# ThakeeNathees/pocketlang

A lightweight, fast embeddable scripting language.

Repository: https://github.com/ThakeeNathees/pocketlang
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pocketlang
Homepage: https://thakeenathees.github.io/pocketlang/
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: programming-language, c, language, scripting-language, bytecode-compiler, interpreter, vm, functional
Last push: 2026-01-03T10:47:53+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 59/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 60, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2033, "days_push": 242, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1551, forks 85 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:02.223160+00:00)

## What it is
Pocketlang is a lightweight, fast, embeddable scripting language written in C with a Ruby-flavored Python-like syntax, including its own bytecode compiler and VM with zero external dependencies. Its VM can be easily embedded into a host application, and it also builds to WebAssembly for browser use.

## Use cases
- embed a small scripting language in a C application
- add user scripting/plugin support to a program
- run a lightweight scripting language in the browser via WebAssembly
- learn how interpreters and bytecode VMs work
- replace heavyweight Python/Ruby embedding with a tiny dependency-free VM
- script configuration or automation inside a host app

## When to choose
- you need a tiny (~3000 semicolons) zero-dependency embeddable scripting VM in C
- you want a simple, quickly learnable scripting syntax
- memory footprint and startup speed matter more than ecosystem size

## When to avoid
- you need a rich standard library, package ecosystem, or mature tooling
- production-critical projects requiring long-term stability (the language is pre-alpha and docs are WIP)
- you need extensive native module bindings like CPython's C extensions

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: interpreter, compiler, programming-language, parser
- domain: programming-languages, compilers, embedded-systems, developer-tools
- platform: c, cross-platform, wasm, cli
- tags: embeddable-scripting-language, bytecode-vm, nan-boxing, zero-dependency, ruby-python-syntax, tail-call-optimization

## Member repositories
- ThakeeNathees/pocketlang (main) score 59

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:02.223160+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:30:15.289822+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ThakeeNathees/pocketlang (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:02.223160+00:00, sha b06c818c655c)
  - homepage: https://thakeenathees.github.io/pocketlang/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:30:42.037619+00:00, sha df55402ceb6d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.