Vyrn

Tiny, Elegant, and Fast — A Modern Lua-inspired Programming Language Implemented in PureBasic.

Vyrn is a concise, lightweight programming language designed for small-scale applications and embedded scripting. Built entirely in PureBasic, it keeps the familiar elegance of Lua while adding its own modern features and packaging paths.

Features

• Ultra Lightweight: Minimal footprint with zero extra dynamic libraries needed.
• Pure $PureBasic Implementation: Seamlessly embeddable into host applications written in PureBasic or C.
• Lua-Inspired Syntax: Familiar, clean, and quick to learn for Lua developers.
• Optional Typing: parameter / return / binding / struct annotations (runtime checks; --strict for compile-time).
• Built for Embedding: Designed specifically for scriptable apps, game engine logic, and small tooling.
• Developer Tooling: vyrn build, vyrn bundle (tree-shake + source-map), vyrn serve (WebSocket), REPL, --dump, --strict, --bench, --timing.
• Syntax Highlighting IDE: Designed specifically for Vyrn's unique grammar and built-in functions.

Environment

• Windows 10/11 above (recommend)
• PureBasic 6.41/6.5 above (recommend)

How to Build

Building requires PureBasic Compiler and test under Windows 11.
Module features require PureBasic 5.20 and above.

Example

Vyrn supports both Lua and Vyrn's own syntax.

-- Vyrn (Optional Typing)
def greet(name: string) -> string
    return "Hello, " .. name .. "!"
end

def calculate_bonus(score: number) -> number
    return score * 1.1
end

print(greet("Vyrn"))
print(calculate_bonus(100))

-- Output:
-- Hello, Vyrn!
-- 110

-- Lua
function greet(name)
    return "Hello, " .. name .. "!"
end

function calculate_bonus(score)
    return score * 1.1
end

print(greet("Vyrn"))
print(calculate_bonus(100))

-- Output:
-- Hello, Vyrn!
-- 110

More examples are in examples/vyrn/.
For a full typing demonstration see examples/vyrn/typed_tour.vyrn (uses -- vyrn: 12 strict).

Shipping & Deployment

Path	Product	What it produces
Standalone	Vyrn.Standalone	Bundled script + Vyrn.dll + launcher to distributable folder / EXE (full language & stdlib)
Compile	Vyrn.Compile	.vyrnc bytecode (VYBX) + generated C + libvyrnrt CMake project to single native EXE (no DLL, cross-platform)

# Standalone (full VM via DLL)
vyrn standalone app.vyrn -o dist\app --build-exe --batch

# Compile to native (bytecode + C runtime)
vyrn compile app.vyrn -o build\app --exe --batch
# or portable / linux-x64 target
vyrn compile app.vyrn -o out --target linux-x64 --batch

Not all VM features on Windows can be compiled into C.

Language Snapshot

Feature	Notes
def / let / elif / const / continue	Modern keywords (legacy function / local / elseif still accepted)
Optional types	def f(x: number) -> string, multi-return, typed destructuring
struct / enum	Typed constructors, methods, optional fields
match	Pattern matching (desugars to if/elif)
String interpolation	"Hello, {name}!"
Closures & upvalues	Full lexical capture, shared upvalues
Varargs	def f(a, ...), select, table.pack / unpack
Protected calls	pcall, xpcall, error, assert
Coroutines	Full subset + yield statement

History

• 2016: Vyrn (LuaLiteVM) was initially written in PowerBasic 10.04.
• 2018: Rewritten in FreeBasic 1.05 using FBEdit.
• 2024: Rewritten in the latest version of PureBasic and renamed to Vyrn.
• 2025: Added optional typing, structs/enums, coroutines, strict mode, build/bundle/serve, native C ABI, extensive stdlib and performance work.
• 2026: Added packaging paths — Vyrn.Standalone (bundled script + Vyrn.dll to distributable EXE) and Vyrn.Compile (.vyrnc bytecode + generated C + libvyrnrt to single native executable, cross-platform) and released the official standalone Vyrn IDE (syntax highlighting, code editing, run/debug integration).

Credits

• Eros Olmi (BINT32)
• TJ (luna)
• airtrack (luna)

License

Copyright (c) 2016-2026 Ji-Feng Tsai.
Code released under the MIT license.

Donation

If this application help you reduce time to coding, you can give me a cup of coffee :)

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