Syntax

Zith source uses braces for blocks and semicolons for ordinary statements. A function body may end with an expression, which becomes its return value.

fn add(a: i32, b: i32): i32 {
    a + b
}

Use // for a line comment.

Operators

Arithmetic and comparison use the familiar spellings: + - * / % and == != < > <= >=. Logical operators are the keywords and, or, not, and xor. Writing && or || is a dedicated error that points you at and / or, reported exactly once with no cascade.

Bitwise operators keep a trailing dot to stay distinct from the logical keywords: &. for AND, |. for OR, ^. for XOR, with unary ~ for NOT. Both operands must be integers of the same type.

fn bits(a: i32, b: i32): i32 {
    let both: i32 = a &. b;
    let either: i32 = a |. b;
    let diff: i32 = a ^. b;
    ~(both + either + diff)
}

Compound assignment works for += -= *= /= %= <<= >>= &= |= ^=. The parser desugars each one into an ordinary assignment, so a compound assignment yields a value and inherits the same coercion and view rules as =. Note that the bitwise compounds drop the dot of their base spelling.

There are no increment or decrement operators; write i += 1.

Literals

Integer literals accept explicit radix prefixes: 0x hexadecimal, 0c octal, and 0b binary. Digit separators such as 1_000 are not supported, and a literal wider than 64 bits reports E0004. String and character literals decode the usual C-style escapes; an unknown escape reports E0001.

fn radix(): i32 {
    0xFF + 0c17 + 0b101
}

Write a declaration before its use, and keep the first programs within the working core. See Functions and the formal Function reference.