The ABS programing language

# Quickstart

In order to run programs written in ABS, you can simply download the latest release from Github (opens new window) and dump the executable in your PATH. Windows, OSX and a few Linux flavors are supported.

We also provide a 1-command installer that should work across platforms:

bash <(curl https://www.abs-lang.org/installer.sh)

and will download the abs executable in your current directory -- again, we recommend to move it to your $PATH.

Afterwards, you can run ABS scripts with:

$ abs path/to/script.abs

Scripts do not need a specific extension, although it's recommended to use .abs as a convention: we may reserve some keywords in the future (such as abs version or abs install) so we recommend to attach an extension to the scripts you're trying to run.

# REPL

If you want to get a more "live" feeling of ABS, you can also simply run the interpreter; without any argument. It will launch ABS' REPL, and you will be able to test code on the fly:

$ abs
Hello there, welcome to the ABS programming language!
Type 'quit' when you're done, 'help' if you get lost!

⧐  ip = `curl icanhazip.com`
⧐  ip.ok
true

⧐  ip()
ERROR: not a function: STRING

⧐  ip
94.204.178.37

# ABS from bash

You can also run an executable abs script directly from bash using a bash shebang.

In this example the abs executable is linked to /usr/local/bin/abs and the script ~/bin/remote.abs is executable (chmod +x):

$ cat ~/bin/hello.abs
#! /usr/local/bin/abs
echo("Hello world!")
...

# the executable abs script above is in the PATH at ~/bin/hello.abs
$ hello.abs
Hello world!

# Explore the docs!

A bit lost right now? Here's what we suggest you do: