brolang/README.md

brolang

Prototype error-tolerant Brolang compiler written in Odin.

mkdir -p build
odin build . -out:build/brolang
./build/brolang examples/programs/prototype -o build/prototype
./build/prototype

Bodyless c_func declarations bind exact external symbols and require concrete types. C primitives use atomic target-dependent names and remain semantically distinct from exact-width Brolang primitives:

strlen :: c_func(value *c_char) c_ulong

Additional native inputs and libraries are passed to the final zig cc invocation in command-line order:

./build/brolang examples/interop/manual -o build/manual \
  --link examples/interop/manual/native.c

--link accepts C sources, object files, and direct library paths. --library-path <dir> becomes -L<dir>, and --library <name> becomes -l<name>.

Compilation phases are isolated under compiler/:

package loader -> per-file lexer/parser/AST -> checker/HIR -> lower/IR -> opt -> LLVM -> zig cc

Source diagnostics do not block executable generation. When recovery is possible, invalid code lowers to runtime diagnostic traps and the compiler returns status 1. Infrastructure or backend failures return status 2. Top-level function bodies are semantically checked lazily when a concrete specialization is demanded.

Every immediate .bro file in the input directory belongs to the root package. Imports are relative directory paths and are local to the file that declares them:

import "../math"
other_math :: import "../math"

value :: math.sum(other_math.value, 1)

Current prototype features:

• Newline-terminated, multiline statements; } may terminate a block's final statement
• # comments
• Immutable :: bindings, mutable function-local = bindings, and _ sinks
• Exact-width signed/unsigned integers, f32, f64, isize, usize, and loose integer-constrained int
• Target-dependent atomic c_* primitive types, c_func, and pointer-only c_struct
• Arrays, sentinel arrays, pointers, slices, sentinel slices, strings, character literals, optionals, and native structs
• Explicit .ptr/.len, slicing, postfix pointer dereference and optional unwrap, and keyed struct literals
• Contextual integer constants and compile-time folding of addition and unary negation trees
• Directory packages with merged declarations and file-local relative imports
• Qualified imported globals and functions with package-aware symbol mangling
• Demand-monomorphized Brolang and C-ABI functions
• Bodyless concrete C function declarations with exact external symbol names
• Ordered linking of additional C sources, objects, and libraries
• Checked signed addition and unary negation
• Static, eager runtime, and deferred problematic globals
• Runtime diagnostics followed by llvm.trap

See LANGUAGE.md for the concise implemented and planned language feature ledger, and TODO.md for the implementation roadmap.

Compiler exit statuses:

• 0: executable produced without source diagnostics
• 1: executable produced with source diagnostics and embedded traps
• 2: executable could not be produced