Zlang

Implementation of a basic C-like Language

Example:

	/*
		1st Hello world script in zlang
	*/

	// extern keyword to allow binding of C functions
	// C equivalent: extern void puts(char*)
	extern puts(string)
	extern putchar(int)

	// pointer support
	// C equivalent: extern void* foo(int*)
	extern foo(@int) @

	// int square(int x) {
	square is func(int x) int {
		return x*x
	}

	// int main() {
	main is func() int {
		puts("Hello, 世界") // support UTF-8 encoding

		// Dynamic typing:
		// int result = square(2)
		result is square(2)

		// if (result != 4)
		if result neq 4 {
			puts("FAILURE: \"not 4\"")
		} else {
			puts("SUCCESS")
		}

		// result is already declared as an int
		// result = 32
		result is 32

		// not readable, but working
		c is 32 while c neq 127 { putchar(c) if c eq 126 {puts("")} c is c+1}

		return result
	}

Running:

# with compiler
$ zlc -o hello hello_world.zl 
$ ./hello
Hello, 世界
SUCCESS
 !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~
$ echo $?
32


# with interpreter
# TODO

Debugging Bytecode

# Dump bytecode
$ zlc --emit-llvm hello_world.zl 
	; ModuleID = 'hello_world.zl'

	@.str = private unnamed_addr constant [20 x i8] c"Hello World, \E4\B8\96\E7\95\8C\00", align 1
	@.str1 = private unnamed_addr constant [17 x i8] c"FAILURE: \22not 4\22\00", align 1
	@.str2 = private unnamed_addr constant [8 x i8] c"SUCCESS\00", align 1

	declare void @println(i8*)
	declare void* @foo(i32*)

	define i32 @square(i32 %x) nounwind uwtable {
	  %1 = alloca i32, align 4
	  store i32 %x, i32* %1, align 4
	  %2 = load i32* %1, align 4
	  %3 = load i32* %1, align 4
	  %4 = mul nsw i32 %2, %3
	  ret i32 %4
	}

	define i32 @main() nounwind uwtable {
	  %1 = alloca i32, align 4
	  %result = alloca i32, align 4
	  store i32 0, i32* %1
	  call void @println(i8* getelementptr inbounds ([20 x i8]* @.str, i32 0, i32 0))
	  %2 = call i32 @square(i32 2)
	  store i32 %2, i32* %result, align 4
	  %3 = load i32* %result, align 4
	  %4 = icmp eq i32 %3, 4
	  br i1 %4, label %5, label %6

	; <label>:5                                       ; preds = %0
	  call void @println(i8* getelementptr inbounds ([17 x i8]* @.str1, i32 0, i32 0))
	  br label %7

	; <label>:6                                       ; preds = %0
	  call void @println(i8* getelementptr inbounds ([8 x i8]* @.str2, i32 0, i32 0))
	  br label %7

	; <label>:7                                       ; preds = %6, %5
	  ret i32 0
	}

Status

Zlang is at early alpha stage and is for learning purposes only (don't implement real-world application with Zlang)

• Lexer
• Parser
• JIT Interpreter (In progress)
• Compiler
• Compiler with optimizer pass

Language features:

• Functions
• Extern functions (C bindings)
• Variable assignation
• Mutable Variables
• [-] Pointers (To be tested)
• Conditions (if/else)
• Loops (while)
• Bitwise operations (and, or, xor, nand, nor, lshift, rshift)

Types:

• Boolean (bool)
• String (string)
• Byte (byte)
• Integer (int32, int64)
• Float (float32, float64)
• Arrays
• Structs (In progress)