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Let's talk about Zig (programming.dev)

submitted 1 year ago by Blackthorn@programming.dev to c/programming@programming.dev

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I have been reading about this new language for a while. It's a C competitor, very slim language with very interesting choices, like supporting cross platform compilation out of the box, supports compiling C/C++ code (and can be used as a drop in replacement for C) to the point in can be used as replacement of (c)make and executables are very small.

But, like all languages, adoption is what makes the difference. And we don't know how it goes.

Is anyone actually using Zig right now? Any thoughts?

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[–] Paradox@lemdro.id 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Its a neat language, very simple. Has a somewhat simple approach to codegen at compile time, which is both a boon and a curse; you can do a lot with it, and not get too deep into footgun territory, but once you hit the limits of what you can do, you're pretty much stuck there.

The syntax and other features are very nice, and it makes rather small binaries. I'd say its comparable to Nim in this area.

Sadly, it also suffers the same problems Nim suffers: dearth of libraries.

[–] dbilitated@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

would transpilation of C libraries help with the lack of libraries however?

[–] Paradox@lemdro.id 3 points 1 year ago

In theory yes, but it becomes a problem of ergonomics. The transpiled library feels like a transpiled library, it doesn't match the conventions of Nim/Zig. The best ports/wrappers/whatever typically use the C lib for all the heavy lifting and unique things, and build their own interface, that matches conventions of the calling language

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