# Show HN: Numscript, a declarative language to model financial transactions

**URL:** <https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/show-hn-numscript-a-declarative-language-to-model-financial-transactions/365>\
**Category:** News\
**Created:** [September 20, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/show-hn-numscript-a-declarative-language-to-model-financial-transactions/365 "2024-09-20T17:44:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![simonmic](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex003/user_avatar/forum.plaintextaccounting.org/simonmic/32/1_2.png) [@simonmic](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/u/simonmic)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/show-hn-numscript-a-declarative-language-to-model-financial-transactions/365/1 "2024-09-20T17:44:35Z")

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> **[Show HN: Numscript, a declarative language to model financial transactions](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41593216)**
>
> Numscript is a simple, declarative language that helps you model financial transactions. You can do quite a few things with it, such as modeling:\<p\>\* Payments involving vouchers and a user's prepaid balance
> \* Complex funds destination scenario where the customer gets cash back
> \* Configurable user credit balance spending transactions\<p\>The main idea is to take the pain out of describing of a...

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**Author:** ![shlewislee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@shlewislee](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/u/shlewislee)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/show-hn-numscript-a-declarative-language-to-model-financial-transactions/365/2 "2024-09-20T21:19:27Z")

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```auto
transactions:
  - title: Purchase of evil machine
    transfers:
      - utc: '2017-02-17'
        from: anna
        to: evil-corp
        amount: 50000 €
      - utc: '2017-02-17'
        from: evil-corp
        to: anna
        amount: 1 evil-machine

```

Other than its nice parsability, I don't see how this is simpler than ledger format, provided that you are willing to spend 15+ min to get the hang of double-entry accountings... This sort of simple records is not sufficient, even for personal finance.

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**Author:** ![simonmic](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex003/user_avatar/forum.plaintextaccounting.org/simonmic/32/1_2.png) [@simonmic](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/u/simonmic)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/show-hn-numscript-a-declarative-language-to-model-financial-transactions/365/3 "2024-09-20T21:38:48Z")

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Oh, I didn't see that kind of yaml syntax for NumScript. It's not Transity you're looking at ?

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**Author:** ![shlewislee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@shlewislee](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/u/shlewislee)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/show-hn-numscript-a-declarative-language-to-model-financial-transactions/365/4 "2024-09-22T17:50:48Z")

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Sorry, it was! Numscript is better yes. It's no ledger but definitely better than transity.