PRIORITIES.md

Noviq - Feature Implementation Priorities

Priority 1: Critical Core Features (Foundation)

• Variable reassignment (mutable variables)
• Constants (immutable by default with const keyword)
• Arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /, %, **)
• Comparison operators (==, !=, <, >, <=, >=)
• Logical operators (and, or, not)
• if statement
• else statement
• else if / elif statement
• while loop
• for loop (C-style: for i = 0; i < 10; i++)
• break statement
• continue statement
• Function declarations
• Function parameters
• Return statements
• Array literals ([1, 2, 3])
• Array indexing (arr[0])
• Object literals ({key: value})
• String concatenation with + operator
• Integer type (separate from float)
• Type inference improvements
• input() - Read from stdin
• len() - Length of collection
• type() - Get type of value

Priority 2: Essential Language Features

• String slicing (string[start:end])
• String indexing (string[0])
• String length function
• String methods (upper, lower, trim, split, join, replace)
• Array length
• Array methods (push, pop, shift, unshift)
• Array slicing (arr[1:3])
• Object methods (keys, values, entries)
• Dot notation (obj.key)
• Bracket notation (obj["key"])
• for-in loop (iterate over collections)
• Loop with range (for i in 0..10)
• Default parameter values
• Anonymous functions/lambdas
• Closures
• Recursive functions
• Type annotations (optional static typing)
• Compound assignment (+=, -=, *=, /=, %=)
• Short-circuit evaluation
• Ternary operator (condition ? true_val : false_val)
• try-catch blocks
• throw statements
• Error wrapping
• Stack traces
• Multi-line comments (/* */)
• range() - Generate range
• str() - Convert to string
• assert() - Runtime assertion

Priority 3: Standard Library Basics

• io - Input/Output operations
• fs - File system operations
• Reading from stdin
• Writing to stdout
• Writing to stderr
• File reading (text and binary)
• File writing (text and binary)
• read() - Read file
• write() - Write to file
• open() - Open file handle
• close() - Close file handle
• Math module (sin, cos, tan, sqrt, abs, etc.)
• Random number generation
• time - Time and date handling
• JSON parsing and generation
• path - Path manipulation
• env - Environment variables
• typeof() - Type checking
• isinstance() - Instance checking
• map() - Transform collection
• filter() - Filter collection
• reduce() - Reduce collection

Priority 4: Advanced Data Structures & Control Flow

• Array methods (map, filter, reduce, forEach)
• Array methods (find, findIndex, includes, indexOf)
• Array methods (sort, reverse, join)
• Multi-dimensional arrays
• Object spreading
• Object destructuring
• Nested objects
• JSON serialization/deserialization
• Set creation
• Set operations (add, remove, has)
• Set operations (union, intersection, difference)
• Fixed-size tuples
• Tuple unpacking
• Switch/match statement
• Pattern matching
• Array concatenation
• Array spreading/unpacking
• Negative indexing (arr[-1])
• Dynamic keys
• Property existence checking
• Property deletion
• for-of loop (iterate over values)
• Loop with step (for i in 0..10 step 2)
• enumerate() - Index and value pairs
• zip() - Combine iterables
• sum() - Sum numbers
• min() - Find minimum
• max() - Find maximum
• sorted() - Sort collection
• reversed() - Reverse collection

Priority 5: Module System & Package Management

• import statements
• export statements
• Module paths
• Relative imports
• Absolute imports
• Selective imports (import {x, y} from module)
• Import aliases (import x as y)
• Package manifest file (package.nvq, Noviq.toml)
• Dependency specification
• Version constraints
• Package installation
• Local packages
• Dependency resolution
• Lock files
• Package manager CLI
• Package search
• Package info

Priority 6: Functions & OOP Foundations

• Arrow functions
• Higher-order functions
• Rest parameters (...args)
• Early return
• Nested functions
• Variadic functions
• Class declarations
• Class constructors
• Instance methods
• Static methods
• Instance variables/properties
• Class variables/static properties
• Private members
• Public members
• Getters and setters
• Single inheritance
• Method overriding
• Super keyword
• Interface implementation
• Function types/signatures

Priority 7: String & Numeric Enhancements

• Multi-line strings (""" or similar)
• Raw strings (no escape processing)
• String contains/search
• Regular expressions
• String formatting (printf-style)
• Template literals (backticks with ${})
• Hexadecimal literals (0x...)
• Binary literals (0b...)
• Octal literals (0o...)
• Scientific notation (1e6, 2.5e-3)
• Increment/decrement (++, --)
• Bitwise operators (&, |, ^, ~, <<, >>)
• Number formatting functions
• Infinity and NaN handling
• BigInt support for large numbers
• String encoding/decoding (UTF-8, UTF-16)
• Unicode normalization
• Character type functions (is_alpha, is_digit, etc.)

Priority 8: Advanced Error Handling & Testing

• Custom error types
• finally blocks
• catch with type filtering
• Result/Option types (Rust-style)
• Error propagation operator (?)
• Panic vs recoverable errors
• Assertions
• Debug assertions
• Unit testing framework
• Test assertions
• Test fixtures
• Mocking
• Test coverage
• Benchmark framework
• Integration tests

Priority 9: Developer Tools & IDE Support

• REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop)
• Language Server Protocol (LSP)
• Syntax highlighting definitions
• Code formatter
• Linter
• Code completion
• Go to definition
• Find references
• Rename symbol
• Documentation comments (///)
• Documentation generator
• API documentation
• Colored error output
• Error codes
• Suggestions for fixes
• Similar name suggestions
• Context in errors
• VSCode extension
• Photon watch mode
• Photon project scaffolding

Priority 10: Advanced OOP & Functional Programming

• Abstract classes
• Protected members
• Property decorators
• Multiple inheritance
• Traits/Mixins
• Protocols
• Operator overloading
• Method chaining
• Reflection/introspection
• Type checking at runtime
• Function composition
• Partial application
• Currying
• Tail call optimization
• Generator functions
• Async functions
• Function overloading
• Function decorators/annotations
• Pure function markers
• Memoization

Priority 11: Additional I/O & Data Formats

• File appending
• Buffered IO
• Stream reading/writing
• CSV reading/writing
• CSV handling
• YAML support
• TOML support
• XML parsing
• XML/HTML parsing
• INI file support
• String manipulation functions
• String formatting
• format() - Format string
• join() - Join strings
• split() - Split string
• replace() - Replace in string
• chars() - Get characters
• bytes() - Get bytes

Priority 12: Concurrency & Async

• Threads
• Thread pools
• Mutexes/locks
• Channels (message passing)
• Async/await
• Promises/Futures
• Coroutines
• Green threads
• Race condition detection
• Deadlock detection

Priority 13: Network & Web

• HTTP client
• HTTP server
• WebSocket support
• TCP sockets
• UDP sockets
• DNS resolution
• URL parsing
• REST API helpers

Priority 14: Database Support

• SQLite support
• PostgreSQL driver
• MySQL driver
• MongoDB driver
• Redis client
• ORM framework
• Query builder
• Migrations
• Connection pooling

Priority 15: Compiler Optimizations

• Bytecode compilation
• JIT compilation
• Constant folding
• Dead code elimination
• Inline expansion
• Loop unrolling
• Tail call optimization
• Type checking
• Dead code detection
• Unused variable detection
• Unreachable code detection
• Incremental compilation
• Parallel compilation

Priority 16: Advanced Language Features

• List comprehensions
• Dict comprehensions
• Set comprehensions
• Generator expressions
• With statement (context managers)
• Using statement (resource cleanup)
• Guard statement
• Defer statement
• Array comprehensions
• Typed arrays
• Pipeline operator (|>)
• Composition operator (>>)
• Elvis operator (?:)
• Safe navigation operator (?.)
• Null coalescing operator (??)
• Spread operator (...)
• Range operator (..)
• Exclusive range operator (..<)
• In operator (value in collection)
• Is operator (type checking)
• As operator (type casting)

Priority 17: Type System Enhancements

• Type casting/conversion functions
• Null/None type explicit handling
• Undefined vs Null distinction
• Variable shadowing
• Destructuring assignment
• Truthiness/falsiness rules
• Strict equality vs loose equality
• Optional chaining operator (?.)
• Type aliases
• Union types
• Intersection types
• Generics/parametric polymorphism
• Variance (covariance, contravariance)
• istype() - Type validation
• convert() - Type conversion

Priority 18: Memory Management

• Garbage collection
• Reference counting
• Memory pools
• Stack vs heap allocation
• Smart pointers
• Weak references
• Memory leak detection
• RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization)

Priority 19: Debugging & Profiling

• Debugger protocol
• Breakpoints
• Step through execution
• Variable inspection
• Stack trace inspection
• Memory profiling
• CPU profiling
• Logging framework
• Trace logging
• Hot reloading
• Time-travel debugging

Priority 20: Additional Built-in Functions

• all() - Check all true
• any() - Check any true
• eval() - Evaluate code string
• exec() - Execute code
• compile() - Compile code
• help() - Interactive help
• dir() - List attributes
• id() - Object identity
• hash() - Hash value
• repr() - String representation
• Named tuples
• Object freezing/sealing

Priority 21: Additional Module System Features

• Wildcard imports
• Re-exports
• Module initialization
• Circular dependency handling
• Dynamic imports
• Lazy loading
• Module versioning

Priority 22: Advanced Package Management

• Package registry
• Package publishing
• Git dependencies
• Virtual environments
• Package scripts
• Dev dependencies vs runtime dependencies
• Package outdated check
• Package update
• Package audit (security)
• Package licenses

Priority 23: Tooling Extensions

• Photon dependency management
• Build profiles
• Custom build scripts
• Parallel builds
• Incremental builds
• Build caching
• Build artifacts management
• Quick fixes
• Refactoring tools
• Code snippets
• Tutorial generator
• Example runner
• Playground/sandbox
• Documentation search
• Version documentation

Priority 24: IDE Integration Expansion

• IntelliJ plugin
• Vim/Neovim plugin
• Emacs mode
• Sublime Text package
• Atom package
• WebStorm integration

Priority 25: CI/CD & DevOps

• GitHub Actions workflows
• GitLab CI templates
• Jenkins integration
• Travis CI support
• CircleCI config
• Docker images
• Pre-commit hooks
• Code coverage reporting

Priority 26: Security Features

• Sandboxing
• Capability-based security
• Safe/unsafe code distinction
• Input validation
• SQL injection prevention
• XSS prevention
• CSRF protection
• Cryptography module
• Secure random numbers
• Password hashing
• Token generation
• Resource limits
• Execution timeout
• Stack size limits
• Memory limits

Priority 27: Performance Features

• Lazy evaluation
• Copy-on-write
• String interning
• Object pooling
• Zero-cost abstractions
• SIMD support
• GPU computation
• Parallel algorithms
• Native code compilation
• AOT compilation
• Cross-compilation
• Link-time optimization
• Profile-guided optimization
• Escape analysis
• Bounds check elimination
• Common subexpression elimination

Priority 28: Additional Platform Support

• FreeBSD support
• OpenBSD support
• Android support
• iOS support
• WebAssembly target
• x86 (32-bit)
• RISC-V

Priority 29: Internationalization

• Unicode support (full)
• Locale handling
• Message translation
• Number formatting by locale
• Date/time formatting by locale
• Currency formatting
• Text collation
• Bidirectional text
• Right-to-left languages

Priority 30: Metaprogramming

• Macros
• Compile-time evaluation
• Code generation
• Reflection API
• Annotations/decorators
• Attribute macros
• Procedural macros
• AST manipulation
• Custom DSLs

Priority 31: FFI (Foreign Function Interface)

• C FFI
• Rust FFI
• Python interop
• JavaScript interop
• Call external libraries
• Expose Noviq functions to C
• Shared library loading
• System call interface

Priority 32: Advanced Loop Features

• Loop labels
• do-while loop
• until loop
• Loop else clause
• Infinite loop construct

Priority 33: Advanced Function Features

• Multiple return values
• Named return values
• Function inlining hints
• Virtual methods
• Builder pattern support

Priority 34: Additional Comments & Literals

• Markdown in doc comments
• TODO/FIXME/NOTE markers
• Comment directives
• Regular expression literals
• Date/time literals
• Binary data literals

Priority 35: Advanced Type System

• Extension methods
• Implicit conversions
• Explicit conversions
• Higher-kinded types

Priority 36: Advanced Static Analysis

• Code formatting
• Linting
• Cyclomatic complexity
• Code smell detection

Priority 37: Additional Data Formats

• MessagePack
• Protocol Buffers

Priority 38: Advanced Testing

• Property-based testing
• Snapshot testing

Priority 39: Additional Core Modules

• os - Operating system interface
• sys - System-specific parameters
• process - Process management
• collections - Additional data structures

Priority 40: Quality of Life Improvements

• Fast compilation
• Helpful warnings
• Clear documentation
• Good examples
• Beginner-friendly
• Consistent syntax
• Minimal boilerplate
• Interactive tutorials
• Migration guides
• Changelog
• Error explanation
• Help URLs in errors

Priority 41: Community Features

• Official package registry
• Package discovery
• Code examples repository
• Snippet sharing
• Playground website
• Community forum
• Discord/Slack
• Stack Overflow tag
• Awesome-noviq list
• Newsletter
• Blog
• Podcast
• Conference/meetups

Priority 42: Advanced Memory Management

• Manual memory management
• Move semantics
• Borrow checker
• Lifetime annotations

Priority 43: Experimental Features

• Dependent types
• Linear types
• Effect system
• Algebraic effects
• Ownership types
• Session types
• Gradual typing
• Structural typing
• Row polymorphism
• Kind system

Priority 44: Additional Conditional Features

• Guard clauses
• Inline if expressions

Already Implemented ✓

• Single-line comments (#)
• String literals
• Number literals
• Boolean literals
• Photon build tool (basic)
• Linux support
• macOS support
• Windows support
• x86_64
• ARM64 (aarch64)

Not Planned (Won't Add Official Support)

• ARM (32-bit)
• MIPS
• PowerPC