Zig: System programming without the warts (S03 E04)

The Technium

Zig is a system programming language without the ugliness of C. We discuss its compile time features, its strive towards simplicity, and the potential for resource-efficient software.

Links/Resources:
• https://ziglang.org/learn/overview/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv2I7qTux7g
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4oYSByyRak
• https://www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/assorted-thoughts-on-zig-and-rust/
• https://www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/how-safe-is-zig/
• https://ziglearn.org/

Chapters:

0:00 Intros
4:54 The Explicitness of Zig
12:16 Compile Time Programming
17:39 A Nice Build System that's Nice to You
19:59 Zig's Integration with C is that it's a C compiler
24:37 Compile time as Metaprogramming
26:23 Compile time for String Interpolation
28:33 Compile time for Queries
31:12 Maybe We'd Get Faster Programs!
33:55 Counter-forces to resource-efficient computing
41:16 System programmers as far as the eye can see
44:11 Zig as Pedagogy
45:48 Cross-compilation and DSL it to the Blockchain!
51:10 Proliferation of Zig Everywhere

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The Technium is a weekly podcast discussing the edge of technology and what we can build with it. Each week, Sri and Wil introduce a big idea in the future of computing and extrapolate the effect it will have on the world.

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