Alphabet Language — VS Code Extension

Official VS Code support for the Alphabet programming language.

Features

🌍 Multi-language syntax — Write keywords in English, Amharic (ክፍል), Spanish (clase), French (classe), or German (klasse)
⚡ Language Server Protocol — Completion, hover docs, go-to-definition, document symbols, real-time diagnostics
🎨 Syntax highlighting — Full TextMate grammar covering en/am/de/es/fr keywords
🚀 Run button — One-click .abc execution
🔧 Compile & lint — Direct integration with the alphabet binary
📦 WASM build — One-click WebAssembly build pipeline
💬 NL-to-Code panel — Sidebar webview for natural-language → Alphabet code (placeholder)
🔍 Snippets — fn, class, if, for, try, match, main, etc.

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

Open VS Code
Press Ctrl+P / Cmd+P, type ext install alphabet
Click Install

Or search "Alphabet Language" in the Extensions sidebar.

From VSIX

code --install-extension fraolteshome.alphabet-<version>.vsix

Uninstall

Same as any other extension:

Extensions sidebar → right-click "Alphabet Language" → Uninstall
Or code --uninstall-extension fraolteshome.alphabet

Quick Start

#alphabet<en>

m 0 main() {
  z.o("Hello, Alphabet!")
}

Create a new file: Ctrl+N → save as hello.abc
Or run the command Alphabet: New .abc File from the palette
Press the ▶ run button in the editor title bar

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
`alphabet.lsp.path`	`null`	Path to `alphabet` binary. Empty = bundled binary.
`alphabet.lsp.trace`	`off`	LSP trace level: `off` / `messages` / `verbose`
`alphabet.format.enable`	`true`	Format `.abc` on save
`alphabet.lint.enable`	`true`	Run linter and show diagnostics
`alphabet.lint.severity`	`warning`	Minimum diagnostic severity
`alphabet.run.command`	`alphabet run`	Command run by the play button
`alphabet.completion.engine`	`lsp`	`lsp` or `lsp+nl` (experimental NL augmentation)
`alphabet.telemetry.enabled`	`false`	Opt-in anonymous usage stats

Commands

Command	Shortcut	Description
`Alphabet: Run File`	Editor title ▶ button	Run current `.abc`
`Alphabet: Lint File`	—	Run linter on current file
`Alphabet: Compile to Bytecode`	—	Compile `.abc` to `.abc.bc`
`Alphabet: Build WASM`	—	Trigger WASM build pipeline
`Alphabet: Open NL-to-Code Panel`	—	Open sidebar webview
`Alphabet: Restart Language Server`	—	Restart LSP
`Alphabet: Show Server Output`	—	Show extension output
`Alphabet: Open Documentation`	—	Open GitHub README
`Alphabet: New .abc File`	—	Scaffold a new file

Troubleshooting

Binary not found

The extension bundles a prebuilt alphabet binary for your platform. If missing:

Install Alphabet from source: git clone https://github.com/yourusername/Alphabet_Language && cd Alphabet_Language && cmake -B build && cmake --build build
Either put alphabet on your PATH, or set alphabet.lsp.path in VS Code settings

Server not starting

Open the output panel:

View → Output → Alphabet Language Server

Common causes:

Wrong architecture binary (x64 vs ARM64)
Missing system libraries (e.g. libstdc++ on older Linux)
Antivirus blocking the binary

Version mismatch

The extension checks the binary version on activation. If too old:

alphabet update --force

Architecture

VS Code Extension (TypeScript)
  ├── extension.ts          ← LSP client wrapper
  ├── nl-to-code.ts         ← Webview panel
  ├── syntaxes/*.tmLanguage.json
  ├── language-configuration.json
  └── snippets/alphabet.json

Alphabet Binary (C++17, bundled)
  ├── src/lsp.cpp           ← LSP server (reuse as-is)
  └── src/main.cpp          ← --lsp entry point

All language intelligence flows through the existing C++ LSP server. The TypeScript client only:

Spawns the binary
Forwards JSON-RPC over stdio
Maps responses to VS Code UI

License

MIT

Alphabet Language

Fraol Teshome