Disclaimer: This project is in its earliest stage, and we don't have any concrete implementation yet. Everything can be changed wildly and even can be abandonned.

What is ZigC language anyway?

ZigC is a C-like language with a lot of modern concepts introduced in Zig language, and getting rid of a lot of seemingly unnecessary features from C/C++ and embarrassing peculiarities from Zig syntax.

In result, ZigC is easier than C++/Rust, faster than Go/Java, safer than C/C++, familiar than Rust/Zig, smaller than Rust/C++, and more machine friendly than C/C++/Rust/Go.

ZigC added and following features:

• Error handling with errorable types. Mandatory error handling. Error as return value.
• Types as values. Strong type checking, type reflections.
• Allowing developers to run explicit compile time evaluation.
• Generics by compile time type constructors.
• Arbitrary bit width integers, i1, i7, i15, upto i65535.
• Safety by array boundary check, separation of indexable pointers and normal pointers, explicit nullable types, sentinel terminated string.
• General allocator to check double free, use-after-free, dangling pointer and memory leak.
• Built-in test blocks and build framework.
• Concurrency by async/await, suspend/resume.
• Easy SIMD vector computation.
• Seamless embrace of C and libc replacement.
• Universal compiler accommodation of C and C++.
• Extensive crosscompilation.

ZigC removed and following things from C/C++:

• no header files, no macros
• no unnecessary loops (while/do while)
• no 'unsigned' keyword
• no increment/decrement '++', '--'
• no class, no inheritance
• no operator overloading

ZigC corrected Zig syntax as follows:

• Back to C like syntax from Pascal-like variable, function declaration.
• JSON like struct iniatialization. Array bracket [] for array initialization.
• Simple for loops, removing crapy while/for syntax.
• Semicolon in struct/union, instead of comma.
• Back to switch/case/default.
• Non-null, non-error 'quotation, instead of |capture|.
• Error sets merge A|B, not A||B. Array concat + and mult *, not ++ and **. anyframe(return_type) not anyframe->return_type.
• Public and static.
• Non-public main.
• ! operator, not try ...
• catch (null), instead of 'orelse'.