You Can Write JavaScript in Roman Urdu with UrduScript

With the technological know-how becoming a necessity these days, it has become even more important to learn coding. There are several programs that teach coding now, but nobody can deny this fact that programming is hard and people can get exhausted learning it, owing to which they may leave it in the middle.

In Pakistan, it is even more difficult, as majority of Pakistanis are ‘not friends with the English language’. Here is where the UrduScript comes into the picture.

What is UrduScript?

UrduScript is the brainchild of a Pakistani youngster entrepreneur, Asad Memon, who is working feverishly to launch an Urdu version of JavaScript i.e. the UrduScript. Asad is also the cofounder of RemoteInterview, as the name suggests it is the tool that enables conducting online interviews and coding tests. He also pioneered the StrtupList.pk, a website that links patients with labs enabling them to avail lab services online, a Pakistani ‘CrunchBase’. He is also conducting educational sessions on programming, to impart the skills to more and more people out there.

JavaScript is the most used programming language, and somewhat indigenizing it by developing an Urdu-based version of it is a much lauded and much needed step. According to Asad, this is going to be a Urdish dialect (Both English and Urdu), the purpose behind this endeavor is to make programming more fun, easier to learn, and accessible to Pakistanis as Urdu is the most common dialect here.

Basically, UrduScript “uses Urdu words and analogies to convey programming concepts, making it easy to get started without remembering hard commands and keywords,” according to Asad.

Using analogies to teach programming is the most common method. This is the object orienting programming which uses analogies of taking help from actual physical object having its own classification and properties. In the UrduScript, there will be Urdu Analogies that would make it easier to remember the commands and keywords.  For stating variable, the word used will be ‘rakho’, while for the transformation of main statements, the words will be ‘warna’, ‘agar’ to make the commands comprehendible. For instance, the print statement would be expressed in the word, ‘likho’.

‘It is for beginners!’ As Asad clarifies it too, it may sound strange to an experienced programmer, but this is not for them at all. Also, it has been questioned that why the Persian Script of Urdu has not been used for it may have made it even easier for Pakistanis to learn programming. There are four reasons for this:

1. First, alphabets belonging to Persian language are not native to keyboards
2. Non-nastaliq font is not easily comprehendible
3. Right to left coding style would need a complete overhaul
4. Urdish is more relatable for the new generation

The project is under progress and can be contributed to at GitHub for the sake of improving grammar. Furthermore, it will be first tried on children, if the children or beginners learn programming from it then it will be introduced to other people.