Language Overview

This page is the map of the language, not the full reference.

If you are new, read it once to understand the shape of cnegative, then move into the smaller tutorial pages.

The basic idea

cnegative is intentionally explicit.

That means:

• types are written out
• conditions must be bool
• functions return explicitly
• public API is marked explicitly
• ownership rules are visible instead of hidden

The goal is not “fewest keystrokes”. The goal is “small rules, easy to reason about”.

Four rules to remember

1. Simple statements end with ;
2. Non-void functions must return ...;
3. Conditions must be bool
4. Public declarations use pfn, pstruct, and pconst

fn:int main() {
    let x:int = 7;

    if x > 5 {
        return x;
    }

    return 0;
}

no implicit truthiness

if x {} is invalid when x is an int. Write if x > 0 {} instead.

Learn the language in this order

1. Functions & Variables
2. Types & Control Flow
3. Structs & Arrays
4. Modules & Constants
5. Memory & Results
6. Strings & Ownership
7. Standard Library Overview

That order is intentional. It moves from “ordinary code” into “systems code”.

Current implemented surface

• fn, pfn, struct, pstruct, const, and pconst
• int, u8, bool, str, void, ptr T, result T, and slice T
• byte as a readable alias for u8
• source-level null for pointer values
• if, while, loop, range for, narrow if expressions, defer, and try
• zone { ... } plus explicit zalloc T for temporary scoped allocations
• arrays with constant sizes, [value; N] repeat literals, slices, structs, indexing, field access, and qualified module access
• alloc, addr, deref, free, ok, err, print, println, input, str_copy, and str_concat
• main returning int, u8, result int, result u8, or void
• raw backtick strings for multiline text without escape processing
• builtin stdlib modules for math, growable bytes/lines/text storage, text-first child-process IPC, strings, parsing, files, IO, low-level terminal control, environment, paths, time, blocking IPv4 TCP/UDP, process helpers, and an experimental Linux-only std.x11 window path

What to ignore on your first pass

You do not need these right away:

• compiler internals
• LLVM backend details
• experimental std.x11
• blocking networking APIs

Those are real parts of the project, but they are not the beginner path.

What to read next

If you want to start writing code immediately, go to Quick Start.

If you want the language in the clean learning order, continue with Functions & Variables.