readme.md

Ferret Programming Language

Welcome to Ferret! Ferret is a statically typed, beginner-friendly programming language designed to bring clarity, simplicity, and expressiveness to developers. With a focus on readability and a clean syntax, Ferret makes it easier to write clear, maintainable code while embracing modern programming principles.

Key Features

• Statically Typed: Strong typing ensures that errors are caught early, making your code more predictable and robust.
• Beginner-Friendly: Ferret's syntax is designed to be easy to read and understand, even for new developers.
• Expressive Code: With simple syntax and clear semantics, Ferret is made to be highly expressive without unnecessary complexity.
• First-Class Functions: Functions are treated as first-class citizens, enabling functional programming paradigms while maintaining simplicity.
• Clear Structs and Interfaces: Structs have methods and are used for simplicity, with implicit interface implementation for cleaner code.

Basic Syntax

Variables and Types

// Single variable with type inference
let x = 10;
let y: f32;
let myname: str = "John";

// Multiple variables with type
let p, q, r: i32, f32, str = 10, 20.0, "hello";
let p, q: i32, str = 10, "hello";

// Multiple variables with type inference
let p, q, r = 10, 20.0, "hello";
let p, q = 10, "hello";

// Assignments
x = 15;                          // Single variable
p, q = 10, "hello";             // Multiple variables
p, q, r = 10, 20.0, "hello";    // Multiple variables with different types

Arrays

// Array declarations
let arr1: []i32;                         // Integer array
let arr2: []str = ["hello", "world"];    // String array with initialization
let arr2d: [][]i32 = [[1, 2], [3, 4]];  // 2D array

// Array operations
arr1[0] = 10;      // Assignment
a = arr1[0];       // Access

Structs

// Named struct type declaration
type Point struct {
    x: i32,
    y: i32
};

// Creating struct instances
let point: Point = @Point{x: 10, y: 20};

// Anonymous struct type
let user = struct {
    name: str,
    age: i32
};

// Anonymous struct with initialization
let person: struct {
    name: str,
    age: i32
} = @struct{name: "John", age: 20};

// Nested structs
type User struct {
    name: str,
    address: struct {
        street: str,
        city: str
    }
};

Operators

// Arithmetic operators
a = (a + b) * c;   // Basic arithmetic
x++;               // Postfix increment
x--;               // Postfix decrement
++x;               // Prefix increment
--x;               // Prefix decrement

// Assignment operators
a += b;            // Add and assign
a -= b;            // Subtract and assign
a *= b;            // Multiply and assign
a /= b;            // Divide and assign
a %= b;            // Modulo and assign

Type Declarations

// Type aliases
type Integer i32;
type Text str;

// Struct types
type Point struct {
    x: i32,
    y: i32
};

// Array types
type IntArray []i32;
type Matrix [][]f32;

Roadmap

• Basic syntax
• Tokenizer
• Parser
• Variable declaration and assignment
• Expressions
• Unary operators
• Increment/Decrement operators
• Assignment operators
• Grouping
• Arrays
  • Array indexing
  • Array assignment
• Structs
  • Anonymous structs
  • Struct literals
  • Struct field access
  • Struct field assignment
• Methods
• Interfaces
• Functions
• Conditionals
• Loops (for, while)
• Switch statements
• Type casting
• Maps
• Range expressions
• Error handling
• Imports and modules
  • Import statements
  • Scope resolution
  • Module declarations
  • Parsing of imported modules
• Nullable/optional types
• Generics
• Advanced code generation
• Rich error reporting
• Branch analysis

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

This project is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.