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0 pointsverdagon3y ago0 comments

It can seem like that on the surface, but a closer look reveals a lot of very interesting new features. Here's a few off the top of my head:

* Comptime, which can serve the purpose of generics without a new sub-language [1]

* Colorblind async-await, basically parameterizing async-ness to avoid the downsides of async's infectious nature [2]

* Hot-code swapping proof-of-concept [3] (Edit: specifically, new to low-level languages, AFAICT)

Pretty cool stuff!

[1] https://kristoff.it/blog/what-is-zig-comptime/

[2] https://kristoff.it/blog/zig-colorblind-async-await/

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/Zig/comments/s9toy1/we_have_a_worki...

0 comments

ghoward3y ago

Zig's async/await isn't actually colorblind. [1] It just seems that way at first.

[1]: https://gavinhoward.com/2022/04/i-believe-zig-has-function-c...

pornel3y ago

"Colorblind" is an arbitrary goalpost made to satisfy an imprecisely defined term of one blog post.

The original color article is soo annoying, because it presents two things as one: a JS-specific limitation, and author's arbitrary opinion on how async syntax should (not) look like. Since then even languages that don't have JS's limitation still keep chasing the other point, because otherwise they're shamed for having "color".

kristoff_it3y ago

"having colors" is an unfortunate property of async/await, not of JS. C# has the same exact set of problems, made even worse by Microsoft's love for horrid APIs and inconsistent runtimes.

anonymoushn3y ago

Is it a JS-specific limitation? Python works quite similarly.

1 more reply

anonymoushn3y ago

Hello, have you had a chance to check out the successful implementation of the program you attempted to write in that blog post? https://gist.github.com/sharpobject/49bd88416e68606d7812d609...

ghoward3y ago

Yes, why does that matter? It still shows that Zig's async/await is not colorblind.

1 more reply

qaq3y ago

Erlang has had Hot-code swapping for decades

brabel3y ago

Dart is one of the only compiled languages that also does that (see Flutter).

freilanzer3y ago

Common Lisp as well.

pjmlp3y ago

If we ignore Java, .NET, Common Lisp and C++.

1 more reply

kstenerud3y ago

For every feature X, there is a programming language Y that has had it for decades.

It's not a question of inventing it, but rather of making it mainstream popular.

kjeetgill3y ago

It's extremely common in plenty of popular languages: Java's a big one, and if you count dynamic languages most do.

catach3y ago

I expect that erlang is still significantly more popular than zig.

1 more reply

pjmlp3y ago

Lisp has had it for decades, full blown graphical workstations were written in it.

Oberon used hot code reload for OS modules.

Visual C++ has had edit-and-continue for years, and hot reload as improvement since the last two years.

muth024463y ago

RE 3:

Hot-code swapping seems to require a lot of tricky code. Are there compelling use cases that justify the implementation effort?

The examples seem to be mostly focused on swapping out functions but I dot see how it could handle structural changes to data structures.

Cloudef3y ago

Hot-code swapping would guarantee a really fast compile times and maybe even "hot reload" of program while it's running. Do not underestimate how much this helps with developer productivity. I'm so tired of the compile times with large C++ codebases...

cturtle3y ago

Exactly! The idea is during development you use the super fast backend that supports hot code swapping. Then when you want to make a release build you use llvm and get all the optimization benefits of a longer compilation.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsverdagon3y ago0 comments

It can seem like that on the surface, but a closer look reveals a lot of very interesting new features. Here's a few off the top of my head:

* Comptime, which can serve the purpose of generics without a new sub-language [1]

* Colorblind async-await, basically parameterizing async-ness to avoid the downsides of async's infectious nature [2]

* Hot-code swapping proof-of-concept [3] (Edit: specifically, new to low-level languages, AFAICT)

Pretty cool stuff!

[1] https://kristoff.it/blog/what-is-zig-comptime/

[2] https://kristoff.it/blog/zig-colorblind-async-await/

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/Zig/comments/s9toy1/we_have_a_worki...

0 comments

ghoward3y ago

Zig's async/await isn't actually colorblind. [1] It just seems that way at first.

[1]: https://gavinhoward.com/2022/04/i-believe-zig-has-function-c...

pornel3y ago

"Colorblind" is an arbitrary goalpost made to satisfy an imprecisely defined term of one blog post.

kristoff_it3y ago

"having colors" is an unfortunate property of async/await, not of JS. C# has the same exact set of problems, made even worse by Microsoft's love for horrid APIs and inconsistent runtimes.

anonymoushn3y ago

Is it a JS-specific limitation? Python works quite similarly.

1 more reply

anonymoushn3y ago

Hello, have you had a chance to check out the successful implementation of the program you attempted to write in that blog post? https://gist.github.com/sharpobject/49bd88416e68606d7812d609...

ghoward3y ago

Yes, why does that matter? It still shows that Zig's async/await is not colorblind.

1 more reply

qaq3y ago

Erlang has had Hot-code swapping for decades

brabel3y ago

Dart is one of the only compiled languages that also does that (see Flutter).

freilanzer3y ago

Common Lisp as well.

pjmlp3y ago

If we ignore Java, .NET, Common Lisp and C++.

1 more reply

kstenerud3y ago

For every feature X, there is a programming language Y that has had it for decades.

It's not a question of inventing it, but rather of making it mainstream popular.

kjeetgill3y ago

It's extremely common in plenty of popular languages: Java's a big one, and if you count dynamic languages most do.

catach3y ago

I expect that erlang is still significantly more popular than zig.

1 more reply

pjmlp3y ago

Lisp has had it for decades, full blown graphical workstations were written in it.

Oberon used hot code reload for OS modules.

Visual C++ has had edit-and-continue for years, and hot reload as improvement since the last two years.

muth024463y ago

RE 3:

Hot-code swapping seems to require a lot of tricky code. Are there compelling use cases that justify the implementation effort?

The examples seem to be mostly focused on swapping out functions but I dot see how it could handle structural changes to data structures.

Cloudef3y ago

cturtle3y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse