Stream: beginners

Topic: zig


view this post on Zulip Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:39):

What is roc using zig for? I see it mentioned often.

view this post on Zulip Richard Feldman (Oct 22 2023 at 14:39):

that is a frequently asked question!

view this post on Zulip Richard Feldman (Oct 22 2023 at 14:39):

literally :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/blob/main/FAQ.md#why-does-roc-use-both-rust-and-zig

view this post on Zulip Richard Feldman (Oct 22 2023 at 14:40):

(I also just gave a conference talk about this, but the video won't be out for a few months)

view this post on Zulip Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:40):

RTFFAQ, lakin. :stuck_out_tongue:

view this post on Zulip Richard Feldman (Oct 22 2023 at 14:40):

to be fair, nobody is expected to read the whole FAQ haha

view this post on Zulip Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:42):

Now that I've read the FAQ, I can no longer tell myself that Roc stands for "Richard's O.G. Compiler" and have to admit it's named after a bird. But it definitely answered my question about Zig

view this post on Zulip Richard Feldman (Oct 22 2023 at 14:43):

there's a joke I've heard that "ELM" is short for "Evan's ML" and "ROC" is short for "Richard's OCaml" :stuck_out_tongue:

view this post on Zulip Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:45):

I should learn OCaml

view this post on Zulip Declan Joseph Maguire (Oct 22 2023 at 15:07):

Do you plan to convert all of Roc's compiler to Zig?

view this post on Zulip Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 15:09):

The FAQ says no.

view this post on Zulip Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 15:09):

The split of Rust for the compiler and Zig for the standard library has worked well so far, and there are no plans to change it.

view this post on Zulip Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 15:17):

Lakin Wecker said:

I should learn OCaml

Although learning zig is probably a better use of my time.

view this post on Zulip Brian Carroll (Oct 22 2023 at 17:17):

Declan Joseph Maguire said:

Do you plan to convert all of Roc's compiler to Zig?

Zig is only used for built-in functions in the standard library.
The compiler itself is 100% Rust, 0% Zig! And there is no plan to change that!

view this post on Zulip Luke Boswell (Oct 22 2023 at 19:26):

Zig is also a great way to make a platform in my opinion. It is pretty flexible, particularly if you already have libraries in C or C++ you can use.


Last updated: Jul 05 2025 at 12:14 UTC