271 lines
8.1 KiB
HTML
271 lines
8.1 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<meta charset="UTF-8">
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
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<link rel="preload" href="/assets/IosevkaSS15-Regular.ttf" as="font" type="font/ttf" crossorigin>
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/base.css">
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<title>Language Documentation</title>
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<script src="./js/base.js"></script>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div style="width:100%">
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<header>
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<h1>Sterling Documentation</h1>
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<input type="text" id="searchInput" placeholder="Search..." oninput="filterContent()">
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</header>
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<div class="controls">
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<button onclick="toggleTheme()">Toggle Theme</button>
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<button onclick="window.print()">Export to PDF</button>
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<button onclick="downloadOfflineVersion()">Download Offline</button>
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</div>
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<main id="doc-content">
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<p>Version: <code>0.1.0-alpha</code></p>
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<h2>Preface</h2>
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<p>An Idiot admire complexity, a genius admire simplicity <em>Terry A. Davis</em></p>
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<p>Master All, Ace One</p>
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<h2>Overview</h2>
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<p>Sterling is a low-level, strongly typed, systems programming language designed for performance, ABI stability, C interoperability, and full control over memory and hardware. It supports metaprogramming, hot-reloading, inline and raw assembly, and is built for multi-file compilation. It also introduces memory safety primitives and modern low-abstraction control flow enhancements.</p>
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<h3>This Document is a work in progress, features are not yet implemented and i use this as a design document to stay true to my vision</h3>
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<h2>File Extensions <em>(subject to change)</em></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>Source files: <code>.stg</code></li>
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<li>Header files: <code>.sth</code></li>
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</ul>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Function Qualifiers</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>Every function must declare its linkage explicitly:</p>
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<pre>
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<p><code>fn</code> globally visible, default linkage</p>
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<p><code>fn_static</code> translation unit-local only</p>
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<p><code>fn_inline</code> inline-only, no symbol emitted</p>
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<p><code>fn_asm</code> raw assembly function, globally visible</p>
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<p><code>fn_static_asm</code> raw assembly function, TU-local only</p>
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</pre>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Function Syntax</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>All functions must explicitly declare their return type. The only exception is <code>void</code>, which may be omitted for brevity when no return value is intended.</p>
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<pre><code>
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fn u32 add(u32 a, u32 b) {
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return (a + b);
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}
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fn_inline u32 max(u32 a, u32 b) {
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return ((a > b) ? a : b);
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}
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fn exit() {
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// equivalent to fn void exit()
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}
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</code></pre>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Assembly Functions</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>Write raw x86_64 assembly using <code>fn_asm</code> or <code>fn_static_asm</code>. Symbol, section, and global declaration are implicit.</p>
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<pre><code>
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fn_asm void* memset(void* dst, u8 value, u64 size) {
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test rdx, rdx
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je .done
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mov rax, rsi
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mov rdi, rdi
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mov rcx, rdx
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rep stosb
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.done:
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mov rax, rdi
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ret
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}
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</code></pre>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Syscalls</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>System calls are allowed via <code>fn_asm</code> or wrapped using concrete ABI-aware interfaces. Example:</p>
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<pre><code>
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fn_asm void exit() {
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mov rax, 60 ; syscall: exit
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mov rdi, 0 ; exit code
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syscall
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ret
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}
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</code></pre>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Register Access</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>Sterling exposes raw CPU registers as language-level primitives. This is intended for kernel, embedded, and runtime-critical tasks.</p>
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<pre><code>
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fn u64 get_rbp() {
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return rbp;
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}
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fn void set_rsp(u64 val) {
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rsp = val;
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}
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</code></pre>
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<p>Supported registers: <code>rax, rbx, rcx, rdx, rsi, rdi, rsp, rbp, r8..r15</code>.</p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Types</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<pre><code>
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i8, i16, i32, i64 // signed integers
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u8, u16, u32, u64 // unsigned integers
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f32, f64 // 32-bit and 64-bit IEEE floats
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bool // 1-byte boolean, 0 or 1 only
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char // 1-byte character (UTF-8)
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</code></pre>
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<pre><code>
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T* // Pointer to type T
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ptr* // Special pointer with implicit coercion allowed
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void* // Opaque pointer with explicit cast required
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</code></pre>
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<pre><code>
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typedef struct {
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u32 x = 5;
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u32 y;
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} vec2u;
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vec2u a = {}; // x = 5, y = 0
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vec2u b = {0}; // x = 0, y = 0
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vec2u c; // x = 0, y = 0
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</code></pre>
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<pre><code>
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u32 raw_val @raw;
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</code></pre>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Memory Model</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>Manual memory management by default. Variables are zero-initialized unless marked <code>@raw</code>. All layout is predictable and cache-friendly. Custom allocators are encouraged.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Stack</strong>: locals</li>
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<li><strong>Heap</strong>: explicit alloc/free</li>
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<li><strong>Inline</strong>: structs passed by value</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Bitfields</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<pre><code>
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typedef struct(bitfield) {
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u8 field0 : 3;
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u8 field1 : 5;
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} Flags8;
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</code></pre>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Control Flow</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>Sterling introduces tagged loops and escape blocks for structured yet flat nested loop behavior:</p>
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<pre><code>
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loop_outer: loop {
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loop_inner: loop {
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if (should_exit_inner()) break loop_inner;
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if (should_exit_outer()) break loop_outer;
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}
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}
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</code></pre>
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<p>This allows control without stack-nesting or excessive flags.</p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Dual Grid Branching Optimization</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>In place of traditional if-else trees for dual-tiling, prefer using precomputed lookup tables, or bitwise masks with packed branchless evaluation. Consider encoding tile states as compact u16 index and dereferencing behavior.</p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Dynamic Arrays with Aligned Layout</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>Runtime-initialized aligned linear arrays can be used to simulate array-of-array structures, where all memory layout is controlled explicitly with offsets:</p>
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<pre><code>
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struct ArrayView {
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u8* data;
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u32 stride;
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u32 count;
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};
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</code></pre>
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<p>Insertions and deletions move memory explicitly, re-aligning if needed.</p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Dynamic Linking</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>Sterling does not rely on dynamic linking by default. Static linking is favored for OS and runtime simplicity. Dynamic linking may be optionally implemented via host-defined facilities.</p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Metaprogramming</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p><em>TODO: Describe 'meta' keyword, templating, compile-time codegen, restrictions on type inference.</em></p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">ABI and Interop</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p><em>TODO: Specify ABI model (System V AMD64), calling convention details, struct/pointer representation rules.</em></p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Threading</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p><em>TODO: Describe standard threading model, scheduler integration, context switching, green threads API.</em></p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Graphics and Rendering</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p><em>TODO: Describe native rendering interface</em></p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="section">
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<h2 onclick="toggleSection(this)">Build and Compilation Model</h2>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p><em>TODO: AOT compilation, linker behavior, multi-file project structure, module system (if any).</em></p>
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</div>
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</section>
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</body>
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</html>
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