0ec6b2dd88
The original motivation here was to fix regressions caused by #22414. However, while working on this, I ended up discussing a language simplification with Andrew, which changes things a little from how they worked before #22414. The main user-facing change here is that any reference to a prior function parameter, even if potentially comptime-known at the usage site or even not analyzed, now makes a function generic. This applies even if the parameter being referenced is not a `comptime` parameter, since it could still be populated when performing an inline call. This is a breaking language change. The detection of this is done in AstGen; when evaluating a parameter type or return type, we track whether it referenced any prior parameter, and if so, we mark this type as being "generic" in ZIR. This will cause Sema to not evaluate it until the time of instantiation or inline call. A lovely consequence of this from an implementation perspective is that it eliminates the need for most of the "generic poison" system. In particular, `error.GenericPoison` is now completely unnecessary, because we identify generic expressions earlier in the pipeline; this simplifies the compiler and avoids redundant work. This also entirely eliminates the concept of the "generic poison value". The only remnant of this system is the "generic poison type" (`Type.generic_poison` and `InternPool.Index.generic_poison_type`). This type is used in two places: * During semantic analysis, to represent an unknown result type. * When storing generic function types, to represent a generic parameter/return type. It's possible that these use cases should instead use `.none`, but I leave that investigation to a future adventurer. One last thing. Prior to #22414, inline calls were a little inefficient, because they re-evaluated even non-generic parameter types whenever they were called. Changing this behavior is what ultimately led to #22538. Well, because the new logic will mark a type expression as generic if there is any change its resolved type could differ in an inline call, this redundant work is unnecessary! So, this is another way in which the new design reduces redundant work and complexity. Resolves: #22494 Resolves: #22532 Resolves: #22538
A general-purpose programming language and toolchain for maintaining robust, optimal, and reusable software.
Documentation
If you are looking at this README file in a source tree, please refer to the Release Notes, Language Reference, or Standard Library Documentation corresponding to the version of Zig that you are using by following the appropriate link on the download page.
Otherwise, you're looking at a release of Zig, so you can find the language
reference at doc/langref.html, and the standard library documentation by
running zig std, which will open a browser tab.
Installation
A Zig installation is composed of two things:
- The Zig executable
- The lib/ directory
At runtime, the executable searches up the file system for the lib/ directory, relative to itself:
- lib/
- lib/zig/
- ../lib/
- ../lib/zig/
- (and so on)
In other words, you can unpack a release of Zig anywhere, and then begin
using it immediately. There is no need to install it globally, although this
mechanism supports that use case too (i.e. /usr/bin/zig and /usr/lib/zig/).
Building from Source
Ensure you have the required dependencies:
- CMake >= 3.15
- System C/C++ Toolchain
- LLVM, Clang, LLD development libraries == 19.x
Then it is the standard CMake build process:
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make install
For more options, tips, and troubleshooting, please see the Building Zig From Source page on the wiki.
Building from Source without LLVM
In this case, the only system dependency is a C compiler.
cc -o bootstrap bootstrap.c
./bootstrap
This produces a zig2 executable in the current working directory. This is a
"stage2" build of the compiler,
without LLVM extensions, and is
therefore lacking these features:
- Release mode optimizations
- aarch64 machine code backend
- @cImport
- zig translate-c
- Ability to compile assembly files
- Some ELF linking features
- Most COFF/PE linking features
- Some WebAssembly linking features
- Ability to create import libs from def files
- Ability to create static archives from object files
- Ability to compile C, C++, Objective-C, and Objective-C++ files
However, a compiler built this way does provide a C backend, which may be useful for creating system packages of Zig projects using the system C toolchain. In this case, LLVM is not needed!
Furthermore, a compiler built this way provides an LLVM backend that produces bitcode files, which may be compiled into object files via a system Clang package. This can be used to produce system packages of Zig applications without the Zig package dependency on LLVM.
Contributing
Zig is Free and Open Source Software. We welcome bug reports and patches from everyone. However, keep in mind that Zig governance is BDFN (Benevolent Dictator For Now) which means that Andrew Kelley has final say on the design and implementation of everything.
One of the best ways you can contribute to Zig is to start using it for an open-source personal project.
This leads to discovering bugs and helps flesh out use cases, which lead to further design iterations of Zig. Importantly, each issue found this way comes with real world motivations, making it straightforward to explain the reasoning behind proposals and feature requests.
You will be taken much more seriously on the issue tracker if you have a personal project that uses Zig.
The issue label Contributor Friendly exists to help you find issues that are limited in scope and/or knowledge of Zig internals.
Please note that issues labeled Proposal but do not also have the Accepted label are still under consideration, and efforts to implement such a proposal have a high risk of being wasted. If you are interested in a proposal which is still under consideration, please express your interest in the issue tracker, providing extra insights and considerations that others have not yet expressed. The most highly regarded argument in such a discussion is a real world use case.
For more tips, please see the Contributing page on the wiki.
Community
The Zig community is decentralized. Anyone is free to start and maintain their own space for Zig users to gather. There is no concept of "official" or "unofficial". Each gathering place has its own moderators and rules. Users are encouraged to be aware of the social structures of the spaces they inhabit, and work purposefully to facilitate spaces that align with their values.
Please see the Community wiki page for a public listing of social spaces.