zust

A lightweight statically typed programming language that compiles to x86_64 Linux assembly, supporting custom data types, conditionals, arithmetic, and type-safe operations. The language was designed for educational and experimental purposes with an emphasis on low-level control and code generation.

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✨ Features

• Basic variable declarations and assignments
• Strong type-checking with custom-defined numeric and non-numeric types
• Expressions: arithmetic, comparison, logic, and unary operations
• String literals and numeric constants
• Control flow: if, elif, else
• Typed AST with scoped variable tracking
• Code generation to ELF-compatible x86_64 assembly
• Symbol table management and register allocation
• Stack-based memory layout and .rodata section usage

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📦 Project Structure

zust/
├── include/
│   ├── common/
│   │   ├── Colors.hpp
│   │   ├── Errors.hpp
│   │   ├── Logging.hpp
│   │   └── StringUtils.hpp
│   ├── support/
│   │   ├── CommandLine.hpp
│   │   └── File.hpp
│   ├── ast/
│   │   └── ASTNode.hpp
│   ├── lexer/
│   │   └── Lexer.hpp
│   ├── parser/
│   │   ├── Parser.hpp
│   │   └── ScopeContext.hpp
│   ├── typechecker/
│   │   └── TypeChecker.hpp
│   └── codegen/
│       ├── CodeGen.hpp  
│       ├── Canaries.hpp
│       └── RegisterAllocator.hpp
├── src/
│   ├── common/
│   │   ├── Logging.cpp
│   │   └── StringUtils.cpp
│   ├── support/
│   │   ├── CommandLine.cpp
│   │   └── File.cpp
│   ├── ast/
│   │   └── ASTNode.cpp
│   ├── lexer/
│   │   └── Lexer.cpp
│   ├── parser/
│   │   ├── ScopeContext.cpp
│   │   └── Parser.cpp
│   ├── typechecker/
│   │   └── TypeChecker.cpp
│   └── codegen/
│       ├── CodeGenWindows.cpp
│       ├── CodeGenLinux.cpp
│       ├── CodeGenLLVM.cpp
│       └── RegisterAllocator.cpp
├── tests/
│   ├── zz/
│   |   ├── [Various test categorized in folders]
├── examples/
│   ├── [current example we are working on]
├── main.cpp
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── test_runner.py
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Linux (x86_64)
• gnu (linux)
• ml64.exe (windows)
• llc & clang (LLVM)
• g++ or clang++ compiler
• cmake

Build Instructions

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/your-username/zust.git
cd zust

# Create build directory
mkdir build && cd build

# Generate and build
make

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🔧 Usage

On Linux when --format is x86_64-linux

• Compile

./zpiler --format x86_64-linux -o out.asm <source_file.zz> 

This will:

1. Parse the input`.zz` file.
  2. Typecheck the AST.
  3. Generate `out.asm` containing x86_64 assembly.

• Assemble, Link and Run

as out.asm -o out.o
gcc out.o -o out
./out

On Linux when --format is llvm-ir

• Compile

./zpiler --format llvm-ir -o out.ll <source_file.zz> 

This will:

1. Parse the input`.zz` file.
  2. Typecheck the AST.
  3. Generate `out.ll` containing LLVM IR.

• Assemble, Link and Run

llc -filetype=obj -o out.ll <llvm_out_path>
gcc out.o -o out -no-pie
./out

On Windows when --format is x86_64-windows

• Compile

./zpiler --format x86_64-windows -o out.asm <source_file.zz> 

This will:

1. Parse the input`.zz` file.
  2. Typecheck the AST.
  3. Generate `out.asm` containing x86_64 assembly.

• Assemble, Link and Run

ml64 /nologo /c .\out.asm
gcc out.o -o out
./out

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🧠 Example Program (zust)

extern fn printf(fmt: string, ...) -> int32_t;

fn factorial(x: uint64_t) -> uint64_t{
    fn multiply(x: uint64_t, y: uint64_t) -> uint64_t{
        return x * y;
    }
    if(x <= 1){
        return 1;
    }else{
        return multiply(x, factorial(x - 1));
    }
}

fn main() {
    printf("Factorial of 10: %d\n", factorial(10));
}

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⚙️ Design Highlights

• Type safety enforced during compile-time using a dedicated TypeChecker.
• Register allocator for both general-purpose (%r) and floating-point (%xmm) registers.
• Automatic handling of .rodata and .text segments during code generation.
• Explicit handling of stack operations for expression evaluation.

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🧪 Testing

You can add .zz programs inside a tests/ folder and run them individually through the pipeline. Type errors, parsing errors, and codegen output are printed to the terminal.

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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👨‍💻 Author

Mihir Patel

Feel free to reach out for contributions, discussions, or collaborations!