Programming / scripting language aimed at non-programmers.

Question

Does anyone know of any scripting / programming languages that are targeted at (or would be suitable for) use by non-techies?

I have an application that I want non-technical users to be able to extend with simple scripts, however I'm struggling to find a suitable language to use, in particular:

• It should be forgiving to users (for example it probably shouldn't be case sensitive)
• It should make it difficult to shoot yourself in the foot (definitely no threading! I also wondered if making everything immutable would make it easier to grasp what is going on)
• Ideally I'm also after an easy to use editor
• There definitely needs to be an easy debugging process and intuitive error messages so that users are able to understand the logic behind a script and figure out what went wrong.

Although there are plenty of excellent and powerful scripting languages out there suitable for embedding into an application, most of the popular ones have flaws that make them difficult for non-techies to use:

• Python's sensitivity to whitespace makes it too easy to break your script without realising why.
• JavaScript is case sensitive, and can be very cryptic about error messages at times
• VBScript has 3 different types of Null!

I'm definitely not interested in any visual languages or any rubbish like that - what I'm after is a proper programming language, just one that is forgiving to the needs of non-technical people.

Update:

Just to clarify, the sort of logic / scripts that I'm talking about are things like:

• Setting some string value based on whether a boolean value is true or false
• Looping through a collection and adding up the values of some attribute whenever some other attribute is true
• Some simple string manipulation
• etc...

The langauge needs to be able to cope with objects and collections, and I need to be able to add some simple functions that hook into some application specific logic, however none of these scripts are going to reach any real level of complexity.

I wanted to avoid creating a domain specific language because its a lot of work and effort, and would end up being a lot poorer in quality than using an existing language. Also the logic is nearly 100% focussed around simple functionality provided by just about every existing langauge out there.

Also to address concerns over technical skill: These people are Smart, theyre just not programmers - although very capable of dealing with logic the average user will be unfamiliar with most programming concepts and (more importantly) will have absolutely no interest in learning syntax or programming concepts beyond the absolute minimum required to achieve the desired effect.

Answer 1

Any proper language has some rules to abide too. Imho for non-technical users it all depends on the editor that is used.

The BASIC languages were originally designed to be easy and clear but have become a little outdated for my taste.

So personally my vote would still go to Python. Yes, it's case sensitive and yes it's not forgiving about whitespace. But once you know those basic rules (and some editors like Pydev warn you about breaking the rules) it is an easy language to work with. I know multiple non-techies that can easily read basic Python and can write a little bit too. So I know for a fact that if someone is atleast a little bright, that he/she can do it.

Answer 2

VBScript has a track record of being usable by non-programmers. I've seen a lot of people able to make something in Excel and Access using VBA. I'd give that a second look.

Answer 3

I would suggest investigating domain-specific environments. What is it that you /really/ want to do?

If you want to do electrical design, then use tools dedicated for that. If you want to specify testable requirements for a software products, then use tools dedicated for that. (Eg, cucumber).

Answer 4

A non techie who wants to learn a programming language would not be a non-techie forever, is 't that right? Its just like the first day in a computer science class. Everybody doesn't know anything in the beginning.

If you want to specifically search for one that is only meant for non-techie, it would be difficult, as every language has its pros and cons. What he/she can really do is

1. learn how to program,
2. learn the rules of the language,
3. get a tutor or go to class if possible
4. ask if in doubt and
5. practice practice and more practice.

Answer 5

BRMS solutions might suit your needs. A programmer designs the domain in java say, then the BRMS tools allow the mapping of these classes to natural language. Contraints, templates and decision flows can also be designed to assist the business users. When this is all in place they it can be handed over to the business to maintain. Test cases can be executed, deployment managed etc. There are a number of solutions out there, one that has just been taken over by IBM is JRules.

Answer 6

Programming is a technical skill. There is no getting away from it. You stand as much chance of farting your way to the moon as getting non-technical (and more importantly non-interested) people to write programs.

Edit: To be a bit more helpful (?), I wouldn't be so dismissive of graphical programming - drag a few things around and connect them up with the mouse - what's not to like? To see what is probably the apotheosis of this approach, take a look at BYOB. But to use even apparently simple tools like BYOB, you have really got to understand the basics of programming - flow control and functions.

Answer 7

Try Lua. It combines simple procedural syntax with powerful data description constructs (see about Lua). It was originally designed for people that are not professional programmers though I couldn't call them non-technical, really: they were for instance engineers and geologists.

Answer 8

I suggest Tcl. It has a very easy "command arg arg" syntax for everything. No special quoting rules to learn, no magic special characters ala perl, etc. The whole of the language can be described on a single man page (though that's not suitable to give to non-techies). It' all very straight forward.

Yes, it has its idiosyncrasies, but mostly the people who are tripped up by them are programmers who refuse to give up their traditional way of thinking how languages should work.

As a side benefit, Tcl was designed from the ground up to be embedded in other applications.

Answer 9

You mite try a new language called LOLCODE.

Hello World Example

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYE

• HAI and KTHXBYE are the start and stop block delimiters.
• CAN HAS is a feature request, like require or include.
• VISIBLE is a print statement.

You can find more information @ http://lolcode.com/home