Targets, the target's C compiler (FINCH_CC) for linking, C import for the target (--target to libclang, its
headers), the AAPCS64 and Microsoft x64 ways of passing structs by value (and the System V one),
dllexport for libraries on Windows, .exe names, and running the program through wine or qemu-aarch64.
std/ gets time_windows.fch and proc_windows.fch: a module has a version per system (name_windows.fch,
name_macos.fch, name_linux.fch) that wins over name.fch. stdin, stdout and stderr work where C makes them macros.
Run for real: all 27 programs under tests/run and tests/new pass on ARM64 Linux under qemu and on Windows
under Wine (MinGW), structs by value and callbacks included. macOS is only checked as far as clang accepts the
IR; there is no emulator for it here.
DWARF as LLVM metadata: a compile unit, a subprogram per function, a location on every call, a variable
for each local and parameter with types a debugger can open (structs with their fields, arrays and text
as ptr/len/cap, maps, enums with their variants, pointers, fixed arrays). Methods show self.
Use it with -O0, as the docs say: the optimizer inlines the program into main, which has no debug info.
boot.sh builds ten programs with -g -O0 and checks they still behave. 51 passed.
export fn name(...) is a C function of a library; build --shared makes lib<name>.so with no main and a
finch_module_on_fatal(handler) the host can take runtime errors over with. Ported from the embed work (the
runtime, its test and the docs are that work's; the compiler side is new).
The driver reads FINCH_PATH (more module folders), FINCH_RT (the runtime's file) and FINCH_CC (the clang).
tests/boot.sh also runs tests/shared.sh with the compiler under test. 41 passed.
import json import path import time import proc -- found in std/ after the program's own files,
so a program's own json.fch always wins.
path: join, base, dir, ext, stem, parts, clean, is_abs.
time: now, millis, sleep, date, local, format, days_in_month (clock_gettime, strftime through C import).
proc: run, output (an error with the command's output when it fails), env, pid, cwd.
json: parse (errors with line and column), stringify, pretty, new_*, get/at/set/push/has/names and
str_or/int_or/float_or/bool_or; \u escapes with surrogate pairs.
The C importer now leaves a plain (non-const) char * parameter a ptr[char], a buffer C writes into;
only const char * is text going in. str(ptr) and str([]u8) are in the self-hosted compiler.
boot.sh: 40 passed, 0 failed.
The self-hosted driver now has the everyday commands. -g (debug info), --target
(Windows, ARM64, macOS) and lsp are still only in the C++ compiler, and say so.
The self-hosted compiler reads headers with boot/cimport.fch and compiles calls to C
functions (variadics, char* as str, C's default promotions), enum and #define
constants, extern variables like stdout, C structs laid out as C laid them (padding
and fixed arrays, by pointer), .ptr of a str or array, ptr(x) and int(ptr). link
"lib" asks pkg-config, link "x.c" compiles the file along.
cimport and c_pointers pass. Not yet: structs by value (the calling convention) and
addr(fn) for C callbacks, which is also what stops it building itself.
boot.sh now says so when stage 2 can't be made and runs the tests on stage 1.
- examples/opengl.fch: OpenGL 3.3 core, shaders, VAO/VBO, a spinning triangle (checked offscreen)
- examples/vulkan.fch: instance, GPUs with properties/memory/queues, logical device and queue
- ptr(n) and int(p) conversions for C APIs that pass offsets as pointers
- .ptr works on string literals; a comma after the last call argument is allowed
- a missing header included by an imported header is now named in the error
- the old .fn extension hint is gone (Finch is new, there are no old files)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
.fn is already used by other tools (e.g. Fennel). Modules are now looked up as name.fch;
a leftover name.fn gets a clear message telling you to rename it.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
