It’s All Geek to Me: JetBrains develops programming language that lets you code in English

JetBrains, creator of the Kotlin programming language, is developing a new unnamed programming language that would allow developers to write code using English-based descriptions rather than traditional syntax. The company envisions this higher-abstraction language enabling AI agents to automatically generate cross-platform applications from natural language specifications, making AI code generation more controllable and transparent.

What you should know: JetBrains CEO Kirill Skrygan describes this as the next evolution in programming abstraction levels, moving beyond current languages like Java and C#.

• “And now it’s time to move even higher,” Skrygan said. “So when we write the code, we’ll basically lay out the ontology, the object-oriented architecture, what we have in mind, or have somewhere written in design docs.”
• The language would function as a “whole architecture program” that makes AI code generation more controllable, transparent, and useful.

How it works: Developers would essentially write design documents in English with some semantic elements, which AI agents would then translate into platform-specific code.

• “So basically, you write the design doc in English, maybe with some semantics, with some abstract paragraph, some other things which might help,” Skrygan explained.
• For cross-platform development, instead of writing separate applications for iPhone, Android, and web, developers would describe their application requirements in this English-based language.
• JetBrains tooling combined with AI agents would then automatically generate code for all target platforms.

In plain English: Think of it like writing a detailed blueprint for a house in everyday language instead of using architectural drawings. Just as a contractor could build the same house design using different materials (wood, brick, or steel), AI agents would take your English description and automatically create the same app for different devices—iPhone, Android, and web—without you having to learn the specific technical languages for each platform.

The big picture: This represents a fundamental shift toward natural language programming, where technical specifications could be written in plain English rather than traditional programming syntax.

• JetBrains is exploring making this new language a derivative of Kotlin, though Skrygan believes “the derivative should be English.”
• The approach could dramatically reduce development time for cross-platform applications while making programming more accessible to non-technical stakeholders.

What’s next: JetBrains has not revealed a timeline for when this language will become generally available, indicating the project is still in early development stages.