programming-learner

Programming Learner

Short lessons with worked examples, then a practice round that explains every answer. The home page groups the languages into sections: modern and popular languages first, then older and legacy ones, then joke and esoteric languages. Each section is sorted by name, and nothing is pinned. An A–Z view lists every language in one list instead, and category tags (such as compiled programs or scripting) filter the modern and older sections. The view and the tag filter are remembered. Two switches, also in the Desk's Settings, hide the older and the joke sections; both are on by default. Some courses are full beginner courses with runnable examples, others are reading courses for platforms that no longer run on today's machines; the app's menu has the current list. Cross-language tracks, such as numerical methods, teach one topic and implement it side by side in several languages. Progress is saved in the browser.

Launch

Appears automatically in the Desk launcher. Can also be opened directly:

programming-learner/index.html
programming-learner/index.html?lang=python
programming-learner/index.html?lang=python#loops

?lang= picks the course (ids match EXTRA_LANGS in LanguageStudentDesk.py); #<lesson id> opens one lesson. Works over file:// and the Desk's local server.

Files

• index.html, app.js — the page and its logic (uses ../languages/learners.css and LSD.store / LSD.loadScript from ../languages/lsd-lang.js)
• data/catalog.js — the languages, each with its group (modern, older or joke), category tags and the blurb shown on the home grid
• sections.js — lays the catalog out by section or A–Z and applies the tag filter; the Programming Student Desk menu uses the same file
• data/<id>.js — one course per language, loaded on demand
• tools/check_packs.py — checks every course; runs the Python and brainFOOD examples, and any course with a tools/run_<id>.py; in a track, each example runs with its own language's runner
• tools/test_numerical.py — tests the numerical methods track: each implementation's results must match known values, and the versions of one method in different languages must print the same thing
• tools/run_<id>.py — a runner for one course: run(code) returns (printed, error). run_z80.py is a small Z80 interpreter with the CP/M print calls, run_lolcode.py a LOLCODE 1.2 interpreter, run_quickbasic.py a QuickBASIC interpreter that spaces numbers the way PRINT does, run_delphi.py compiles the Delphi programs with Free Pascal (fpc, in Delphi mode), run_whitespace.py is a Whitespace interpreter that reads the course's S/T/L notation, run_piet.py a Piet interpreter that reads the course's two-letter codel grids, and run_malbolge.py a Malbolge interpreter that also accepts normalized programs, run_c.py compiles the C course with gcc, run_rust.py compiles the Rust course with rustc, run_go.py runs the Go course with go run, run_cobol.py compiles the COBOL course with GnuCOBOL (cobc -x -free), run_fortran.py compiles the Fortran course with gfortran, run_moderndelphi.py compiles the modern Delphi course through run_delphi.py after dropping the System. prefix from unit names, run_javascript.py runs the JavaScript course with Node.js, run_turbopascal.py compiles the Turbo Pascal course with fpc in Turbo Pascal mode (-Mtp), run_cpp.py compiles the C++ course with g++ in C++20 mode, run_java.py runs the Java course with the JDK's single-file launcher, run_php.py runs the PHP course with the php command line, run_perl.py runs the Perl course with perl, run_bash.py runs the Bash course with bash in an empty folder, run_typescript.py type-checks the TypeScript course with tsc in strict mode and runs it with Node.js, run_basic.py runs the classic line-numbered BASIC course: it reuses run_quickbasic.py for expressions and PRINT and adds GOTO, GOSUB, ON and DEF FN, run_sql.py runs the SQL course with SQLite through Python's built-in sqlite3 module, on a fresh copy of the sample database that the course's setup: true section builds, run_html.py loads each HTML and CSS page in headless Chromium through Playwright for Node.js and checks the text the page shows, run_csharp.py compiles the C# course with the .NET SDK's own compiler (csc.dll, with the usings a new console project gets) and runs it with dotnet, run_vbnet.py compiles the Visual Basic .NET course with the .NET SDK's Visual Basic compiler, through the helpers in run_csharp.py, run_kotlin.py compiles the Kotlin course with kotlinc into a jar and runs it with java, and run_swift.py compiles the Swift course with swiftc and runs the program. A runner whose tool is missing is skipped with a note

Course schema

Each data/<id>.js sets window.PROGRAMMING.<id>:

{
  id, name, title, intro,          // intro is HTML
  note: "...",                     // optional HTML, shown at the top of every page of the course
  comment: "#",                    // optional: line-comment marker, for colouring
  keywords: [...], builtins: [...],// optional: words to colour
  caseInsensitive: true,           // optional: BASIC, Pascal, assembly
  preview: true,                   // optional: examples are web pages, shown as a live preview instead of `out`
  lessons: [{
    id, title, summary,
    sections: [{ h, p, code, out }],   // all optional; p is HTML, out is exactly what code prints
    practice: [{ q, code, options, answer, why, kind, check }],
  }],
}

A practice question with kind: "output" asks what code prints; answer must be that output (or put the real output in check when the answer is phrased differently, such as a line count). In a preview course, out and check hold the text the page shows (its innerText), which the runner checks in a browser. Code uses String.raw template literals where backslashes matter.

A track also has langs: { <id>: { name, comment, keywords, builtins } }, and each example or question names its language with lang. In the numerical methods track, known: [...] lists the values an example must print (checked to the printed precision) and examples of one method in different languages share an impl id.

Adding a language

1. Add data/<id>.js following the schema.
2. Add an entry to data/catalog.js with its group and tags. A current version of a language goes in modern; its older versions (and languages mainly kept for existing systems) go in older; esoteric languages go in joke and have no tags.
3. If the Desk should offer it under ?lang=, the id must be in EXTRA_LANGS in LanguageStudentDesk.py.
4. Run python3 programming-learner/tools/check_packs.py (needs node and python3; fpc to run the Delphi programs, cobc for COBOL, and gfortran for Fortran).