Syntax Reference

Complete Ifá-Lang syntax with Yoruba and English aliases

Variables

Yoruba	English	Description
ayanmo	let	Variable declaration
àyànm?´	let	Variable (with diacritics)

// Yoruba
ayanmo oruko = "Ifá";
ayanmo iye = 42;

// English
let name = "Ifá";
let count = 42;

Data Types

Type	Yoruba Literal	English Literal	Example
Integer	—	—	42, -17
Float	—	—	3.14, -0.5
String	—	—	"Hello"
Boolean	otito, iro	true, false	otito
Null	ohunkohun	null	ohunkohun
List	—	—	[1, 2, 3]

Control Flow

Conditionals

Yoruba	English	Description
ti	if	If condition
bib?k? ti	else if	Else if
bib?k?	else	Else

// Yoruba
ti (x > 10) {
    Irosu.fo("Large");
} bib?k? ti (x > 5) {
    Irosu.fo("Medium");
} bib?k? {
    Irosu.fo("Small");
}

// English
if (x > 10) {
    Irosu.println("Large");
} else if (x > 5) {
    Irosu.println("Medium");
} else {
    Irosu.println("Small");
}

Loops

Yoruba	English	Description
nigba	while	While loop
fun ... ninu	for ... in	For-each loop

// While loop (Yoruba)
ayanmo i = 0;
nigba (i < 5) {
    Irosu.fo(i);
    ayanmo i = i + 1;
}

// For loop (Yoruba)
ayanmo awon = [1, 2, 3];
fun x ninu awon {
    Irosu.fo(x);
}

// English equivalents
let i = 0;
while (i < 5) {
    Irosu.println(i);
    let i = i + 1;
}

let items = [1, 2, 3];
for x in items {
    Irosu.println(x);
}

Functions

Yoruba	English	Description
ese	fn	Function definition
pada	return	Return value

// Yoruba
ese greet(oruko) {
    pada "Kaabo, " + oruko + "!";
}

// English
fn greet(name) {
    return "Hello, " + name + "!";
}

// Call
ayanmo result = greet("World");

Operators

Category	Operators	Example
Arithmetic	+ - * / %	a + b
Comparison	== != < > <= >=	a == b
Logical	ati/and, tabi/or, kii ?e/not	a ati b
String	+ (concat)	"a" + "b"

Domain Calls

Call domain methods with dot notation:

// Pattern: Domain.method(args...)
Irosu.fo("Hello");           // Console output
Irete.sha256("data");        // Crypto hash
Odi.read("file.txt");        // File I/O
Iwori.now();                 // Timestamp
Osa.sum([1, 2, 3]);          // Parallel sum

Comments

// Single line comment

/* Multi-line
   comment */

Special Statements

Yoruba	English	Description
?b?	sacrifice	Resource cleanup (RAII)
àj??e	co-op	Reactive relationship
ìwàp?`l?´	gentle	Graceful error handling