Newt — Design Canvas Compiler

A Rust-based compiler and live canvas for the Newt UI language. Architecture B: parse source → layout → render on a wgpu canvas (S-tier stack).

Prerequisites

• Rust (1.70+): rustup
• GPU with Vulkan, Metal, or D3D12 support

Build & Run

cd newter-compiler
cargo build --release
cargo run --release

Run with a specific .newt file:

cargo run --release -- examples/hello.newt

Newt Language (UI/visual DSL)

• Variables: let name = value; (numbers, strings, colors #RRGGBB)
• Screens: screen Main { ... } — root UI tree
• Layout: column, row, stack, center with gap, padding
• Elements: box, text, button, input, spacer, image
• Props: fill, stroke, radius, width, height, fontSize, content, etc.

Example:

let padding = 24;

screen Main {
  column { gap: 16, padding: padding } {
    box { fill: #ffffff, radius: 8, padding: 16 } {
      text { content: "Hello", fontSize: 24 }
    }
    row { gap: 12 } {
      box { fill: #e0e0e0, radius: 4 } { text { content: "A" } }
      box { fill: #e0e0e0, radius: 4 } { text { content: "B" } }
    }
  }
}

Project layout

• src/lexer.rs — tokenizer
• src/parser.rs — recursive descent parser
• src/ast.rs — AST types
• src/value.rs — interpreter (eval) for expressions
• src/layout.rs — flex-like layout → LayoutNode + Rect
• src/renderer/ — wgpu canvas (rects; text can be added via glyphon)
• src/app.rs — winit event loop, window, redraw
• src/main.rs — CLI entry, optional file path

Next steps

• Text rendering (glyphon)
• Hot-reload (notify) when the .newt file changes
• Rounded rects in the shader
• Pan/zoom on the canvas