chika

This is a little programming language I'm working on, that's at about the same abstraction level as C, but without a lot of the cruft.

My main goal with this project is not to make a better C, but rather to learn about writing optimizing compilers, and compiling down to assembly. I could do this by writing a C compiler, but I think it's easier to work with a green-field language, without having to worry about the all the weird decisions we're left with in C after all of these years.

Examples

This syntax is still experiemental.

fn foo(x: I32, y: I32): I32 {
  return x + y;
}

fn main(): Unit {
  #print_i32(foo(33, 34));
}

Usage

At the moment, a basic C backend has been implemented, along with a small subset of the language.

The CLI looks like this

chika 0.2.0
A command that our CLI can process

USAGE:
    chika <SUBCOMMAND>

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

SUBCOMMANDS:
    compile       Compile the file
    help          Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
    lex           Print the tokens produced by the lexer
    parse         Print the AST produced by the parser
    type-check    Run the type checker, printing the typed AST

Lexing

chika-lex 0.2.0
Print the tokens produced by the lexer

USAGE:
    chika lex [FLAGS] <INPUT_FILE>

FLAGS:
        --debug      Print using debug format instead
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

ARGS:
    <INPUT_FILE>    The file containing Chika code you want to lex

Parsing

chika-parse 0.2.0
Print the AST produced by the parser

USAGE:
    chika parse <INPUT_FILE>

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

ARGS:
    <INPUT_FILE>    The file containing Chika code you want to parse

Type Checking

chika-type-check 0.2.0
Run the type checker, printing the typed AST

USAGE:
    chika type-check <INPUT_FILE>

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

ARGS:
    <INPUT_FILE>    The file containing Chika code you want to check

Compilation

At the moment, only a basic C backend has been implemented, and compilation will output a C file.

chika-compile 0.2.0
Compile the file

USAGE:
    chika compile <INPUT_FILE> --output <output>

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

OPTIONS:
    -o, --output <output>    The output file to use

ARGS:
    <INPUT_FILE>    The file containing Chika code you want to check

cronokirby / chika