Installation

Welcome to Ze — a programming language you can write in English, Tagalog, Bisaya, or any mix of all three.

1. Prerequisites

Ze is built with Go. You need Go installed on your machine before you can build or run Ze.

Install Go

1. Go to https://go.dev/dl/
2. Download the installer for your operating system:
   • Windows — download the .msi installer and run it
   • macOS — download the .pkg installer and run it
   • Linux — follow the instructions on the download page
3. After installation, open a terminal and verify Go is installed:

go version

You should see something like go version go1.21.0 .... Any version 1.21 or newer works.

2. Get the Ze Source Code

Option A — If you have the folder already

Open a terminal and navigate to the folder:

cd path/to/Ze

Option B — Clone from Git

git clone https://github.com/Berlindraft/Ze.git
cd Ze

3. Build Ze

Inside the project folder, run:

go build -o bin/ze .

This creates a single executable file called bin/ze (or bin/ze.exe on Windows).

To verify it built correctly:

./bin/ze -version

4. Run Your First Program

Create a file called hello.ze with this content:

set name = "World"
show "Hello, " + name + "!"

Run it:

./bin/ze hello.ze

Output:

Hello, World!

5. Try the Interactive REPL

Run Ze with no arguments to start the interactive shell:

./bin/ze

Type code and press Enter:

>> set x = 5
>> show x * 3
15
>> show "Kamusta!"
Kamusta!

Press Ctrl-C to exit.

6. Run the Example Files

The examples/ folder contains ready-to-run programs:

./bin/ze examples/hello.ze
./bin/ze examples/counter.ze

7. (Optional) Add Ze to Your PATH

To run Ze from any folder without ./:

Windows:

1. Move Ze.exe to a folder that is already on your PATH (e.g. a personal tools folder on PATH), or
2. Add the project folder to your PATH in System Settings -> Environment Variables.

macOS / Linux:

sudo mv ./bin/ze /usr/local/bin/Ze

Then you can run Ze from anywhere.

8. (Optional) Start the Web Server

Ze can serve .ze files as web pages:

./bin/ze -web -dir examples

Open your browser and visit http://localhost:8080.

9. Write Your Own Programs

• Source files must end in .ze
• Blocks are opened with : and indented (like Python)
• You can use English, Tagalog, or Bisaya keywords — or mix all three

# my_program.ze
set age = 20

if age is at least 18:
    show "You can vote."
else:
    show "Too young to vote."

Run it:

./bin/ze my_program.ze

10. Learn More

For Windows builds, use go build -o bin/ze.exe . and .\bin\ze.exe when running commands.