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Authored by https://github.com/CraigglesO Original Discussion: #9890 I already had to create these functions and test cases for my own project so I decided to contribute to the main code base in hopes it would simplify my own. I realize this is still under discussion but this was a trivial amount of work so I thought I could help nudge the discussion towards a decision. Why add these to the standard library To better illustrate and solidify their value, the standard library's "sort" module already contains several binary search queries on arrays such as binarySearch and internal functions binaryFirst & binaryLast. A final example of its use: the Zig code itself created and used a bounding search in the linker. There still lacks the ability to allow the programmer themselves to search the array for a rough position and find an index to read &/ update. Adding these functions would also help to complement dynamic structures like ArrayList with it's insert function. Example Case I'm building a library in Zig for GIS geometry. To store points, lines, and polygons each 3D point is first translated into what's called an S2CellId. This is a fancy way of saying I reduce the Earth's spherical data into a 1D Hilbert Curve with cm precision. This gives me 2 convenient truths: Hilbert Curves have locality of reference. All points can be stored inside a 1D array Since lowerBound and upperBound to find data inside a radius for instance. If I'm interested in a specific cell at a specific "level" and want to iterate all duplicates, equalRange is a best fit.
A general-purpose programming language and toolchain for maintaining robust, optimal, and reusable software.
Documentation
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Otherwise, you're looking at a release of Zig, and you can find documentation here:
- doc/langref.html
- doc/std/index.html
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 >= 3.5
- System C/C++ Toolchain
- LLVM, Clang, LLD development libraries == 17.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 C files
- Ability to compile assembly files
- Some ELF linking features
- Most COFF/PE linking features
- Some WebAssembly linking features
- Ability to output LLVM bitcode
- Windows resource file compilation
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- Ability to compile 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 such case, LLVM is not needed!
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.