The Vitamin Programming Language

Vitamin grants you great power you need it, and doesn't get in your way, when you don't.

NOTE: The language is currently a work-in-progress, so expect most things not to work!

Features

• Clear semantics
• Rich and safe type system
• Potential for speed
• Powerful metaprogramming
• Helpful compiler

Get a taste

Get to know Vitamin with some example programs.

For a complete description see the language reference manual.

Documentation and more examples are also mirrored on the Vitamin language website. Code excerpts on the website are easier to read, because they have syntax highligting!

Simple Fizz Buzz

fizzbuzz(i: Int) =
	case
	of i mod 15 == 0 'FizzBuzz'
	of i mod  3 == 0 'Fizz'
	of i mod  5 == 0 'Buzz'
	of _ Str(i)

for i in range(100)
	print(fizzbuzz(i))

Type-safe sized vectors

# Vectors of length `n` and element type `a` are pointers to mutable values of type `a`
unique Vector(n: Size, a: Type) = Record(items: &mut a)

# Parameters `n`, `m` and `a` will be computed and passed implicitly
concat(x: Vector($n, $a), y: Vector($m, a)) =
  items = new(mut, a, count=n + m)
  copy(from=x.items, to=items, count=n)
  copy(from=y.items, to=offset(items, n), count=m)
  (items=items) as Vector(n + m, a)

# Assume these vectors are defined somewhere else
a : Vector(3, Int)
b : Vector(2, Int)
assert type-of(concat(a, b)) == Vector(5, Int)

How to compile

Linux, macOS and other Unix-like

Requires Nim 1.4.2 and Nimble.

chmod +x build
# install dependencies
./build setup
# run tests (optional)
./build test
# compile for the current architecture
./build

Vitamin binary vita will appear in the bin directory.

Windows

TODO

How to run

By default, Vitamin expects the contents of res/lib to be present in ~/.local/lib/vita or /usr/lib/vita. You can also add other library paths to the VITAPATH environment variable (paths separated by a colon :).

# assuming `vita` is in PATH
# run a program
vita script.v
# run an interactive session
vita

Editor support

• Vim: basic syntax support

  • Copy res/vitamin.vim to the Vim/Neovim syntax directory
  • Add this to .vimrc: au BufRead,BufNewFile *.{v,vita} set filetype=vitamin

• Visual Studio Code: basic syntax support

  • Install the Vitamin extension (ext install maxadamski.vitamin)

Contributions

Feel free to open issues to ask questions or make suggestions.

Contributions are very welcome.