Basic examples

97 small Soma programs, from hello world to a full application, each commented line by line and run when this page was built. Read them in order to learn the language; the verified corpus has the larger programs.

#	Example	What it shows
001	Hello World	The simplest Soma program: a cell with one handler that prints a greeting.
002	Variables and Assignment	Demonstrates let bindings, reassignment, and string interpolation.
003	Basic Types	Soma has these built-in types: Int, Float, String, Bool, List, Map, and () () is null/unit. type_of() tells you what something is.
004	Arithmetic Operations	Demonstrates +, -, *, /, % on integers and floats.
005	String Operations	Demonstrates Soma's rich set of string built-in functions.
006	String Interpolation	Soma strings support {variable} interpolation, including map field access.
007	Null Handling	() is null in Soma. The ?? operator provides defaults for null values.
008	Type Conversions	Demonstrates to_string(), to_int(), to_float(), and to_json()/from_json().
009	Booleans and Comparisons	Demonstrates boolean values and comparison operators.
010	Multiple Handlers	A cell can have multiple handlers. Each is like a public method. Handlers can call each other.
011	If / Else	Demonstrates conditional branching with if/else.
012	While Loops	Demonstrates the while loop for repeated execution.
013	For..In Loops	for..in iterates over List values.
014	Recursion	Handlers can call themselves recursively.
015	Nested Conditions and Complex Logic	Demonstrates deeply nested if/else for multi-factor decisions.
016	Loop Patterns	Common loop patterns: accumulator, find, early exit simulation.
017	FizzBuzz	The classic interview problem, implemented in Soma.
018	String Builder Pattern	Demonstrates building strings with += (append) and concat.
019	Number Algorithms	Classic number theory: GCD, primality test, collatz sequence.
020	Iterating Over Maps	Maps are iterated via .keys(), then accessing each value with .get().
021	List Basics	Creating lists, accessing elements, appending, and getting length.
022	Map Basics	Creating maps, accessing fields, and using with/without/merge.
023	Nested Data Structures	Lists of maps, maps of lists — complex nested data.
024	List Transformations	Building new lists from existing ones with for loops.
025	Flatten and Zip	flatten() merges nested lists; zip() pairs up two lists.
026	Enumerate	enumerate() adds an index to each element of a list.
027	Pluck and Select	pluck() extracts a single field; select() picks multiple fields.
028	JSON Serialization	to_json() and from_json() for data serialization.
029	Memory Slots	Cells can have persistent memory using the memory { } block. Memory slots have properties like [persistent, consistent].
030	Collection Algorithms	Higher-level operations: group_by, unique counting, frequency analysis.
031	Filter and Sort Pipelines	filter_by() and sort_by() are the building blocks of data pipelines.
032	The Pipe Operator \|>	a \|> f(b) is equivalent to f(a, b). Enables readable data pipelines.
033	Joining Datasets	join() and left_join() combine two lists on a shared key.
034	Aggregation with agg()	agg() groups by a field and computes aggregates (sum, avg, count, etc).
035	Sum, Avg, Min, Max	Convenience aggregation functions that work on a whole list.
036	Group By	group_by() partitions data; combine with iteration for analytics.
037	Multi-Stage Pipeline	Chaining multiple operations: filter -> join -> aggregate -> sort.
038	Top N Analysis	top() takes the first N rows from a (usually sorted) list.
039	Sales Dashboard Pipeline	A realistic multi-table analytics pipeline for sales data.
040	ETL Pipeline (Extract, Transform, Load)	Simulates an ETL workflow: extract raw data, transform it, load a summary.
041	Simple REST API	A minimal key-value API with put, get, delete. Serve: soma serve 041_simple_api.cell Test: curl localhost:8080/put/mykey/myvalue curl loca
042	CRUD API for Users	Full Create-Read-Update-Delete API using JSON serialization. Serve: soma serve 042_crud_api.cell Test: curl -X POST localhost:8080/create?
043	JSON API Responses	Demonstrates returning structured JSON from API handlers.
044	HTTP Status Codes	response() lets you set HTTP status codes for error handling. Serve: soma serve 044_status_codes.cell Test: curl localhost:8080/find/1 -
045	Input Validation	Validates input data and returns appropriate error responses.
046	Generic Request Handler	The special request(method, path, body) handler catches all HTTP requests. Serve: soma serve 046_request_handler.cell Test: curl localhost
047	Bookmarks API	A practical API for managing bookmarks with tags.
048	Search API	Filter and search through data using pipeline operators.
049	Counter API	A simple counter with increment, decrement, and get. Demonstrates memory slots and basic state management. Serve: soma serve 049_counter_ap
050	Notes API with Search	A notes API that supports creating, listing, and searching notes.
051	Static HTML Page	html() wraps content with the correct content-type for browsers. Use single quotes for HTML attributes (double quotes delimit Soma strings).
053	HTML Form Handling	Forms submit to signal handlers. GET forms use query parameters. Serve: soma serve 053_html_form.cell Test: open http://localhost:8080 ->
054	HTMX Counter	A counter that updates without page reloads using HTMX. Serve: soma serve 054_htmx_counter.cell Test: open http://localhost:8080
057	Redirects	redirect() sends an HTTP redirect response to the browser. Serve: soma serve 057_redirect.cell Test: curl localhost:8080/old-page -> redir
058	HTML Partials (Component Pattern)	Break HTML into reusable handler-based components.
059	Multi-Page App with Routing	Route different paths to different pages using the request handler. Serve: soma serve 059_multi_page.cell Test: curl localhost:8080/
060	Dashboard Page with Dynamic Data	Combines data processing with HTML rendering for a dashboard.
061	Basic State Machine	State machines define valid transitions. The compiler enforces them.
062	Ticket Tracking System	A support ticket system with state machine for ticket lifecycle.
063	Approval Workflow	A multi-stage approval process using state machines.
064	Document Lifecycle	Documents move through draft -> review -> published states.
065	E-Commerce Order Pipeline	Full order management: create, add items, process through stages.
066	Deployment Pipeline	CI/CD deployment stages modeled as a state machine.
067	Kanban Task Board	Tasks flow through: backlog -> todo -> in_progress -> done.
068	Subscription Lifecycle	Models a SaaS subscription: trial -> active -> cancelled etc.
069	Interview Process	Candidate moves through interview stages.
070	Querying Valid Transitions	valid_transitions() returns what states are reachable from the current one.
071	CSV-Like Data Processing	Parse and process tabular data represented as lists of maps.
072	Analytics Report	Multi-dimensional analytics on a dataset.
073	Report Generator	Builds a formatted text report from data.
074	Data Cleaning	Clean and normalize messy data.
075	Pivot Table	Summarize data across two dimensions (like a pivot table).
076	Text Histogram	Build a simple text-based histogram from data.
077	Moving Average	Compute a simple moving average over a series of values.
078	Leaderboard	Process game scores into a ranked leaderboard.
079	Data Merge (Multi-Source Join)	Combine data from multiple sources using joins.
080	ETL Transformation Pipeline	Extract data, apply multiple transformations, produce final output.
081	Blog Engine	A simple blog with posts and listing.
082	Contact Book	Manage contacts with search capability.
083	Inventory Management	Track products, quantities, and stock levels.
084	Invoice Generator	Create invoices with line items and compute totals.
085	Task Tracker	A project task tracker with priorities and assignment.
086	Expense Tracker	Track expenses by category and generate summaries.
087	Quiz Scoring	Score a quiz and provide a grade.
088	Recipe Book	Store and search recipes with ingredients.
089	URL Shortener	Shorten URLs and track visit counts. Serve: soma serve 089_url_shortener.cell
090	Polling / Voting System	Create polls, cast votes, see results.
091	BigInt Arithmetic	BigInt provides arbitrary-precision integers — no overflow.
092	Basic Tests	Tests are declared with `cell test Name { rules { assert ... } }`.
093	Testing String Functions	Test string manipulation with declarative assertions.
094	Testing Recursive Functions	Verify recursive algorithms with declarative tests.
095	Face Block and Promises	The face block declares a cell's public interface and promises. Promises are runtime-checked guarantees.
096	Custom Properties	Define custom properties that extend the memory system. The language grows — no compiler changes needed.
097	Memory Properties	Memory slots can have different property combinations that declare durability, consistency, and visibility semantics.
098	Multiple Cells in One File	A file can contain multiple cells. Each is an independent unit. Tests can reference handlers from non-test cells.
099	Comprehensive Example: Employee Directory	Combines multiple Soma features in one realistic application: - Memory with properties - Data pipelines with filter/sort/aggregate - String
100	Full Application: Product Catalog with State Machine	The capstone example: combines cells, state machines, pipelines, memory, tests, and HTML rendering in one file.