Why is Zig so Cool?

Foreword

I can’t think of any other language in my 45 years long career that surprised more than Zig. I can easily say that Zig is not only a new programming language, but it’s a totally new way to write programs, in my opinion. To say it’s merely a language to replace C or C++, it’s a huge understatement.

In this article, I will present the features that I found to be most seductive in the language, and I will also present a brief overview about it. The goal is to present simple features for programmers to quick start in the language. Be aware, though, that many more features are affecting its acceptability in the industry.

The compiler

It compiles C and it cross compiles

Probably the most incredible virtue of Zig compiler is its ability to compile C code. This associated with the ability to cross-compile code to be run in another architecture, different than the machine where it is was originally compiled, is already something quite different and unique. These features alone, completely out-of-the-box, are causing an incredible impact in the industry already. In spite of that what we want to concentrate on is how to program in Zig and why should one choose Zig instead of any other language.

Installing the compiler

Installing the compiler is quite simple. In Zinglang’s download page one finds the compiler in several formats, depending on the processor or OS:

On Windows 10, for example, one chooses the x86_64 zip file and copy its decompressed content in the desired directory. For example, in “Program Files”. I modified the root directory name to “zig-windows-x86_64” because in this way I can just copy another version of the compiler with no need to modify the path in Path environment variable.

Next, one adds this root directory path to the Path environment variable using Advanced System Properties (clicking on 1-4, pasting path on 5, and clicking “OK” on 6-8):