Introducing ILLEX: Inline Language for Logic and Expressions

Gustavo Zeloni — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 06:06:52 +0000

Initially, formatting these forms was straightforward. However, users soon expressed the need to add conditions and perform actions directly within the text. This led me to realize the necessity of developing a Domain-Specific Language (DSL).

I dedicated significant time to designing a syntax that would be user-friendly and simple, yet robust enough to serve the primary purpose of the system: scripting network equipment. In this syntax, variables start with @ and functions with :, resulting in constructs like @variable and :function(). This marked the birth of Bennu, the initial name of the language.

Despite extensive development, the project was eventually shelved, and the solution remained unused. Later, I decided to revive Bennu with a new name, a cleaner parser, and enhanced capabilities. Thus, ILLEX was born—a name inspired by Ilex, the scientific name for my favorite tea, Mate. The name also reflects its purpose: Inline Language for Logic and Expressions.

Now revitalized as ILLEX, the language boasts a broader range of functions, is available as a package on PyPI, supports extensions to enhance its capabilities, allows function chaining, and much more!

I acknowledge that building a language using Python as its engine might seem unconventional. However, my current goal is to make it viable and appealing to the world. I believe this idea holds great promise and sincerely hope for your support in guiding the direction of this language, which, so far, I see primarily serving as a template language.

(For those wondering why I didn't use Jinja in the original work project, it's because I find Jinja less suitable for non-technical users. Simpler syntaxes are more approachable. ILLEX doesn't even require quotes!)

For more information, please refer to the ILLEX README and the official documentation.

DEV Community: Gustavo Zeloni

Introducing ILLEX: Inline Language for Logic and Expressions