Axis

A Rust-flavored, no-GC systems language with first-class linear algebra types, arenas, and structured async.

Overview

Axis is a modern systems programming language designed for high-performance numerical computing and safe low-level programming. It combines the safety guarantees of Rust with built-in support for linear algebra and arena-based memory management.

Key Features

• Safe by default – Ownership and borrowing with compile-time checks, no data races or use-after-free
• No garbage collector – Predictable performance with direct control over memory
• Built-in linear algebra – Native vec4, mat4x4, and other matrix/vector types with SIMD support
• Arena memory management – First-class arena/region support for efficient scratch allocation
• Modern async – Clear fn vs task distinction with structured concurrency
• Result-based errors – No exceptions, explicit error handling with Result<T, E>

Quick Examples

Basic function

fn add(a: i32, b: i32) -> i32 {
    a + b
}

Linear algebra

let v: vec4<f32> = [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0];
let m: mat4x4<f32> = mat4x4::identity();
let result = m * v;

Error handling

fn load_config(p: &str) -> Result<Config, IoError> {
    let txt = fs::read_to_string(p)?;
    let cfg = parse_config(&txt)?;
    Ok(cfg)
}

Arena allocation

fn process() -> Result<(), Error> {
    arena frame {
        let buf = frame.alloc_array<f32>(1024);
        let mat = frame.alloc(Matrix::zero());
    }
    Ok(())
}

Async tasks

task fetch(url: &str) -> Result<Response, NetError> {
    let res = await http::get(url)?;
    Ok(res)
}

Type System

• Primitives: i32, i64, u32, u64, f32, f64, bool
• Collections: Arrays [T; N], tuples (T, U)
• User types: struct, enum
• Linear algebra: vec4<T>, mat4x4<T>, etc.
• Error types: Result<T, E>, Option<T>

Performance Decorators

Axis provides hints for optimization:

• @simd – SIMD vectorization
• @parallel_for – Parallel loop execution
• @gpu_kernel – GPU computation

Status

Axis is in early development (Draft 0.1). The specification is evolving and many features are planned but not yet implemented.

See docs/axis_core_spec.md for the full language specification.

License

See LICENSE for details.