The V Programming Language

[vlang.io](https://vlang.io) | [Docs](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/doc/docs.md) | [Changelog](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md) | [Speed](https://fast.vlang.io/) | [Contributing & compiler design](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)

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## Key Features of V - Simplicity: the language can be learned in less than an hour - Fast compilation: ≈80k loc/s with a Clang backend, ≈1 million loc/s with x64 and tcc backends *(Intel i5-7500, SSD, no optimization)* - Easy to develop: V compiles itself in less than a second - Performance: as fast as C (V's main backend compiles to human readable C) - Safety: no null, no globals, no undefined behavior, immutability by default - C to V translation - Hot code reloading - [Cross-platform UI library](https://github.com/vlang/ui) - Built-in graphics library - Easy cross compilation - REPL - [Built-in ORM](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/doc/docs.md#orm) - [Built-in web framework](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/vlib/vweb/README.md) - C and JavaScript backends ## Stability guarantee and future changes Despite being at an early development stage, the V language is relatively stable and has backwards compatibility guarantee, meaning that the code you write today is guaranteed to work a month, a year, or five years from now. There still may be minor syntax changes before the 1.0 release, but they will be handled automatically via `vfmt`, as has been done in the past. The V core APIs (primarily the `os` module) will still have minor changes until they are stabilized in 2020. Of course the APIs will grow after that, but without breaking existing code. Unlike many other languages, V is not going to be always changing, with new features being introduced and old features modified. It is always going to be a small and simple language, very similar to the way it is right now. ## Installing V from source ### Linux, macOS, Windows, *BSD, Solaris, WSL, Android, Raspbian ```bash git clone https://github.com/vlang/v cd v make ``` That's it! Now you have a V executable at `[path to V repo]/v`. `[path to V repo]` can be anywhere. (On Windows `make` means running `make.bat`, so make sure you use `cmd.exe`) Now you can try `./v run examples/hello_world.v` (`v.exe` on Windows). V is being constantly updated. To update V, simply run: ```bash v up ``` ### C compiler It's recommended to use Clang or GCC or Visual Studio. If you are doing development, you most likely already have one of those installed. Otherwise, follow these instructions: - [Installing a C compiler on Linux and macOS](https://github.com/vlang/v/wiki/Installing-a-C-compiler-on-Linux-and-macOS) - [Installing a C compiler on Windows](https://github.com/vlang/v/wiki/Installing-a-C-compiler-on-Windows) However, if none is found when running `make` on Linux or Windows, TCC would be downloaded and set as an alternative C backend. It's very lightweight (several MB) so this shouldn't take too long. ### Symlinking NB: it is *highly recommended*, that you put V on your PATH. That saves you the effort to type in the full path to your v executable every time. V provides a convenience `v symlink` command to do that more easily. On Unix systems, it creates a `/usr/local/bin/v` symlink to your executable. To do that, run: ```bash sudo ./v symlink ``` On Windows, start a new shell with administrative privileges, for example by Windows Key, then type `cmd.exe`, right click on its menu entry, and choose `Run as administrator`. In the new administrative shell, cd to the path, where you have compiled v.exe, then type: ```bat .\v.exe symlink ``` That will make v available everywhere, by adding it to your PATH. Please restart your shell/editor after that, so that it can pick the new PATH variable. NB: there is no need to run `v symlink` more than once - v will continue to be available, even after `v up`, restarts and so on. You only need to run it again, if you decide to move the V repo folder somewhere else. ### Docker

Expand Docker instructions

```bash git clone https://github.com/vlang/v cd v docker build -t vlang . docker run --rm -it vlang:latest v ``` ### Docker with Alpine/musl ```bash git clone https://github.com/vlang/v cd v docker build -t vlang --file=Dockerfile.alpine . docker run --rm -it vlang:latest /usr/local/v/v ```

### Testing and running the examples Make sure V can compile itself: ```bash v self ``` ```bash $ v V 0.1.x Use Ctrl-C or `exit` to exit >>> println('hello world') hello world >>> ``` ```bash cd examples v hello_world.v && ./hello_world # or simply v run hello_world.v # this builds the program and runs it right away v word_counter.v && ./word_counter cinderella.txt v run news_fetcher.v v run tetris/tetris.v ```

NB: In order to build Tetris or 2048 (or anything else using `sokol` or `gg` graphics modules) on some Linux systems, you need to install `libxi-dev` and `libxcursor-dev` . If you plan to use the http package, you also need to install OpenSSL on non-Windows systems. ```bash macOS: brew install openssl Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install libssl-dev Arch/Manjaro: openssl is installed by default Fedora: sudo dnf install openssl-devel ``` ## V UI

https://github.com/vlang/ui ## Developing web applications Check out the [Building a simple web blog](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/tutorials/building-a-simple-web-blog-with-vweb.md) tutorial and Gitly, a light and fast alternative to GitHub/GitLab: https://github.com/vlang/gitly

## Troubleshooting Please see the [Troubleshooting](https://github.com/vlang/v/wiki/Troubleshooting) section on our [wiki page](https://github.com/vlang/v/wiki) [WorkflowBadge]: https://github.com/vlang/v/workflows/CI/badge.svg [DiscordBadge]: https://img.shields.io/discord/592103645835821068?label=Discord&logo=discord&logoColor=white [PatreonBadge]: https://img.shields.io/endpoint.svg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshieldsio-patreon.vercel.app%2Fapi%3Fusername%3Dvlang%26type%3Dpledges [SponsorBadge]: https://camo.githubusercontent.com/da8bc40db5ed31e4b12660245535b5db67aa03ce/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f7374617469632f76313f6c6162656c3d53706f6e736f72266d6573736167653d254532253944254134266c6f676f3d476974487562 [TwitterBadge]: https://twitter.com/v_language [WorkflowUrl]: https://github.com/vlang/v/commits/master [DiscordUrl]: https://discord.gg/vlang [PatreonUrl]: https://patreon.com/vlang [SponsorUrl]: https://github.com/sponsors/medvednikov [TwitterUrl]: https://img.shields.io/twitter/follow/v_language.svg?style=flatl&label=Follow&logo=twitter&logoColor=white&color=1da1f2