Compile Time Functions

[VincentRPS]

Add support for functions running at compile time. i.e.:

@macro(comptime)
def print_hello(): str {
    print("Hello from the compiler!");
    return "A";
}

def main() {
    // is run in compile time and
    // a will always be the value "A"
    // returned in `print_hello`
    let a = print_hello();
}

[elenakrittik]

Considering that the language will have a REPL and therefore an interpreter, i think making all expressions evaluate-able at comptime will be effortless

[VincentRPS]

Considering that the language will have a REPL and therefore an interpreter, i think making all expressions evaluate-able at comptime will be effortless

The interpreter (and comptime) can most likely just be built on top of LLVM's JIT APIs, which should make it even easier since we can leverage metal-llvm's codegen. We could also probably explore using Cranelift for the repl too if we really want fast build times.

[elenakrittik]

Considering that the language will have a REPL and therefore an interpreter, i think making all expressions evaluate-able at comptime will be effortless

The interpreter (and comptime) can most likely just be built on top of LLVM's JIT APIs, which should make it even easier since we can leverage metal-llvm's codegen. We could also probably explore using Cranelift for the repl too if we really want fast build times.

WASM as well! Plenty of options