Getting Started

Building the Compiler

The Lake native compiler is written in Rust (edition 2024) and uses Cranelift as its code generation backend:

git clone https://github.com/morphqdd/lake-native-compiler.git
cd lake-native-compiler
cargo build

Running an Example

cargo run -- examples/counter.lake -o counter
./counter

First Program

Here is a minimal Lake program:

@rt(rt_write)

main is {
  _ i64.0 -> {
    rt_write(1 "hello, lake!\n" 14)
  }
}

This program:

1. Declares a runtime function rt_write via the @rt directive
2. Defines a main machine with a single branch
3. Calls rt_write with a file descriptor (1 = stdout), a string, and its length

Program Structure

Every Lake program consists of:

1. Directives — compiler attributes that declare runtime functions (@rt)
2. Machines — the program logic, defined with is

@rt(rt_write)                # 1. directive

main is {                    # 2. machine
  _ i64.0 -> {
    rt_write(1 "done\n" 5)
  }
}

Machines can be declared in any order — forward references are resolved automatically.