v0.1.0 - First Working Prototype

Changelog

All notable changes to the Pole project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog,
and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

0.1.0 - 2025-10-19

🎉 First Prototype Release

This is the first working prototype of Pole, an LLM-optimized programming language system.

✨ Added

Language Design

• Specification Language (.pole) - Natural language-friendly syntax for expressing intent
• Implementation Language (Pole IR) - Formal, type-safe intermediate representation
• Complete language specifications in specs/ directory
  • syntax-v0.md - Specification language grammar
  • ir-syntax.md - IR grammar definition
  • verification.md - Verification system design
  • workflow.md - LLM transformation workflow (6-step process)

Core Implementation

• Parser - .pole file parsing with AST generation
• Validator - Specification completeness checking and ambiguity detection
• LLM Transformer - Specification to IR conversion using OpenRouter API
  • Support for Claude (anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet)
  • Mock LLM client for testing without API
• IR Interpreter - Execute IR code with support for:
  • Recursion and pattern matching
  • Type checking and inference
  • Runtime contract verification (requires/ensures)
• Type Checker - Static type verification with detailed error messages
• Contract Verifier - Runtime precondition/postcondition checking
• Example Tester - Automatic test execution from @test_case annotations

CLI Tools

• pole check <file> - Validate specification files
• pole build <file> - Generate IR from specifications (LLM-powered)
• pole run <ir-file> <function> [args...] - Execute IR functions
• pole test <ir-file> - Run all test cases in IR file

Quality Features

• Error System - Unified error handling with:
  • Source location tracking
  • Code context highlighting
  • Helpful error messages with suggestions
• Performance - Excellent performance (< 1ms for most operations)
  • Factorial(20): 0.06ms
  • Deep recursion (200 levels): 0.99ms
• Testing - Comprehensive test coverage
  • 9 test modules with all tests passing
  • Performance benchmarks
  • Contract verification tests

Examples

• 01-factorial.pole - Factorial with recursion and pattern matching
• 02-fibonacci.pole - Fibonacci with simple recursion
• 03-user-validation.pole - Complex validation constraints
• 04-simple-math.pole - Math operations (abs, max, sum_to_n)
• All examples include working IR implementations with test cases (15/15 tests passing)

Development Environment

• NixOS/Nix support - Declarative development environment
  • shell.nix for reproducible builds
  • .envrc for automatic direnv integration
  • pole command wrapper for convenient CLI usage
• Documentation
  • QUICKSTART.md - User onboarding guide
  • ARCHITECTURE.md - System architecture details
  • DEVELOPMENT.md - Development setup guide
  • ROADMAP.md - Priority-based task management
  • AGENTS.md - AI agent development guidelines

📊 Statistics

• 28 commits
• 22 Python source files
• 9 test modules (100% passing)
• 4 example programs with 15 test cases
• 5 specification documents

🔧 Technical Details

• Language: Python 3.11+
• Dependencies: Zero required dependencies (OpenRouter API optional for LLM transformation)
• License: MIT
• Architecture: Two-layer language system (Specification → IR)

🎯 Project Status

• ✅ Phase 0: Planning & Documentation (Complete)
• ✅ Phase 1: Language Design (Complete)
• ✅ Phase 2: Prototype Implementation (Complete - All P0/P1 tasks)
• ✅ Phase 3: Quality Improvements (P0 complete, P1 partial)

📝 Known Limitations

• No IDE integration (LSP) yet
• No interactive specification improvement tool
• No debugger or profiler
• String operations limited in IR interpreter
• List/Map types not fully implemented in interpreter
• Type system supports basic types (Int, Nat, Bool, String)

🚀 Future Work

• IDE integration with LSP support
• Interactive specification refinement tool
• Debugger with execution tracing
• Profiler for performance analysis
• Documentation generator from specifications
• Extended standard library

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with focus on LLM-friendly design and formal verification principles.

---