yulang-native 0.1.0

Native backend experiments for Yulang
Documentation

Yulang

Yulang is an experimental programming language that tries to make algebraic effects and handlers the ordinary control mechanism of the language, without making the surface feel like a special-purpose effect calculus.

The language looks like a small, expression-oriented scripting language: it has receiver-oriented method syntax, compact block/application notation, structs, enums, roles, user-defined operators, loops, early return, and references. The unusual part is that features that would usually be built into the core language are mostly expressed through effects, handlers, roles, and standard library code.

Under the hood, Yulang integrates algebraic effects and handlers into a Simple-Sub-style subtyping inference engine. Effect rows are represented and solved in the same constraint system as value types, role constraints, and subtyping, so handlers can remove consumed effects while the remaining effects still flow through inferred types.

The implementation is still changing quickly. The repository is public so the current compiler, standard library, tests, and WebAssembly playground can be read together, not because the language is stable.

Yulang is currently best read as an alpha-stage research language. The interpreter, playground, standard library, and language server are usable enough to try real examples, but syntax, type display, effect semantics, native lowering, and library APIs may still move.

The current language server reports parse/lowering/type errors with source ranges, and many type errors include related locations such as the literal, annotation, application argument, or inferred origin that contributed to the mismatch. The diagnostics are intended to make experimentation practical, but they are not yet a complete UX contract.

Playground

The browser playground runs the current WebAssembly build and shows both evaluated results and inferred public types:

https://yulang.momota.pw

The playground uses the same in-progress WebAssembly pipeline as the repository. It may briefly show an empty page while the bundle and standard-library state load; this is a loading-state limitation, not part of the language semantics.

A First Look

use std::undet::*

struct point { x: int, y: int } with:
    our p.norm2 = p.x * p.x + p.y * p.y

if all [1, 2, 3] < any [2, 3, 4]:
    point { x: 3, y: 4 } .norm2
else:
    0

The condition all [1, 2, 3] < any [2, 3, 4] is not a special syntactic form. all and any are ordinary library functions that produce nondeterministic values; the lowering inserts junction::junction so the condition becomes a real bool for the surrounding if. Mutable state, early return, loops, and effectful conditions are handled by the same kind of mechanism — typed effects plus a small library, surfaced through familiar notation.

For a longer guided tour:

Where to Read Next

  • What works where — docs/status.md tracks each feature across parser, inference, the VM, the playground, and the native backend. It is the right place to check before depending on a feature.
  • Native backend — docs/native-backend.md describes the native pipeline: which programs run natively today, the CLI commands, and the value / CPS representation status in detail.
  • Language server — yulang server provides hover, document symbols, semantic tokens, and diagnostics. Error reporting is now source-based enough for day-to-day exploration, including LSP relatedInformation for many type errors, but not every diagnostic has perfect provenance yet.
  • Type inference theory — web/docs/reference/type-theory.md and web/docs/ja/reference/type-theory.md introduce effect rows, handler hygiene, and hidden handler evidence from the public reference side. Implementation details live in docs/hidden-effect-evidence.ja.md.
  • Examples — examples/ holds runnable Yulang programs exercising specific features. examples/showcase.yu is a broader tour.
  • Standard library — lib/std/ is the in-progress standard library written in Yulang.

Useful examples to try when evaluating the current implementation:

  • examples/showcase.yu — broad syntax and library tour.
  • examples/06_undet_once.yu — nondeterminism through library effects.
  • examples/10_effect_handler.yu — algebraic effect handlers.
  • examples/04_sub_return.yu — local early return through sub:.
  • examples/11_attached_impl.yu — attached role implementations.

Quick Start

Install the CLI and embedded standard library:

cargo install yulang
yulang install std

Run a file on the interpreter (the semantic oracle for everything else):

yulang run examples/06_undet_once.yu

Print inferred public types:

yulang check examples/08_types.yu

The standard library is installed to ~/.yulang/lib/yulang-0.1.0/std. yulang run, yulang check, and yulang server can also install this embedded standard library automatically on first use if neither YULANG_STD nor a nearby lib/std is available. The legacy yulang-ls binary is now a deprecated stub that delegates to yulang server.

Start the language server directly:

yulang server

Zed support lives in yulang-zed/. The extension is not published through the Zed extension registry yet; install it as a dev extension from Zed and select the yulang-zed directory. When a yulang binary is available in the worktree environment or in ~/.cargo/bin, the extension starts yulang server automatically.

The language server currently supports:

  • hover for inferred values, locals, methods, and many type references;
  • semantic tokens and document symbols;
  • diagnostics for parser/lowering/type errors;
  • relatedInformation on many type errors, for example pointing from an application error back to the literal or annotation that supplied a type.

Known LSP limits:

  • diagnostic wording is still compiler-oriented in places;
  • some related locations are approximate when inference keeps only a broad application or adapter span;
  • hidden handler evidence is intentionally not shown in normal hover/type display, even when it distinguishes two internal principal schemes.

To use a different standard library checkout:

export YULANG_STD=/path/to/yulang/lib/std

Run an inline program:

yulang run <<'YU'
use std::undet::*

(each [1, 2, 3] + each [4, 5, 6]).once
YU

Native execution is a prototype with an explicit subset; see docs/native-backend.md for the supported programs and the CLI reference.

Run the test suites:

cargo test -p yulang-runtime -p yulang-infer --lib

Build the playground locally:

cd web/playground
npm ci
npm run build

Repository Layout

  • crates/yulang-parser: parser and syntax tree support.
  • crates/yulang-sources: source-set collection, realms, compilation units, and syntax artifacts.
  • crates/yulang-typed-ir: typed intermediate representation and principal-type evidence.
  • crates/yulang-infer: type inference and principal-type export.
  • crates/yulang-runtime: runtime IR, monomorphization, and interpreter.
  • crates/yulang-wasm: WebAssembly API used by the playground.
  • examples: executable examples for the current language implementation.
  • lib/std: standard library written in Yulang.
  • web/playground: Vite-based browser playground.

Status

Yulang is pre-release research software. Syntax, type output, runtime IR, the interpreter, and the standard library may change without compatibility promises. docs/status.md describes the current support matrix; broader limitations are noted there and in docs/native-backend.md.

License

Licensed under either of:

at your option.