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Z

Project status

Z is pre-alpha. It has moved beyond a toy compiler, but it is not ready for production or compatibility-sensitive use.

Implemented and exercised

Section titled “Implemented and exercised”
  • TypeScript-shaped parsing, nominal static types, generics, enums, exhaustive matching, Option<T>, Result<T, E>, and typed errors
  • Value structs, ARC-managed classes, weak references, explicit ownership capabilities, deterministic cleanup, and conservative non-escaping views
  • Native C-family code generation through Clang
  • Header-first C and Objective-C interop, substantial .zd contracts, and selected C++ values, methods, namespaces, RAII, and move-only resources
  • Arrays, strings, maps, sets, filesystem/process primitives, synchronization, arenas, JSON foundations, and inline Z tests
  • Structured tasks, cancellation, executor placement, dedicated native threads, Mutex<T>, and Once<T> across proven slices
  • Language-server highlighting, hover, completion, diagnostics, and z.json schema support
  • A standalone native compiler capable of rebuilding its own constrained source graph to a fixed point

Partial and still expanding

Section titled “Partial and still expanding”
  • Feature composition across every ownership, closure, async, and storage shape
  • General suspension and thread-affine continuation behavior
  • Library-scale C++ coverage and generated Swift/Objective-C compatibility
  • The self-hosted compiler’s authority over the complete language surface
  • Standard-library breadth, diagnostics polish, compilation latency, and editor refactoring support
  • Linux and Windows validation comparable to the project’s macOS pressure tests

Planned, not promised as current behavior

Section titled “Planned, not promised as current behavior”
  • A package manager, registry, lockfile, and compatibility policy
  • Production release artifacts and a stable bootstrap chain
  • Native Swift ABI interoperability, Swift value types, protocols, and concurrency
  • ORC cycle collection, richer regions, and carefully bounded shape-stability or local-uniqueness analysis
  • Fuzzing, sanitizer coverage, deterministic release engineering, debugger integration, and ecosystem-scale hardening

The repository’s bootstrap status is the source of truth for temporary implementation limits. The language reference records accepted semantics independently of which bootstrap tiers execute every shape today.