Getting Started

Zap is a systems programming language with ARC-managed classes, modules, overloads, a growing stdlib, and explicit unsafe escape hatches when you need lower-level access.

Quick start

1. Build the compiler from source by following Installing from source.
2. Compile the first example from First Program.
3. Continue with Variables, Functions, and Classes.

What you will find in the docs

The docs cover:

• structs, enums, aliases, arrays, and global variables
• functions, overloads, named arguments, varargs, and ref parameters
• classes with ARC, inheritance, dynamic dispatch, and weak references
• modules and imports with visibility control
• std/io, std/string, std/process, std/fs, std/path, std/math, std/convert, std/error, and std/mem
• explicit unsafe blocks and unsafe functions

Recommended order

If you want a clean learning path through the docs:

1. Variables
2. Constants and globals
3. Functions
4. Overloads and named args
5. References and varargs
6. Arrays, structs, enums, and aliases
7. Classes and ARC
8. Modules and imports
9. Standard library
10. Unsafe

Read the reference

The Doxygen reference documentation for Zap is available here.