99 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
99 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
# zig lang
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An experiment in writing a low-level programming language with the intent to
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replace C. Zig intends to be a small language, yet powerful enough to write
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readable, safe, optimal, and concise code to solve any computing problem.
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## Goals
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* Ability to run arbitrary code at compile time and generate code.
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* Completely compatible with C libraries with no wrapper necessary.
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* Creating a C library should be a primary use case. Should be easy to export
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an auto-generated .h file.
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* Generics such as containers.
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* Do not depend on libc unless explicitly imported.
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* First class error code support.
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* Include documentation generator.
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* Eliminate the need for make, cmake, etc.
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* Friendly toward package maintainers.
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* Eliminate the need for C headers (when using zig internally).
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* Ability to declare dependencies as Git URLS with commit locking (can
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provide a tag or sha1).
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* Tagged union enum type.
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* Opinionated when it makes life easier.
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- Tab character in source code is a compile error.
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- Whitespace at the end of line is a compile error.
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* Resilient to parsing errors to make IDE integration work well.
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* Source code is UTF-8.
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* Shebang line OK so language can be used for "scripting" as well.
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* Ability to mark functions as test and automatically run them in test mode.
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* Memory zeroed by default, unless you initialize with "uninitialized".
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## Roadmap
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* Unit tests.
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* C style comments.
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* Simple .so library
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* Multiple files
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* figure out integers
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* inline assembly and syscalls
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* running code at compile time
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* implement a simple game using SDL2
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* How should the Widget use case be solved? In Genesis I'm using C++ and inheritance.
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### Primitive Numeric Types:
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zig | C equivalent | Description
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-------|--------------|-------------------------------
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i8 | int8_t | signed 8-bit integer
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u8 | uint8_t | unsigned 8-bit integer
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i16 | int16_t | signed 16-bit integer
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u16 | uint16_t | unsigned 16-bit integer
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i32 | int32_t | signed 32-bit integer
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u32 | uint32_t | unsigned 32-bit integer
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i64 | int64_t | signed 64-bit integer
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u64 | uint64_t | unsigned 64-bit integer
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f32 | float | 32-bit IEE754 floating point
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f64 | double | 64-bit IEE754 floating point
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f128 | long double | 128-bit IEE754 floating point
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isize | ssize_t | signed pointer sized integer
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usize | size_t | unsigned pointer sized integer
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### Grammar
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```
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Root : many(TopLevelDecl) token(EOF)
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TopLevelDecl : FnDef | ExternBlock
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ExternBlock : many(Directive) token(Extern) token(LBrace) many(FnProtoDecl) token(RBrace)
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FnProto : token(Fn) token(Symbol) ParamDeclList option(token(Arrow) Type)
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FnDecl : FnProto token(Semicolon)
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FnDef : many(Directive) FnProto Block
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ParamDeclList : token(LParen) list(ParamDecl, token(Comma)) token(RParen)
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ParamDecl : token(Symbol) token(Colon) Type
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Type : token(Symbol) | PointerType | token(Unreachable)
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PointerType : token(Star) token(Const) Type | token(Star) token(Mut) Type
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Block : token(LBrace) many(Statement) token(RBrace)
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Statement : ExpressionStatement | ReturnStatement
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ExpressionStatement : Expression token(Semicolon)
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ReturnStatement : token(Return) Expression token(Semicolon)
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Expression : token(Number) | token(String) | token(Unreachable) | FnCall
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FnCall : token(Symbol) token(LParen) list(Expression, token(Comma)) token(RParen)
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Directive : token(NumberSign) token(Symbol) token(LParen) token(String) token(RParen)
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```
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