What is Zig? The New Programming Language Explained for Beginners

What is Zig? A Beginner’s Guide to the New Programming Language

If you’ve been wondering “What is Zig?” you’re in the right place. Zig is a new programming language that’s been causing quite a stir in the coding community, especially on X. But what exactly is Zig, and why should you care?

What is Zig? The Short Answer

Zig is a general-purpose programming language designed to be a “better C”. It aims to be just as fast and low-level as C, but with modern features that make it safer and easier to use.

Key Features: What Makes Zig Stand Out?

To truly understand what Zig is, let’s look at its key features:

1. No hidden control flow: When you’re asking “What is Zig?”, this is often the first feature mentioned. Zig is explicit - no hidden memory allocations or function calls happen behind your back.

2. Compile-time code execution: Zig allows you to run code at compile time, essentially giving you a mini scripting language built into your compiler.

3. Manual memory management: Like C, Zig puts you in charge of memory. But unlike C, it provides better tools to manage it safely.

4. Cross-compilation out of the box: Zig makes it easy to compile for different OS or architectures without extra setup.

What is Zig Code Like? A Simple Example

To give you a better idea of what Zig is, let’s look at a simple “Hello, World!” program:

const std = @import("std");

pub fn main() void {
    std.debug.print("Hello world!\n", .{});
}

This simple example shows what Zig code looks like. It’s clean, explicit, and not too different from other languages you might know.

Why Zig Matters: What Sets It Apart

Now that we’ve covered what Zig is, you might be wondering why it matters. Here’s what sets Zig apart:

1. Performance: Zig is designed to be blazing fast, competing with C and Rust in benchmarks.

2. Safety: While it doesn’t have a borrow checker like Rust, Zig provides tools to write safer code than C.

3. Simplicity: Zig aims to be simple and easy to learn, without sacrificing power.

4. Interoperability: Zig plays nice with C, making it a great choice for gradually modernizing legacy codebases.

What is Zig’s Learning Curve Like?

I’ll be honest - there is a learning curve when it comes to understanding what Zig is and how to use it. It makes you think about memory management and low-level details. But for many, that’s part of the appeal!

A great tool that I’ve been using to learn zig is Ziglings, which is a collection of 109 broken zig files that you have to fix! I can’t put my finger on what exactly it is about Ziglings that allows me to actually absorb the material, but it’s working!

Wrapping Up: What is Zig’s Future?

So, what is Zig’s place in the programming world? While it’s still young, Zig is showing a lot of promise. It’s addressing real pain points in systems programming and offering a fresh perspective on what low-level programming can be like.

If you want to dive deeper into what Zig is and how to use it, check out their official documentation. It’s a goldmine of information and examples.

Have you tried Zig? Now that you know what Zig is, let me know your thoughts! Tweet me at @grapplingdev - I’d love to hear about your experiences. ✌️