner --language ko -o easier.ko.nme
nme convert old_program.py --level beginner --language en -o easier.nme

The converter keeps string quotes (say "hi"). In beginner syntax they are usually unnecessary (say hi), so you can remove them after inspection if you want a more conversational phrase.

#Where to continue

• Learning guides: 73 small progressive guides, each with difficulty, prerequisites, topic, and result
• Learning path: seven projects from Hello World to a compiler
• Language reference: exact rules for all three levels
• Editors: VS Code, Cursor, and Zed
• AI assistants: give an assistant one documentation link