What Is the PUA Language? A Satirical DSL Turning PPT Into Code

Programming “打法”

The PUA Language is a tongue‑in‑cheek “internet buzzword” programming language that replaces ordinary keywords with corporate jargon such as “赋能”, “抓手”, and “闭环”. It supports the usual constructs (if, else, while, let, fn, return, arrays, etc.) and maps each to a Chinese buzzword.

if → “细分” (“specialization”)

else → “路径” (“pathway”)

while → “闭环” (“closed loop”)

true → “三七五” (“3.75”, a passing performance evaluation)

false → “三二五” (“3.25”, a failing evaluation)

let → “赋能” (“enable”, in a fancy way)

fn → “抓手” (“handle”, as in getting a handle on things)

return → “反哺” (“repay”, used in Alibaba as feedback)

Array → “组合拳” (“combo move”)

Hash → “载体” (“carrier”)

= → “对齐” (“align”)

+ → “联动” (“linkage”)

- → “差异” (“difference”)

/ → “倾斜” (“tilt”)

puts → “输出” (“output”)

quit → “淘汰” (“eliminate”)

The language was forked from a Rust implementation of the Monkey interpreter (the language used in the book “Writing An Interpreter In Go”). Its source code is available on GitHub and an online interpreter can be tried directly.

Despite being in an early development stage, PUA Language already attracted 1.7k stars and a community that contributes ideas, bug fixes, and even custom licensing.

Examples and screenshots illustrate how a Fibonacci recursive program looks when written in PUA Language and how the “buzzword” syntax is interpreted.

Project URL: https://github.com/flaneur2020/pua-lang

Online interpreter: https://flaneur2020.github.io/pua-lang/