Nox - A low-level programming language written in idiomatic C++

This project is still under development, as such, the codebase should be considered as a reference to the current status of the compiler, and not as a complete implementation.

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Using the Nox compiler

To use the compiler, the following command can be run:

$ ./path/to/compiler ./path/to/file.nox

From here, the newly created output.s file can be constructed into a runnable by using gcc. Here it is important to note that the -no-pie flag for GCC is required when using strings.

We advice the reader to test the following examples:

$ ./build/compiler  ./examples/hello_world.nox
$ gcc -no-pie output.s
$ ./a.out

Code Samples

Stringified Enum's

Converting Enum's to their respective string representations is a pattern which occurs often in many projects. In the C++ code for Nox itself, this is handled by using maps. Nox has built-in compile-time support for enum stringification by using the directive #enum_strings, and works as follows.

#enum_strings

enum Colors {
  Red,
  Green,
  Blue
}

func int main() {
    my_color: enum Colors = Colors.Green;
    print("My color is %s\n", my_color.str())
}

>> My color is Green

Miscellaneous

• the defer keyword, which executes a given statement, expression or block at scope-exit
• Built-in string types similar to C++
• Default Values for Struct Fields
• Compile-time logic via. directives: #some_directive
• Functions as first-class citizens

Requirements

When compiling Nox from source, it is dependent on the precense of boost version 1.84.0 .