zig/README.md

# 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".

## Roadmap

 * test framework to test for compile errors
 * Simple .so library
 * Multiple files
 * inline assembly and syscalls
 * running code at compile time
 * 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

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)

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) many(Statement) token(RBrace)

Statement : ExpressionStatement | ReturnStatement

ExpressionStatement : Expression token(Semicolon)

ReturnStatement : token(Return) option(Expression) token(Semicolon)

Expression : token(Number) | token(String) | token(Unreachable) | FnCall

FnCall : token(Symbol) token(LParen) list(Expression, token(Comma)) token(RParen)

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

### Building

```
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
./run_tests
```