Zinc

The zinc programming language.

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Goals

_{Yes, a lot the ideas here are taken from carbon.}

• Performance-critical

• Software and language evolution

• Code that is easy to read, understand, and write

• Perfect and configurable safety and testing mechanisms

• Practical testing mechanisms

• Fast and scalable development

• Modern OS platforms, hardware architectures, and environments

• Interoperability with and migration from existing C++ code

In other words, we want to do what C++ does but better.

How?

Through interoperability, migration, and language evolution.

• Tight move semantics
• Types as an expression
• Explicit object parameter declares a method (the self keyword)
• Type parameters as first class citizens

(Multiple) inheritance

• class
  • Cannot be inherited
  • Able to carry state
  • Can instantiated
  • Able to inherit from multiple traits and mixins
• mixin
  • Can be inherited
  • Able to carry state
  • Cannot be instantiated
  • Able to inherit from multiple traits and mixins
  • Similar to an abstract class or pure virtual class with state
• trait
  • Can be inherited
  • Unable to carry state
  • Cannot be instantiated
  • Can only inherit / require other traits
  • Entirely comptime construct - does not incur a runtime cost
  • Similar to an interface or pure virtual class without state

C++ interop

C++ from zinc

// circle.h

struct Circle {
    float r;
}

// math.zinc

:: import cxx "circle.h" as cpp;

:: pub printAreas fn (circles []cpp::Circle) {
    let* area = 0;
    circles.foreach(fn (c) {
        set area += PI * c.r * c.r;
    });
    println("{}", area);
}

Zinc from c++

// my_cpp.cpp

#include "my_module.zinc.hpp"

void func() {
    my_module::foo();
}

// my_module.zinc

:: foo fn void {
    println("Hello, world");
}