-
-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 2.2k
FAQ
Detailed comparison of V and other languages.
V. The compiler can compile itself. The original version was written in Go.
No. V uses C as its backend and will compile directly to machine code by the time of the 1.0 release.
On the benefits of using C as a language backend.
A separate LLVM backend is developed by the community.
For now, V emits C and uses GCC/Clang for optimized production builds. This way you get access to sophisticated optimization.
Such builds are compiled ≈150 times slower than V development builds (but are still an order of magnitude faster than C++ production builds).
This can be a problem for industries where optimization is required during development (for example, AAA games). In this case, hot code reloading can be used.
In the future, V will have its own optimizer.
Yes, by default V uses the Boehm GC (garbage collector) from https://github.com/ivmai/bdwgc . You can disable it, and manage memory manually by passing the compile option -gc none . You can also use the experimental autofree mechanism, by passing -autofree. See also vlang.io/docs#memory-management .
Yes! V is a very modular language and encourages creation of modules that are easy to reuse.
The page for modules right now is vpm.vlang.io.
Submitting your V module takes a couple of seconds.
Installing modules is as easy as v install sqlite
To run foo() concurrently, just call it with spawn, like spawn foo(). Right now it launches the function in a new system thread.
Soon coroutines and the scheduler will be implemented and writing a concurrency code in V is going to be the same as in Go - with a go keyword, like go foo().
There is a -freestanding option that excludes libc and vlib, but it is a work in progress and is not the focus of development right now.
Yes. This hasn't been implemented yet.
No, V will always stay a small and simple language.
https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/README.md#stability-guarantee-and-future-changes
Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonflyBSD, Solaris, Android (Termux).
Android and iOS later this year.
Note
This is a list of OS, that can be used to develop programs in V. You can compile your V programs for Android using Vab tool.
Me and 250+ open source contributors.
It's very hard for one person to write a C parser. There is a C2V tool [WIP], that can help you with translation or wrapper generation from C to V. Clang parser is used for translating C to V.
There are plugins available for a wide range of IDEs and text editors.
| IDE/Editor | Link to the plugin |
|---|---|
| VS Code | https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vlanguage.vscode-vlang |
| JetBrains IDEs | https://intellij-v.github.io/ |
| Vim | https://github.com/ollykel/v-vim |
| Emacs | https://github.com/damon-kwok/v-mode |
| Sublime Text | https://github.com/elliotchance/vlang-sublime |
| Atom | https://github.com/Cutlery-Drawer/language-v |
| Kakoune | https://github.com/antono2/vlang.kak |
Also check out the Ved editor, which is written in V. It has V support built in.
V is a small and simple language, it doesn't need a powerful IDE, but a good plugin can automate routine work and make your development process more fun :)
Initially, the language had the same name as the product it was created for Volt. The extension was ".v", I didn't want to mess up git history, so I decided to name it V :)
Note
The ".v" extension clashes with (at least) two other known file formats: "Verilog" and "Coq" languages. This is actually unfortunate, but so is life sometimes... V language will not change its extension.
It's a simple name that reflects the simplicity of the language, and it's easy to pronounce for everyone in the world.
Please note that the name of the language is "V", not "Vlang" or "V-Lang" etc. The name is not very searchable (like Go), so use #vlang on Twitter, vlang on Google, etc.
No, sorry. Macros can be really useful, but they complicate the code significantly. Every company, team, and developer can extend the language, and it's no longer possible to jump into a new codebase and immediately understand what's going on.
V will have sophisticated code generation.
MIT.