Tanglish++: A Comprehensive Vernacular Interpreted Programming Language and Runtime Environment
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Introductory programming education frequently burdens non-native English speakers with a dual cognitive load: assimilating abstract computational mechanics while deciphering unfamiliar English syntax. For students from vernacular-medium backgrounds, this linguistic tax creates an intimidating barrier to computer science literacy. Tanglish++ (T++) is an interpreted, dynamically typed programming language and runtime environment engineered to eliminate this barrier by aligning programming grammar directly with conversational Tanglish---the colloquial fusion of Tamil and English widely spoken across Tamil Nadu. Built on an extensible tree-walking interpreter, Tanglish++ introduces native keywords including sollu (print), kelu (input), iruntha/illatti/illana (branching), varisaiya ... kulla (for-loops), irukkura_varai (while-loops), seyal (functions), muyarchi/thavaru (exception handling), and object-oriented primitives (class, ithu). The ecosystem features a standard library of 31 modules spanning mathematics (ganitham), networking (kettuko), cryptography (poottu), concurrency (ilai), and embedded databases (sqlite3). In an empirical classroom study of 64 undergraduate engineering novices, students using Tanglish++ exhibited a 41.2% reduction in syntactic defects and formulated functional algorithmic solutions 34.8% faster than peers instructed in Python.
Author: Arumugam, Vignesh
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222798998
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