Introduction

Welcome to NaijaScript, where programming meets cultural authenticity.

This book will teach you a scripting language that speaks Nigerian Pidgin English literally, removing artificial barriers between thought and computational expression.

Motivation

Programming should not require abandoning your cultural identity.

For over 75 million speakers of Nigerian Pidgin English, learning to code has meant translating thoughts between languages before expressing computational logic.

NaijaScript eliminates this cognitive overhead by embracing authentic Pidgin expressions as first-class programming constructs.

When you write:

make age get 25
if to say (age pass 18) start
    shout("You fit vote!")
end

you are not just writing code but thinking computationally in your natural linguistic patterns.

This is more than syntax translation. It represents a fundamental shift toward inclusive technology that recognizes linguistic diversity as strength. By removing artificial barriers, NaijaScript opens programming education to millions while demonstrating that powerful software can emerge from any cultural context.

The language proves this philosophy through performance. In benchmarks, NaijaScript often outperforms JavaScript and Python in string manipulation, mathematical computation, and algorithmic tasks making cultural authenticity and technical excellence complementary goals.

Read more in this article.

Limitations

While NaijaScript aims to be a practical scripting language, it currently has some limitations:

• No package management or extensive standard library yet
• Designed for educational and scripting use cases, not large-scale applications
• Lacks IDE support and advanced tooling

What you will learn

• How to install NaijaScript and run the interpreter
• The language syntax and core semantics

Ready to begin? Let's start with installation.