zig/README.md
2015-11-06 22:11:47 -07:00

2.4 KiB

zig lang

An experiment in writing a low-level programming language with the intent to replace C. Zig intends to be a small language, yet powerful enough to write readable, safe, optimal, and concise code to solve any computing problem.

Goals

  • Ability to run arbitrary code at compile time and generate code.
  • Completely compatible with C libraries with no wrapper necessary.
  • Creating a C library should be a primary use case. Should be easy to export an auto-generated .h file.
  • Generics such as containers.
  • Do not depend on libc unless explicitly imported.
  • First class error code support.
  • Include documentation generator.
  • Eliminate the need for make, cmake, etc.
  • Friendly toward package maintainers.
  • Eliminate the need for C headers (when using zig internally).
  • Ability to declare dependencies as Git URLS with commit locking (can provide a tag or sha1).
  • Tagged union enum type.
  • Opinionated when it makes life easier.
    • Tab character in source code is a compile error.
    • Whitespace at the end of line is a compile error.
  • Resilient to parsing errors to make IDE integration work well.
  • Source code is UTF-8.
  • Shebang line OK so language can be used for "scripting" as well.
  • Ability to mark functions as test and automatically run them in test mode.
  • Memory zeroed by default, unless you initialize with "uninitialized".

Roadmap

  • Hello, world.
    • Build AST
    • Code Gen
    • Produce .o file.
  • Produce executable file instead of .o file.
  • Add debugging symbols.
  • Debug/Release mode.
  • C style comments.
  • Unit tests.
  • Simple .so library
  • How should the Widget use case be solved? In Genesis I'm using C++ and inheritance.

Primitive Numeric Types:

zig C equivalent Description
i8 int8_t signed 8-bit integer
u8 uint8_t unsigned 8-bit integer
i16 int16_t signed 16-bit integer
u16 uint16_t unsigned 16-bit integer
i32 int32_t signed 32-bit integer
u32 uint32_t unsigned 32-bit integer
i64 int64_t signed 64-bit integer
u64 uint64_t unsigned 64-bit integer
f32 float 32-bit IEE754 floating point
f64 double 64-bit IEE754 floating point
f128 long double 128-bit IEE754 floating point
isize ssize_t signed pointer sized integer
usize size_t unsigned pointer sized integer