Welcome to Fawlty Language!
Fawlty Language is an IDL8 (Interactive Data Language) compatible compiler (IDL is a registered trademark of NV5 Geospatial Solutions, Inc.
Features
- all language elements are supported
- multithreaded operators
- profiling
- about 900 library functions
- true-color (24 bit) direct graphics devices: X, WIN, PS, PDF, Z
- GIF/JPEG/PNG/TIFF read/write support
- CDF/NetCDF/HDF5/HDF4 (SD only) read/write support
License
FL is freeware, you can use it without any restriction, you can even redistribute it if you want.
Downloads
The first public snapshot of FL was released 20 years ago. Let's celebrate it with FL 0.8!
FL 0.8 current development snapshot (2026 March 31, Changelog)
Primary platforms
- Linux 64 bit, AMD64 (x86-64), AlmaLinux 8 or compatible: fl_0.8-amd64-linux.tar.gz
- Linux 64 bit, AARCH64 (arm64), AlmaLinux 8 or compatible: fl_0.8-aarch64-linux.tar.gz
- Windows 10 22H2 or newer, AMD64 (x86-64): fl_0.8-amd64-windows.zip
- MacOS 13 or newer, AMD64 (x86-64): fl_0.8-amd64-macos.dmg
Experimental builds
- Linux 64 bit, PPC64LE, AlmaLinux 8 or compatible: fl_0.8-ppc64le-linux.tar.gz
- Linux 64 bit, RISC-V 64, Ubuntu 22.04 or compatible: fl_0.8-riscv64-linux.tar.gz
- Linux 64 bit, S390X, AlmaLinux 8 or compatible: fl_0.8-s390x-linux.tar.gz
Installation
Just unpack the archive. The command-line and graphical interfaces are separated into two executables on all platforms. The CMD executable can be started from a terminal/console, while the GUI executable can be started by (double)clicking on it in a file manager.
Note for Windows users
Qt 6 changed HiDPI scaling on Windows and FL may not handling this properly, resulting in TVRD() crashing with FullHD+ displays. If you encounter this bug, set the QT_ENABLE_HIGHDPI_SCALING environment variable to 0 before starting FL. (Modifying the global environment is not recommended, as other Qt applications may need HiDPI scaling, it is better to create a batch file to start FL with this setting.)
Documentation
FL is almost 100% compatible with IDL 8.0. The IDL documentation is available on the net at NV5 Geospatial Solutions.
Contact
Questions, comments, bug reports can be sent to: FawltyLanguage a_t gmail d_o_t com or you can report bugs in the github issue tracker. (Bitbucket Cloud Issues will be discontinued this summer, use this github repo instead.)
Enjoy!
Lajos Földy