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What is it?

YesNt is a line-based, interpreted scripting language. The core idea is simple: each line maps to one primary statement. Lines are processed top-to-bottom, and inline tokens (like ${variable} or %read_line) are substituted before the statement executes. Postfix modifiers like calc and task can also appear at the end of a line to evaluate arithmetic or fork execution into a background thread.

Key characteristics:

• Line-based execution: Lines are processed top-to-bottom. Each line is a self-contained statement
• Explicit control flow: Labels, goto, and conditional jumps alongside structured if/while blocks
• Explicit scoping: var for function-local variables, global for cross-scope shared state
• Functions with stacks: Arguments and return values are passed via explicit push/pop stacks (push_in, %in, push_out, %out)
• Background tasks: Any line can be forked into a background execution flow with task
• Embeddable: The interpreter ships as a C# library. Custom statements can be registered, and built-in ones can be removed or disabled for sandboxing

YesNt is intentionally minimal and is well suited for:

• Scripting in games or applications where simple syntax and customizability are needed
• Automation tasks where a lightweight embedded language is beneficial
• Educational purposes to learn language design by adding new statements or modifying existing ones
• Embedding as a scripting engine in larger C# projects, with the ability to expose custom functionality through registered statements

Usage

1. Download & install the latest release
   • Chocolatey (Windows): choco install yesnt
   • Snapcraft (Linux): snap install yesnt
   • GitHub (Windows/Linux): releases
2. Run a script with the interpreter CLI
   • yesnt script.ynt runs a script
3. Or use the terminal code editor
   • yesntcode opens the editor (optional path to load a file)
   • run / debug to execute the open script
   • format to auto-format indentation

Example

func greet:
    var name = %in
    print_line Hello, ${name}!
return

func add:
    var result = %in + %in calc
    push_out ${result}
return

call greet with Alice
call greet with Bob

call add with 3, 7
var sum = %out
print_line 3 + 7 = ${sum}