pell — a modern language that compiles to Oracle PL/SQL 23

A statically-typed surface language with first-class tooling, designed to fix the worst ergonomic pain points of PL/SQL while still emitting PL/SQL you can deploy to a real Oracle 23 database.

IntelliJ plugin

Available on JetBrains Marketplace — split-editor with live PL/SQL preview, gutter build/run buttons, REPL launcher, new-project wizard.

📦 plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/31994-pell

The rich Marketplace card with one-click install lives on the docs site instead — see https://batterts.github.io/pell — because GitHub sandboxes <script> and <iframe> tags for security.

Status

• design.md — the language spec (1900+ lines). Status: draft 0.3.
• GETTING_STARTED.md — how to actually compile a .pell file today.
• compiler/ — Python v0 MVP transpiler. ~1700 LOC. 75 tests passing. Implements a useful subset of the language.
• compiler/examples/ — .pell programs and their emitted .sql.
• reviews/ — five-reviewer critique reports plus a SUMMARY of the design review.

Quick taste

module hr.employees;

pub record Employee { id: number, name: text, level: number }

pub error NotFound { id: number }
pub error PolicyViolation { reason: text }

pub fn promote(id: number) -> Result<Unit, NotFound | PolicyViolation> {
  let e = sql! {
    select id, name, level from employees where id = :id
  }.one()?;

  if e.level >= 9 {
    return Err(PolicyViolation { reason: "already at max level" });
  }

  transaction {
    sql! { update employees set level = level + 1 where id = :id };
  }
  return Ok(());
}

Lowers to a CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY hr_employees with proper SAVEPOINT/COMMIT/ROLLBACK semantics, RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR-coded typed exceptions via pell_runtime, and SELECT INTO with handler mapping. See compiler/expected/02_employees.sql for the literal output.

Try it

./pell build compiler/examples/02_employees.pell

For everything else — what's implemented, what isn't, how to add a feature, how the runtime works — see GETTING_STARTED.md.

License

pell is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 — see LICENSE for the full text.

The PL/SQL output the pell compiler produces is not a derivative work of pell and is not subject to pell's license. You own your compiled output and can license it however you choose.

That output is provided as-is. pell makes no warranty that the generated PL/SQL is correct, complete, fit for any particular purpose, free of defects, or compatible with any specific Oracle Database version, schema, or workload. You are responsible for reviewing, testing, and validating the emitted code before deploying it. See the "Compiled output disclaimer" section at the bottom of LICENSE.

"Oracle" and "PL/SQL" are trademarks of Oracle Corporation. They are used here descriptively to identify the compilation target; pell is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Oracle.