55 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
55 lines
2.0 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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* Rust-style enums.
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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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## Roadmap
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* Hello, world.
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- Build AST
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- Code Gen
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* C style comments.
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* Unit tests.
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* Simple .so library
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* How should the Widget use case be solved? In Genesis I'm using C++ and inheritance.
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## Grammar
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```
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Root : FnDecl*
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FnDecl : TokenFn TokenSymbol TokenLParen list(ParamDecl, TokenComma, 0) TokenRParen (TokenArrow Type)? Block
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ParamDecl : TokenSymbol TokenColon Type
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Type : TokenSymbol | PointerType
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PointerType : TokenStar (TokenConst | TokenMut) Type
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Block : TokenLBrace Statement* Expression? TokenRBrace
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Statement : ExpressionStatement | ReturnStatement
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ExpressionStatement : Expression TokenSemicolon
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ReturnStatement : TokenReturn Expression TokenSemicolon
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Expression : TokenNumber | TokenString | FnCall
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FnCall : TokenSymbol TokenLParen list(Expression, TokenComma, 0) TokenRParen
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```
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