mathematics

Qalb (programming language)

Qalb (programming language) is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Qalb (programming language) rather than just read about it. In short: قلب (Levantine Arabic: [ʔalb]), transliterated Qalb, Qlb and Alb, is a functional programming language allowing a programmer to write programs completely in Arabic. Its name means "heart" in Arabic and is a recursive acronym for Qlb: a programming language (قلب: لغة برمجة, Qlb: Lughat Barmajah).

Key takeaways

Qalb (programming language) belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Qalb (programming language) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Qalb (programming language) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

قلب (Levantine Arabic: [ʔalb]), transliterated Qalb, Qlb and Alb, is a functional programming language allowing a programmer to write programs completely in Arabic. Its name means "heart" in Arabic and is a recursive acronym for Qlb: a programming language (قلب: لغة برمجة, Qlb: Lughat Barmajah). It was developed in 2012 by Ramsey Nasser, a computer scientist at the Eyebeam Art + Technology Center in New York City, as both an artistic endeavor and as a response to the Anglophone bias in the vast majority of programming languages, which express their fundamental concepts using English words. The syntax is like that of Lisp or Scheme, consisting of parenthesized lists. Keywords are in Arabic (specifically, Lebanese Arabic) and program text is laid out right-to-left, like all Arabic text. The language provides a minimal set of primitives for defining functions, conditionals, looping, list manipulation, and basic arithmetic expressions. It is Turing-complete, and the Fibonacci sequence and Conway's Game of Life have been implemented. Because program text is written in Arabic and the connecting strokes between characters in the Arabic script can be extended to any length, it is possible to align the source code in artistic patterns, in the tradition of Arabic calligraphy. A JavaScript-based interpreter is currently self hosted and the project can be forked on GitHub.

Hello world

References

Further reading Smith IV, Jack (14 December 2015). "This Arabic Programming Language Shows How Computers Revolve Around the Western World". Tech.Mic. Retrieved 15 December 2015.

External links Browser-based interpreter Artist's statement

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Qalb (programming language)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Qalb (programming language) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Qalb (programming language) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Qalb (programming language) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Qalb (programming language)

In research: Qalb (programming language) appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Qalb (programming language) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Qalb (programming language) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Functional languages, Lisp programming language family, Non-English-based programming languages, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Qalb (programming language) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Qalb (programming language) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Qalb (programming language) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Qalb (programming language) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Qalb (programming language) in simple terms?

Why does Qalb (programming language) matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Qalb (programming language)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Qalb (programming language).