Language for system programing, or C is not going to stay here forever

This article is still being written.

What is really needed from the system programing language?

There are several important traits that define a certain programing language as “system” one. First, some important limitations of such language can be stated:

  1. System programing language must have a minimalistic, or even “nil” runtime component. It should be practical to write programs in such a language which can be run on “bare iron”. This also implies seamless integration with platform level assembly code (through appropriate assembly inlining features).

  2. The above implies, that complex run-time or storage domain behavior can not be part of language specifications. Layout of compound variables must be exactly known to the application implementor (up to the usual alignment and padding details); non-local transfer of control (such as exceptions) would also be unsuitable. As “system” applications are typically developed for all kinds of restricted and customized environments, mechanisms related to memory allocation and concurrency control must necessarily be provided by user side libraries, rather than by language specifications.

Now, that limitations are identified, desirable features of a new system language can be examined:

  1. Fully featured system for “type metaprogramming”, including built-in compile-time introspection facilities (analogous to Boost.Fusion functionality).

  2. Fast compilation, especially considering the need to handle complex generics.

  3. Compact target binary format; this applies both to executables and loadable libraries. Support for compact loadable libraries poses an interesting problem due to the presence of the complex type system.

The demand for fast compilation is not a mere fancy. Rather, it is expected that future software system will become increasingly complex, while supporting increasing number of platforms and revisions. Considering the needs of such as important development technique as “continuous integration”, as well as increased productivity of developers when the usual “compile - test - modify” cycle can be performed rapidly, it is clear that issues of compilation speed must be given a foremost importance.