arf/README.md

The ARF programming language.

This is still under development and does not compile things yet. Once complete, it will serve as a temporary compiler that will be used to write a new one using the language itself.

The old repository can be found here.

ARF is a low level language with a focus on organization, modularization, and code clarity. Behind it's avant-garde syntax, its basically just a more refined version of C.

A directory of ARF files is called a module, and modules will compile to object files (one per module) using C as an intermediate language (maybe LLVM IR in the future).

Design aspects

These are some design goals that I have followed/am following:

• The standard library will be fully optional, and decoupled from the language
• The language itself must be extremely simple
• Language features must be immutable (no reflection or operator overloading)
• Prefer static over dynamic
• Data must be immutable by default
• Memory not on the stack must be allocated and freed manually
• Language syntax must have zero ambiguity
• The compiler should not generate new functions or complex logic that the user has not written
• One line at a time - the language's syntax should encourage writing code that flows vertically and not horizontally, with minimal nesting

Planned features

• Type definition through inheritence
• Struct member functions
• Go-style interfaces
• Generics
• A standard library (that can be dynamically linked)

Checklist

• File reader
• File -> tokens
• Tokens -> syntax tree
• Syntax tree -> semantic tree
• Semantic tree -> C -> object file
• Figure out HOW to implement generics
• Create a standard library