NME syntax list

Every spelling NME actually accepts, in one place. For explanations, read the language reference; this file is a table, not a tour.

It is generated from the compiler source (python scripts/build-syntax-reference.py), and a check fails the build if the compiler accepts a spelling that is missing here — so the list cannot drift away from the implementation.

#How to read this

• Three levels. Sentence needs no quotes, commas, parentheses, equals signs or colons; beginner is short and exact; advanced is ordinary Python. They mix freely in one file and on one line, with nothing to declare.
• Python wins. If a line is valid Python, NME leaves it alone. That is why a one-word line (skip, 멈춰) stays a Python name and only becomes an NME command inside a loop block.
• One NME statement is one Python line. The line count never changes, so a traceback points at the line you actually wrote.
• The Python produced column is exactly what the compiler emits.

#1. Output

Text or code. After an action word, a valid Python expression whose names the program already knows is treated as code; anything else is text. say and 말해 are the exception: they try the expression first. A name introduced earlier is substituted into text (show Hello name! → "Hello " + str(name) + "!").

#2. Input

ask number / 숫자로 produces int(input(...)). A question about an age or a count (How old are you?, 몇 살이에요?) is read as a number without it. A prompt that does not end in a space gets one.

#3. Save a value

Korean marks the target with the particle 은/는 and needs no action word. English has no such particle, so it uses set … to ….

#4. Change a value

⚠ A multi-word amount is parenthesised: subtract 1 + 2 from score is score - (1 + 2), not score - 1 + 2.

#5. Wait

The unit word (seconds, 초) is optional. A line with no number in it (잠깐 기다려) stays ordinary output.

#6. Repeat a number of times

A block closes three ways: by indentation, by one statement after :, or by a line containing only end / 끝.

#7. Repeat over a list

The name before in / 마다 holds each item in turn, and the block body can use it immediately.

#8. Repeat while a condition holds

#9. Conditions

#10. Comparison vocabulary

English accepts synonyms for the comparison words: greater, above, great, larger, bigger, higher all mean >; less, below, small, smaller, lower all mean <; equals, equal, same mean ==.

#11. Loop control

break and skip (멈춰, 건너뛰어) are valid Python names on their own, so they are read as NME only inside a loop block. Outside one they stay Python.

#12. Lists

Without the list of / 목록 marker a comma-separated line is ordinary text. append Mina to friends (a list) and add 1 to score (a number) are different commands and keep their own meanings.

#13. Values and literals

#14. Randomness

A choice written as a number stays a number (pick from 1 or 2 → choice((1, 2,))).

#15. Files

A file path is always quoted. This is the one place the sentence level asks for a quote character.

#16. Modules

#17. Slow text

Each character is printed on its own with a short pause after it. The pause is 0.04 seconds by default, 0.12 with very, and whatever you name with every 3 seconds / 3초씩.

#18. Screen

Clearing the screen sends a terminal control sequence, so somewhere that is not a terminal it may show up as text. The box and the centred line count a Korean character as two columns, so a Korean sentence comes out straight; the width is 40 columns.

#19. The stopwatch

start the timer starts the clock and elapsed / 잰시간 / 걸린시간 reads how many seconds have passed, to two decimal places. It is a value, so it works in output, in a saved name, and in a condition (if elapsed is greater than 3). Reading it without starting the clock is reported at compile time as E0226. A name the program made itself always wins over the word.

#20. Cooldowns

One cooldown belongs to one name. put door on cooldown for 3 seconds remembers the moment three seconds from now, and is ready / 쿨타임이 끝났으면 asks whether that moment has passed. They are conditions, so they work with when, while, else if, and the one-line form of all three. wait for door also reads as an ordinary English sentence, so a name the program already saved as something else is not read as a cooldown.

#21. Every action word

Every spelling accepted for each action, with nothing left out.

#22. Korean particles

These endings are not treated as part of the name they follow.

에게서는 · 한테서는 · 에게서 · 한테서 · 으로는 · 로는 · 에게 · 한테 · 에서 · 으로 · 까지 · 부터 · 처럼 · 보다 · 이라도 · 라도 · 에는 · 에서 · 은 · 는 · 이 · 가 · 을 · 를 · 와 · 과 · 도 · 의 · 에 · 로 · 아 · 야 · 랑 · 이랑 · 예요 · 이에요

#23. Typo recovery

For action words and connectors only, and only after Python has rejected the line, NME retries once with a single edit repaired (one insertion, deletion, substitution, or adjacent swap). If more than one repair is possible it repairs nothing and points at the exact span instead. Strings and comments are never touched.

#24. Error codes

Run nme en E0102 for the long explanation of a code (nme ko E0102 in Korean).