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| -rw-r--r-- | zig.html.markdown | 18 |
1 files changed, 9 insertions, 9 deletions
diff --git a/zig.html.markdown b/zig.html.markdown index 65fd1e6b..4046ae43 100644 --- a/zig.html.markdown +++ b/zig.html.markdown @@ -7,11 +7,9 @@ contributors: [Zig][ziglang] aims to be a replacement for the C programming language. -**WARNING**: this document expects you to understand a few basic concepts in computer science, such as pointers, stack and heap memory, etc. - -**WARNING**: Zig isn't considered as ready for production. Bugs are expected. - -Prior knowledge of C is recommended. +**WARNING**: this document expects you to understand a few basic concepts in computer +science, such as pointers, stack and heap memory, etc. Prior knowledge of C is +recommended. ## Quick overview: Zig compared to C @@ -20,8 +18,8 @@ Prior knowledge of C is recommended. - `try` and `catch` mechanism, which is both convenient, efficient and optional. - Most of the C undefined behaviors (UBs) are fixed. - Compared to C, raw pointers are safer to use and less likely to be needed. - * The type system distinguishes between a pointer to a single value, or multiple values, etc. - * Slices are preferred, which is a structure with a pointer and a runtime known size, which characterizes most uses of pointers in the first place. + - The type system distinguishes between a pointer to a single value, or multiple values, etc. + - Slices are preferred, which is a structure with a pointer and a runtime known size, which characterizes most uses of pointers in the first place. - Some arbitrary language limitations are removed. For example, enumerations, structures and unions can have functions. - Simple access to SIMD operations (basic maths on vectors). - Zig provides both low-level features of C and the one provided through compiler extensions. @@ -218,7 +216,7 @@ if (pointer.* == 1) { const foo = pointer.?; // Get the pointed value, otherwise crash. ``` -### Optional values (?<type>). +### Optional values (?\<type\>). ```zig // An optional is a value than can be of any type or null. @@ -694,6 +692,7 @@ Thus, the standard library lets developers handle memory as they need, through s **NOTE**: the choice of the allocator isn't in the scope of this document. A whole book could be written about it. However, here are some examples, to get an idea of what you can expect: + - `page_allocator`. Allocate a whole page of memory each time we ask for some memory. Very simple, very dumb, very wasteful. @@ -924,8 +923,10 @@ test "returns true" { ``` ### Compiler built-ins. + The compiler has special functions called "built-ins", starting with an "@". There are more than a hundred built-ins, allowing very low-level stuff: + - compile-time errors, logging, verifications - type coercion and conversion, even in an unsafe way - alignment management @@ -968,7 +969,6 @@ if (@enumToInt(Value.blah) == 2) { ... } Example: is this a single value or an array, is the length known, etc. - Structures need a value for their attributes, and it is still possible to give an undefined value (stack garbage), but at least it is explicitly undefined. - ## Further Reading For a start, some concepts are presented on [zig.guide][zigguide]. |