Status

This is the current status of the language and my compiler:

• Compiler features
• Not yet implemented
• Future language features

Compiler features

This page is about the language features that are supported or not. The compiler cannot generate executable code from a valid source file yet.

The latest version of the compiler supports the following language features:

• syntax:
  • single- and multiline comments
  • line continuation
• namespaces (the new system, supported as of version 0.3.32)
• classes:
  • ‘static’, ‘sealed’ & ‘abstract’ classes
  • ‘private’, ‘public’ & ‘protected’ member access
• procedures:
  • ‘static’, ‘sealed’ & ‘abstract’ procedures
  • ‘const’ procedures
• constructors (currently without initializer lists)
• class fields
• parameters
  • input-only parameters
  • inout parameters
• built-in types:
  • integral types
  • floating-point types
  • boolean type
  • character type
  • object type
  • string type
  • pointers & double pointers
  • arrays (including dynamic arrays & open arrays)
  • nominal enums
• expressions:
  • literals
  • unary operators
  • binary operators
  • conditional operator
  • member selection operator
  • array operator
  • procedure call operator
  • ‘new’ operator
  • chained comparison operators
• statements:
  • assignments
  • procedure call statement
  • ‘if’ statement
  • ‘loop’ statement
  • ‘iterate’ statement
  • ‘break’ and ‘continue’ statements
  • increment/decrement statements
  • variable declarations
• standard library:
  • console output (stdout) support

The compiler accepts the main use of these features in source files, but for some features the compiler’s semantic checking is not complete yet. And some details of a feature could still be unsupported.

Not yet implemented

This is a list of ‘new’ language features that are more or less ‘defined’ to be an official part of the language, but that are not yet implemented in the latest release of the compiler:

• initializer lists in constructors
• single class inheritance
• imports of user-defined sourcefiles
• restricted pointers (also called "references")
• heap-only classes
• static variables

Future language features

These things are planned to be eventually added to the language, in the short or the long term. Not all of these are equally important. Any feature listed here is not guaranteed to be actually added in the future.

• a switching construct, somewhat like ‘switch’ in C++/Java
• explicit type conversions (casting base type to derived type etc.)
• interfaces
• declaring overloaded operators
• generic programming
• exceptions & exception handling
• ‘using’ mechanism for convenience
• typedefs and aliases
• ordinal enum’s
• conditional compilation
• a large standard library:
  • console input (stdin)
  • platform abstraction mechanisms
  • container classes
  • multithreading support
  • sockets
  • graphical user-interface framework
  • and much more...
• closures
• traits (?) (composable units of behaviour, see http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~scg/Research/Traits/ )
• design by contract mechanisms
• embedded unit tests (?)

Some of these concepts need lots of thinking before they can be added.

See also

• Compiler
• Language reference
• Website status