Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:39): Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:39):What is roc using zig for? I see it mentioned often.
Richard Feldman (Oct 22 2023 at 14:39):that is a frequently asked question!
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
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)
Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:40):RTFFAQ, lakin. :stuck_out_tongue:
Richard Feldman (Oct 22 2023 at 14:40):to be fair, nobody is expected to read the whole FAQ haha
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
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:
Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 14:45):I should learn OCaml
Declan Joseph Maguire (Oct 22 2023 at 15:07):Do you plan to convert all of Roc's compiler to Zig?
Lakin Wecker (Oct 22 2023 at 15:09):The FAQ says no.
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.
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.
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!
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 26 2025 at 12:14 UTC