Catallaxy 0.4.1

A safety release. Ordinary Catallaxy code could crash catx with a segfault, kill it through deep recursion in native code, or hang it after an internal error. 0.4.1 fixes all three: the type checker rejects the programs that got wrong-typed values into native code, the runtime raises a catchable error wherever a check is still needed, and internal failures end only the thread they happen on. Upgrading is recommended. Milestone: 0.4.1.

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CodingAnarchy/catallaxy/main/install.sh | sh   # Linux, macOS
cargo install catallaxy                                                                   # any platform with Rust

Fixes

No more crashes from wrong-typed values (#147)

• Built-in methods and the interpreter's field, list, tuple and call instructions check the kind of object they're given, and raise TypeError: expected X, got Y with a trace instead of segfaulting or reading garbage. This covers values that arrive through Dyn, which the checker can't see.

The checker closes the holes that let wrong-typed values through

• Overrides must have compatible signatures (E0227, #148): they accept the overridden method's parameter types, return a compatible type, keep its defaults, and don't move a parameter name to another position.
• Type tests (is, as?, match) can't narrow by generic type arguments that are erased at run time (E0374, #149). Test the erased form (is Box) instead.
• Interfaces with Self parameters, such as Comparable or a user Merge, can be used only as generic bounds, not as value types (E0375, #150). Write fn bigger[T: Comparable](a: T, b: T).

Deep recursion raises SystemStackError (#154)

• Deep ==, hashing, <=>, JSON, and recursion through Mutex.lock, Atomic.update or par_map now raise a catchable SystemStackError on the main thread, threads, fibers and pool workers, instead of killing the process.

Internal errors no longer hang the program (#155)

• An internal Rust panic ends only its thread, fiber or pool job. join returns Err("internal error: …"), the collector keeps working, and on the main thread the program prints the error and exits 101.
• Nesting with lock on one object more than 1,000 deep is a LockError.

Upgrade notes

• Newly rejected programs: the checker now rejects some programs that 0.4.0 accepted: incompatible overrides, type tests on erased generic arguments, and interfaces with Self parameters used as value types. Each such program could crash or misbehave at run time. The error messages include a suggested fix, and docs/errors.md has an example for each new code.
• Performance: benchmarks are within noise. Loops that do nothing but read fields or destructure tuples are about 3% slower, from the new kind checks.

What's Changed

• Checker: overrides must have compatible signatures (E0227) by @CodingAnarchy in #151
• Checker: type tests must not narrow by erased type arguments (E0374) by @CodingAnarchy in #152
• Checker: interfaces with Self parameters are bounds, not value types (E0375) by @CodingAnarchy in #153
• Natives and instructions check object kinds: TypeError instead of a crash (#147) by @CodingAnarchy in #195
• Runtime: internal panics end only their thread; deep with lock is a LockError by @CodingAnarchy in #197
• Runtime: deep native recursion raises SystemStackError instead of crashing (#154) by @CodingAnarchy in #199
• Release 0.4.1 by @CodingAnarchy in #201

Full Changelog: v0.4.0...v0.4.1

Catallaxy 0.4.0

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CodingAnarchy/catallaxy/main/install.sh | sh   # Linux, macOS
cargo install catallaxy                                                                   # any platform with Rust

This is the first release with prebuilt catx binaries: Linux and macOS on x86_64 and arm64, plus Windows x86_64. Each archive has a .sha256 file, and SHA256SUMS lists them all. Milestone: 0.4.0 (44 issues).

Highlights

Language and standard library

• Formatting: string format specs ("#{x:>8.2f}") and String.format.
• Collections: O(1) ASCII string indexing and Deque[T].
• JSON: integers of any size stay exact.
• New APIs: lazy sequences (xs.lazy(), Lazy[T]); Duration, Instant and DateTime; Csv, Bytes, Digest, Env.set, Stdin.lines.
• Language: import a.b as c, Enum.values(), and (obj.f)(x) for calling a function stored in a field.
• Optionals: ??=, ok_or, and nil narrowing of fields.

Type checker

• Soundness fixes: untyped-parameter functions, members of union types, narrowing across loops, branches and closures, and Self through bounds.
• Comparable: sorting needs Comparable, and tuples and lists are Comparable.
• New diagnostics: E0206, E0372, E0373, a StringBuilder lint (W0004) with a quick fix, and # allow(CODE) to silence warnings.
• Error reference: every code is documented in docs/errors.md, and catx check links to it.

Memory and performance

• Garbage collection:
  • Stale registers no longer keep garbage alive.
  • Empty heap segments go back to the OS.
  • Small lists store their elements inline.
  • Minor collections scan only the written part of large old containers.
• Out of memory: raises MemoryError with a trace instead of aborting, for oversized requests, heap growth, strings, collections, stacks, threads and fibers. CATX_MAX_HEAP caps the heap.
• Speed: string concatenation is about 3× faster.

Tooling

• Editors: a VS Code extension, in editors/vscode (build it from source; it's not on the Marketplace yet).
• Language server:
  • Quick fixes, and catx fix to apply them from the command line.
  • References, rename and workspace symbols cover the whole workspace, including classes that conform to an interface.
  • It warms its cache in the background, and the shared prelude makes that faster.
• Formatting: catx fmt and catx check accept directories.
• C API: uses Catallaxy's allocator by default, and cx_allocator_active() reports whether it's in use.

Breaking changes

• Untyped-parameter functions: some calls that used to type-check and then fail at run time are now rejected. See reference §6.3.
• Narrowing and unions: code that relied on the unsound narrowing or union rules above no longer checks. Each newly rejected program would have panicked at run time.
• Time.millis(): counts milliseconds since the Unix epoch, not since program load.
• join(): on a thread that panicked, it returns Err(message) without a trace. A panicked thread that is never joined is reported, with its trace, when the program exits.
• JSON: Json.parse reads -0 as the Int 0.
• catx allocator: the binary now installs its own global allocator. Rust programs embedding the catallaxy crate can opt in; the C API (catallaxy-capi) uses it by default through its global-allocator feature.

What's Changed

• release.yml: reliable already-published check by @CodingAnarchy in #46
• Checker: Self in an interface used as a bound resolves to the bound parameter by @CodingAnarchy in #70
• CI hygiene: job timeouts, release guards, process.cx temp dir by @CodingAnarchy in #69
• catx fmt/check accept directories; format drifted .cx files; check in CI by @CodingAnarchy in #72
• LSP quick fixes and catx fix by @CodingAnarchy in #80
• Docs: reference fixes and a getting-started guide by @CodingAnarchy in #87
• Json.stringify: write big integers as JSON numbers by @CodingAnarchy in #71
• GC: clear registers left by returned calls so they don't root dead objects by @CodingAnarchy in #73
• Strings: O(1) ASCII indexing and a sparse char index; add Deque[T] by @CodingAnarchy in #74
• Strings: single-copy concatenation; large temporaries die young by @CodingAnarchy in #89
• String formatting: format specs in interpolation, String.format, Int.to_s(base) by @CodingAnarchy in #75
• Date and time: Duration, Instant, DateTime; fix Time.millis by @CodingAnarchy in #86
• Script stdlib: CSV, Bytes, digests, Env.set/all, stdin lines by @CodingAnarchy in #83
• Lazy sequences: Enumerable.lazy() and Lazy[T] by @CodingAnarchy in #81
• Lists: adopt the Vec's allocation instead of copying it by @CodingAnarchy in #76
• Checker: check implicit-generic requirements with their member types by @CodingAnarchy in #77
• GC: return empty heap segments to the OS by @CodingAnarchy in #78
• Prebuilt release binaries and install.sh by @CodingAnarchy in #79
• gc test: make the segment-release test independent of earlier tests by @CodingAnarchy in #93
• Miri: run the string-index test in its own binary (about 6 min → 75 s) by @CodingAnarchy in #95
• Out-of-memory requests panic with MemoryError and a trace; add CATX_MAX_HEAP by @CodingAnarchy in #82
• VS Code extension: grammar, catx lsp client, end-to-end tests (and two LSP fixes) by @CodingAnarchy in #84
• Getting started: install script and the VS Code extension by @CodingAnarchy in #97
• Compiler: import a.b as c by @CodingAnarchy in #85
• Enum.values(); document alternatives to Int.MAX/MIN by @CodingAnarchy in #88
• Checker: sorting needs Comparable; tuples and lists are Comparable by @CodingAnarchy in #90
• Checker: narrowing of fields and ??=, and optional/Result glue by @CodingAnarchy in #92
• Checker and diagnostics: small correctness fixes by @CodingAnarchy in #91
• Drop the redundant homepage field from the manifests by @CodingAnarchy in #94
• CI: run Clippy on test code too (--all-targets) by @CodingAnarchy in #96
• Call a parenthesized callee: (self.f)(x) by @CodingAnarchy in #107
• Json.parse: integers wider than 64 bits parse as Int by @CodingAnarchy in #108
• LSP: rename and references on an interface member cover the conforming classes' methods by @CodingAnarchy in #109
• Checker: check union members against every member's signature by @CodingAnarchy in #110
• Checker: drop narrowings of locals that a loop may break by @CodingAnarchy in #114
• Lint W0004: suggest StringBuilder for string appends in loops by @CodingAnarchy in #111
• Store small lists' elements inline in the list object by @CodingAnarchy in #113
• Docs: an error-code index, checked against the compiler by @CodingAnarchy in #112
• MemoryError instead of abort: heap segments, strings, stacks, threads by @CodingAnarchy in #115
• MemoryError instead of abort: list and dict growth by @CodingAnarchy in #117
• LSP: include unopened workspace files in references, rename and symbols by @CodingAnarchy in #126
• Ignore editors/vscode/.vscode-test/ by @CodingAnarchy in #128
• C API: use catallaxy_gc::Allocator by default by @CodingAnarchy in #125
• Checker: end narrowings of closure-assigned locals at calls by @CodingAnarchy in #127
• Checker: remove E0302, which only followed E0230 by @CodingAnarchy in #133
• Checker: start each branch from the narrowings before it by @CodingAnarchy in #132
• LSP: warm the workspace cache in the background at startup by @CodingAnarchy in #134
• MemoryError instead of abort: natives that build collections by @CodingAnarchy in #135
• Compil...

Catallaxy 0.3.0

What's Changed

• Repo hygiene: rustfmt, Windows CI, release workflow by @CodingAnarchy in #26
• VM: cheaper calls and returns by @CodingAnarchy in #27
• VM: compare-with-immediate jumps and fused field pairs by @CodingAnarchy in #28
• Fibers: results live in their handles; keywords as method names by @CodingAnarchy in #29
• Scripting stdlib: Regex, Process, directories and paths by @CodingAnarchy in #30
• Evaluate concurrent marking: not now by @CodingAnarchy in #35
• LSP: references, rename, signature help, inlay hints, symbols by @CodingAnarchy in #31
• ThreadSanitizer over the full conformance suite (VM, stdlib, fibers) by @CodingAnarchy in #32
• Differential fuzzing of whole programs across builds and GC modes by @CodingAnarchy in #38
• Checker: freeze and move apply to the variable and its aliases by @CodingAnarchy in #39
• Networking: TCP sockets and an HTTP client, integrated with fibers by @CodingAnarchy in #33
• net: fix connect hang (lost readiness edge) by @CodingAnarchy in #43
• Evaluate minor-collection cost (minor tracing, nursery override) by @CodingAnarchy in #34
• catx test: per-program timeout by @CodingAnarchy in #41
• Evaluate escape analysis: not now by @CodingAnarchy in #36
• Docs: refresh README and reference for 0.3 by @CodingAnarchy in #44
• Release 0.3.0 by @CodingAnarchy in #45

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.3.0