README.md
# quokka
this is my work in progress programming language targeting the [QBE backend](https://c9x.me/compile/)
as this is my first language i aim for:
- no crazy/revolutionary new features
- simple type system
- modern and clean syntax inspired by rust and go
you can find the language specification in [the `grammar` file](./grammar) or look at the current example i have comitted in [`test.qk`](./test.qk)
## roadmap
- [ ] tokeniser:
- [x] various punctuation tokens
- [x] keyword/identifier tokens
- [x] number literals
- [ ] char literals
- [ ] string literals
- [x] boolean literals (true, false)
- [ ] parser:
- [ ] statements:
- [x] import statements
- [x] function definitons
- [x] variable declarations
- [x] assigment/increment/decrement/... statements
- [x] if statements
- [x] for loops
- [x] break, continue keywords
- [x] return keyword
- [ ] struct definitions
- [x] expressions:
- [x] logical operators ('not', 'and', 'or')
- [x] comparison operators
- [x] +, - operators
- [x] *, / operators
- [x] negation operator
- [x] all elsewhere supported type literals
- [x] identifiers
- [x] function calls
- [x] if expressions
- [ ] import/module system:
- [ ] imports by simple inclusion by filepath during parse time
- [ ] rewrite solution to use a module system:
- [ ] resolve imports after parsing
- [ ] flatten symbols
- [ ] type system:
- [x] signed and unsigned integers
- [x] booleans
- [ ] chars
- [ ] strings and cstrings
- [x] void for function return types
- [ ] structs
- [x] typechecker:
- [x] statements:
- [x] function definitons
- [x] variable declarations
- [x] assigment/increment/decrement/... statements
- [x] if statements
- [x] for loops
- [x] break, continue keywords
- [x] return keyword
- [x] expressions:
- [x] logical operators ('not', 'and', 'or')
- [x] comparison operators
- [x] +, - operators
- [x] *, / operators
- [x] negation operator
- [x] all elsewhere supported type literals
- [x] identifiers
- [x] function calls
- [x] if expressions
- [ ] QBE IR generation:
- [ ] primitives and literals:
- [ ] map integer types to QBE types
- [ ] boolean literals
- [ ] char literals
- [ ] variable management:
- [ ] local variable allocation (registers/stack)
- [ ] global variable initialization
- [ ] handle SSA form for mutable variables
- [ ] assignment operations with type-appropriate stores
- [ ] expression translation:
- [ ] arithmetic operators
- [ ] comparison operators
- [ ] logical operators via branching
- [ ] if-expression codegen (via phi nodes)
- [ ] function call argument handling
- [ ] control flow:
- [ ] basic block management for control structures
- [ ] if statements
- [ ] for loops with break/continue support
- [ ] return statement implementation
- [ ] functions:
- [ ] basic function scaffolding (prologue/epilogue)
- [ ] parameter passing (register/stack ABI compliance)
- [ ] return value management
- [ ] external function declarations
- [ ] stack frame management
- [ ] composite types:
- [ ] struct field access (offset calculations)
- [ ] nested struct support
- [ ] strings:
- [ ] string literals in data section
- [ ] c-string null termination
- [ ] pointer arithmetic for array/string access
- [ ] optimizations:
- [ ] dce
- [ ] constant propagation
- [ ] loop invariant code motion
- [ ] debug
- [ ] line number annotations for debugging