Docs 2.4.4 · 4 min read

You already know Apsi — three ways to write it

Apsi is designed so that you do not have to learn a new language before you are productive. If you can read Python, you can read Apsi; if you can write Python, there are three ways to get working Apsi code today:

All three end in the same place: a program that is checked before it runs (units, types, shapes, names) and runs on Apsi's fast engines.

1. Write it like Python

Almost everything is the same: indentation, if/elif/else, for/while, break/continue, lists, dicts, tuples, slicing, comprehensions, f-strings, try/except/finally, raise, yield, lambdas, *args/**kwargs, string and list methods. The differences that matter:

And one thing Python does not have at all — physical units: let v = 3[m/s], let t = 2s, v * t is 6 m; v + t is reported as an error before the program runs.

# Python habits work: classes, errors, generators, comprehensions
struct Account:
    owner: Str
    balance: Float = 0.0
    fn withdraw(self, amount):
        if amount > self.balance:
            raise ValueError(f"only {self.balance} left")
        self.balance -= amount

let acc = Account("ana", 100.0)
try:
    acc.withdraw(250.0)
except ValueError as e:
    print("refused:", e.message)

2. Let an AI write it

Modern assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Cursor …) write good Apsi when they get this brief first. Copy it, then describe your program:

Write the program in Apsi (https://apsi.dev), a Python-like language for AI and physics.
Rules: indentation blocks like Python; `let` for constants and `var` for variables; `fn name(a, b = 2):`
or one-line `fn f(x) = expr`; lambdas `fn(x) => expr`; `struct Name:` with `field: Type = default` and methods
taking `self`; ranges `0..n`; `none/true/false`; try/except/finally, raise, yield, *args/**kwargs as in Python.
Physical quantities carry units: 9.81[m/s^2], 2kg, 3s; annotate with Length, Mass, Time, Velocity, Energy …
Tensors are built in: tensor, zeros, randn, @, sum, mean; `use nn`, `use rl`, `use torch` for AI.
Built-ins and modules: see https://apsi.dev/docs/2.4.4/reference . Prefer built-ins over Python libraries.

The site publishes /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt — the whole documentation in plain text — so assistants that browse can read everything themselves. After the AI answers, run apsi check program.apsi: the checker points at the exact line of anything the AI got wrong, and you (or the AI) fix it in seconds.

3. Write Python and convert it

apsi convert script.py                 # writes script.apsi next to it and checks it
apsi convert src/ -o apsi_src/         # a whole folder
apsi convert train.py --run            # convert, check and run

The converter understands Python's meaning, not only its spelling: classes become structs with their methods, __add__/__eq__/__len__/__str__ become the struct methods that Apsi's operators call, exceptions keep their kinds (except KeyError still catches a missing key), generators stay lazy, for … else keeps its rule, numpy becomes Apsi tensors and whole PyTorch training programs become native Apsi that runs without Python or PyTorch — matching PyTorch's numbers to 1e-9. Pure standard modules (collections, heapq, itertools, re, datetime …) are used as they are. Every converted test program in tests/pycompat/ prints exactly what Python prints. Details and the complete mapping: From Python and PyTorch.

Freedom, not a cage

Apsi gives you safe defaults — units, checks, a sandbox — and then gets out of the way:

• Any Python library still works: let pd = pyimport("pandas") (run with --allow-python).
• C and C++ libraries: cload("libfoo.so") and call functions directly (interop).
• Your own operators, iterators, printing on your types (struct methods add, iter, to_str …).
• Your own libraries for everyone: apsi pack && apsi publish (libraries).
• Servers, tools, data pipelines, simulations, models — the same language for all of them.

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