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. This mode should automatically provide test coverage.
Memory zeroed by default, unless you initialize with "uninitialized".

Building

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
./run_tests

Roadmap

unreachable <--> noreturn attribute
unused label error
loops
structs
tagged enums
calling external variadic functions and exporting variadic functions
inline assembly and syscalls
conditional compilation and ability to check target platform and architecture
main function with command line arguments
running code at compile time
print! macro that takes var args
panic! macro that prints a stack trace to stderr in debug mode and calls abort() in release mode
unreachable codegen to panic("unreachable") in debug mode, and nothing in release mode
implement a simple game using SDL2
How should the Widget use case be solved? In Genesis I'm using C++ and inheritance.

Primitive Numeric Types:

zig	C equivalent	Description
bool	bool	unsigned 1-bit integer
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	intptr_t	signed pointer sized integer
usize	uintptr_t	unsigned pointer sized integer

Grammar

Root : many(TopLevelDecl) token(EOF)

TopLevelDecl : FnDef | ExternBlock | RootExportDecl | Use

Use : many(Directive) token(Use) token(String) token(Semicolon)

RootExportDecl : many(Directive) token(Export) token(Symbol) token(String) token(Semicolon)

ExternBlock : many(Directive) token(Extern) token(LBrace) many(FnDecl) token(RBrace)

FnProto : many(Directive) option(FnVisibleMod) token(Fn) token(Symbol) ParamDeclList option(token(Arrow) Type)

Directive : token(NumberSign) token(Symbol) token(LParen) token(String) token(RParen)

FnVisibleMod : token(Pub) | token(Export)

FnDecl : FnProto token(Semicolon)

FnDef : FnProto Block

ParamDeclList : token(LParen) list(ParamDecl, token(Comma)) token(RParen)

ParamDecl : token(Symbol) token(Colon) Type

Type : token(Symbol) | PointerType | token(Unreachable)

PointerType : token(Star) token(Const) Type | token(Star) token(Mut) Type

Block : token(LBrace) list(option(Statement), token(Semicolon)) token(RBrace)

Statement : Label | NonBlockExpression token(Semicolon) | BlockExpression

Label: token(Symbol) token(Colon)

Expression : BlockExpression | NonBlockExpression

NonBlockExpression : ReturnExpression | VariableDeclaration | BoolOrExpression

BlockExpression : IfExpression | Block

BoolOrExpression : BoolAndExpression token(BoolOr) BoolAndExpression | BoolAndExpression

ReturnExpression : token(Return) option(Expression)

VariableDeclaration : token(Let) token(Symbole) (token(Eq) Expression | token(Colon) Type option(token(Eq) Expression))

IfExpression : token(If) Expression Block option(Else | ElseIf)

ElseIf : token(Else) IfExpression

Else : token(Else) Block

BoolAndExpression : ComparisonExpression token(BoolAnd) ComparisonExpression | ComparisonExpression

ComparisonExpression : BinaryOrExpression ComparisonOperator BinaryOrExpression | BinaryOrExpression

ComparisonOperator : token(BoolEq) | token(BoolNotEq) | token(BoolLessThan) | token(BoolGreaterThan) | token(BoolLessEqual) | token(BoolGreaterEqual)

BinaryOrExpression : BinaryXorExpression token(BinOr) BinaryXorExpression | BinaryXorExpression

BinaryXorExpression : BinaryAndExpression token(BinXor) BinaryAndExpression | BinaryAndExpression

BinaryAndExpression : BitShiftExpression token(BinAnd) BitShiftExpression | BitShiftExpression

BitShiftExpression : AdditionExpression BitShiftOperator AdditionExpression | AdditionExpression

BitShiftOperator : token(BitShiftLeft | token(BitShiftRight)

AdditionExpression : MultiplyExpression AdditionOperator MultiplyExpression | MultiplyExpression

AdditionOperator : token(Plus) | token(Minus)

MultiplyExpression : CastExpression MultiplyOperator CastExpression | CastExpression

MultiplyOperator : token(Star) | token(Slash) | token(Percent)

CastExpression : PrefixOpExpression token(as) Type | PrefixOpExpression

PrefixOpExpression : PrefixOp FnCallExpression | FnCallExpression

FnCallExpression : PrimaryExpression token(LParen) list(Expression, token(Comma)) token(RParen) | PrimaryExpression

PrefixOp : token(Not) | token(Dash) | token(Tilde)

PrimaryExpression : token(Number) | token(String) | KeywordLiteral | GroupedExpression | token(Symbol) | Goto

Goto: token(Goto) token(Symbol)

GroupedExpression : token(LParen) Expression token(RParen)

KeywordLiteral : token(Unreachable) | token(Void) | token(True) | token(False)

Operator Precedence

x()
!x -x ~x
as
* / %
+ -
<< >>
&
^
|
== != < > <= >=
&&
||
=

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