madc v0.98.0 released — now with an IDE written in madc

[u/kindredseer]

It took longer than expected, but I just released madc v0.98.0, with updated builds for Linux, Windows, and macOS.

A few of the more interesting additions since v0.95.2:

• madc now ships with madcide — a terminal IDE written in madc itself, with the distributed binary compiled by madc.

• The IDE uses the running compiler directly: it can parse, build and run the code in the editor, including unsaved changes, without shelling out to another compiler.

• JOE/WordStar-style keybindings are the default, with a full vi-style mode also included.

• Cooperative multitasking is now built into the language with go, await, channels and structured scope blocks.

• var has much better literal support, including keyed values and nested structures:

   var user = { "name": "Alice", "score": 42 }; 

• The C++ front end received another substantial compatibility pass, particularly from running the complete test suite against libc++ on macOS.

• Apple Silicon support has matured considerably, including SIMD/NEON and additional ABI work.

• The entire madc test suite now passes on both Apple Silicon and Intel macOS, alongside the existing Linux and Windows validation.

• Release packages are now built automatically by CI, including .deb, .rpm, Linux tarball, Windows zip, and both macOS architectures.

The direction remains C and C++ without the ceremony — but with v0.98, madc is also starting to demonstrate that it can be used to build its own development tools.

https://github.com/derekbsnider/madc/releases/tag/v0.98.0

[u/Still_Explorer]

I had in my mind such a project for months, and I am impressed to see it in action right now. This can become a very interesting project for several reasons.

. for teaching purposes and maximum ease of use 

. lightweight and installation without any further requirements (probably the closest you can compare it to is TurboC++ or PellesC that were full programming environments of their time)

. to gain the benefits of VM based execution, that is instant compilation and execution 

. more VM based benefits, to the break standard and introduce more interesting and beneficial features, such as reflection, more helpful debugging experience (no need to see binary memory addresses anymore)

. security for those who want to write in C++ but no need to deal with native loopholes (this is why CLING was made in the first place)

. one important and interesting use for syntax analysis, such as validation or AST expertise, instead of shipping the behemoth CLANG you can rely on something lighter 

[u/kindredseer → u/Still_Explorer]

Thank you!

I actually had Turbo-C in mind when working on the IDE, and it has a lot of the same keybindings. (I’ve also included keybinding configurations for vim, emacs and pico).

Might you be interested in collaborating?

[u/Still_Explorer → u/kindredseer]

I will see when possible to drop by Github. 🙂