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Glagol (Russian Глагол, "verb") is a programming language based on the Russian lexicon. It is strongly reminiscent of Oberon and Pascal. The language is the subject of serious academic study and is under active development. The complete distribution includes, along with the compiler, a set of mathematical and system libraries, games and applications with source code attached.

Features

• The usage of Russian keywords is believed to make the language easier to understand. These keywords are often different from those usually used to describe programming languages but they are closer to everyday Russian speech.
• The language is based on Oberon and therefore almost all the features of that language are present.
• There is significant support for console programs, which are widely used in education. All strings are automatically converted into an OEM encoding with output procedures.
• There is a simple console-based GUI.
• Debugging is possible (using Microsoft Visual Studio).

Problems

• Console output. All existing functions use console output, and the simple GUI is also console-based. It is still possible to use pure Windows API, though.
• Lack of a modern GUI. The supplied IDE (Оболочка) is too simple for serious use. Use of FAR Manager and batch command file Построить.bat is suggested for program compilation. It is also possible to use Microsoft Visual Studio as a GUI, but debugging is the only supported advanced feature there.
• Typing texts can sometimes require switching between different keyboard layouts because not all Russian keyboard layouts contain the characters []<>{}|# that are used in Glagol (the one used in Windows 98 does use the Alt key for this, but the one used in Windows XP doesn’t and the Alt key is used for inserting characters by their number instead). One solution to this problem is to use a modern IDE.

Of course, these problems can be eliminated as compiler development goes on.

Terminology

The terminology used in Glagol is different from what is used to describe most programming languages. While it is closer to everyday Russian speech, it may confuse those who want to learn Glagol but who already know another programming language.

Example of a program on Glagol

«Hello world»:

 ОТДЕЛ Привет+;
 
 ИСПОЛЬЗУЕТ Вывод ИЗ "...\Отделы\Обмен\";
 
 УКАЗ
   Вывод.Цепь("Здравствуй, мир!")
 КОН Привет.

External links

• Official site of the programming language Glagol
• Independent forum about programming on Glagol