Design Philosophy

Frost was born from a vision to create a programming language that is beautiful, fast, and portable. Our design philosophy is rooted in the collective experience of our core team members, who have extensive backgrounds in low-level embedded programming, systems development, and functional programming.

Beauty in Simplicity

We believe that code should be a joy to read and write. Frost's syntax is crafted to create visual harmony, drawing inspiration from mathematical notation and modern language design. Every aspect of the language is meticulously designed to reduce cognitive load and enhance readability.

fibonacci: int -> int = n {
    if n < 2 {
        ret n
    }
    fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2)
}

Performance Without Compromise

As seasoned low-level programmers, we understand the importance of performance. Frost compiles directly to LLVM IR, allowing for aggressive optimizations and ensuring that the resulting code is as fast as hand-written C. We've designed the language to have zero-cost abstractions, meaning you don't pay for what you don't use.

Portability and Systems Programming

Frost is designed to be a true systems programming language. It can target bare metal environments, making it suitable for operating systems development and embedded systems. At the same time, it's equally at home in application development, providing a seamless experience across different platforms.

Functional Roots with Pragmatic Features

Our experience with functional programming has deeply influenced Frost's design. We've incorporated functional concepts like immutability by default and first-class functions, while also providing pragmatic features for systems programming, such as fine-grained control over memory layout.

map: (int -> int) [int] int -> [int] = fn xs len {
    from 0 to len by 1 [i: int] {
        xs.#i = fn(xs.#i)
    }

    xs
}

Safety Without Sacrifice

Frost incorporates modern safety features like strong static typing and allows developers to opt-out when necessary for performance-critical code by writing inlined assembly. We believe that safety should be a default, but not a limitation.

Elegance in Expressiveness

We believe that complex ideas should be expressible in simple, clear syntax. Frost's design allows developers to write concise, expressive code that clearly communicates intent.

point :: struct {
    x -> double
    y -> double
}

distance: point point -> double = a b {
    dx: double = b.x - a.x
    dy: double = b.y - a.y
    sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy)
}

Conclusion

Frost's design philosophy is a reflection of our collective experience and aspirations. We've created a language that we believe strikes the perfect balance between beauty, performance, and practicality. It's a language we enjoy using ourselves, and we hope it brings the same joy and productivity to others in the programming community.