🐱 Cat Language

Compile Atomic Text - a lightweight, statically typed language inspired by C/C++ with simplified syntax, expressive function names, and minimal boilerplate. Built to compile using LLVM.

Features

• Statically Typed: All variables must have a declared type.
• C/C++-style Declarations: Familiar syntax for variable and function declarations.
• LLVM-based: Compiles to LLVM IR for optimization and native code generation.
• Simplified Syntax: Aims to be simpler than C++ with some playful custom keywords.

Syntax

Data Types and Variables

// Primitive Types
int     // Integer
float   // Floating point
string  // UTF-8 string
bool    // Boolean

// Variable Declarations
int x = 5;
float pi = 3.14;
string name = "Ami";
bool is_cat = true;

Functions

// Function Definition
fn add(int a, int b) -> int {
    return a + b;
}

// Main Function (Entry Point)
fn main() -> int {
    print("Cat language running.\n");
    return 0;
}

Input & Output

// Output
print("Hello, World!\n");   // Standard output (newline included)

// A special function for cat-like output.
meow("just a cat chilling\n");
// will output just a cat chilling

// Input
int age;
scan(age);

Control Flow

// Conditionals
if (x > 0) {
    print("Positive\n");
} else {
    print("Non-positive\n");
}

// Loops
while (x < 10) {
    print(x);
    x = x + 1;
}

Comments

// This is a single-line comment

How to Build and Run

The included run.bash script will build and run your Cat programs.

bash run.bash

This will:

1. Build the cat compiler.
2. Compile test/main.cat into LLVM IR (output.ll).
3. Compile the LLVM IR into a native executable (my_program).
4. Run the my_program executable.

Example Program

fn main() -> int {
    int a = 5;
    int b = 3;
    int c = add(a, b);

    print("Result: ");
    print(c);
    print("\n");

    return 0;
}

fn add(int x, int y) -> int {
    return x + y;
}