zag

🚀 Getting Started with Zag

Welcome to Zag! This guide will walk you through setting up the Zag compiler and building your very first program.

📋 Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

1. Zig (0.15.0 or higher): Zag is written in Zig and uses its build system.
   • Download Zig
2. C Compiler: Zag transpiles to C, so you need a C compiler like gcc, clang, or cc available in your $PATH.

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🛠️ Step 1: Clone the Repository

First, download the Zag source code from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/dtasada/zag.git
cd zag

🏗️ Step 2: Build the Compiler

Zag uses the standard Zig build system. You can build the compiler executable with a single command:

zig build install --prefix ~/.local

This will copy the zag compiler into ~/.local/bin/zag. If ~/.local/bin/ is in your $PATH, running zag will work. If not, add ~/.local/bin to your $PATH. You could also choose any other install prefix.

📝 Step 3: Your First Zag Program

Create a new file at src/main.zag in the root directory:

// hello.zag
bind fn printf(fmt: &c_char, args...) c_int;

fn main() i32 {
    printf("Hello, Zag world!\n");
    return 0;
}

🚀 Step 4: Compile and Run

# Run the build command
zag build

What happened?

1. Transpilation: The Zag compiler translates the Zag code into C code.
2. Native Compilation: Zag invokes your system’s C compiler to produce a native binary.
3. Binary: You can find your final executable in .zag-out/bin/main.

Try running it:

./.zag-out/bin/main

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🔍 Troubleshooting

• “cc not found”: Ensure you have a C compiler installed. On macOS, run xcode-select --install. On Ubuntu, run sudo apt install build-essential.
• Zig version mismatch: Ensure zig version reports 0.15.0 or higher.

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