Shadow Reference Compiler 0.8

This Shadow Reference Compiler 0.8 Beta release includes the following major language features:

• Classes
• Interfaces
• Singletons
• Exceptions
• Fields and local variables
• Methods
• If and switch statements
• Loop structures
• Arrays
• Immutable classes and references
• Operator overloading
• Generics
• Standard library
• Garbage collection

Improvements over the previous release:

• Pure clang support (instead of using gcc as the linker)
• Native x64 Windows binaries (instead of only x86 binaries that require MinGW)
• More useful Console methods
• Better installation scripts
• Countless bug fixes

Although this release seems like a minor upgrade in terms of features, the exception handling is vastly improved with many bugs removed. Also, the move to pure clang makes it easier to link in libraries in C from the Linux, macOS, and Windows platforms, especially since clang has become such a mature toolchain. The greater interoperability with existing C libraries makes threading an easier challenge. One risk is that tighter coupling with existing libraries will make Shadow less platform-independent. This release marks a significant departure in code generation for Windows platforms compared to the others.

Major language features not included in this release are:

• Threading and message passing (though these features are in active development)
• Method references
• Local methods (closures)
• Enums

Other smaller issues not included are:

• Faster and more accurate conversion from floating-point values to String representations and back
• Standard library classes for networking, GUI, and many other useful things

Shadow Reference Compiler 0.7.5

This Shadow Reference Compiler 0.7.5 Beta release includes the following major language features:

• Classes
• Interfaces
• Singletons
• Exceptions
• Fields and local variables
• Methods
• If and switch statements
• Loop structures
• Arrays
• Immutable classes and references
• Operator overloading
• Generics
• Standard library
• Garbage collection

Syntax changes:

• All inner classes are now "static" in the sense that they are not connected to a particular outer class object
• No more multi-dimensional arrays: Shadow only has arrays of arrays (like Java), no single arrays with multiple dimensions (like C#)

Improvements over the previous release:

• Addition of reference-count garbage collection
• Move to Antlr4 for the grammar, simplifying many aspects of the compiler
• More parse errors reported (instead of quitting after a single parse error)
• Extensions to make it easier to call C code from Shadow (and Shadow code from C)
• All generic classes are generated at compile time, removing the need for a complicated dynamic run-time generic (and array) class generation system
• Improved compilation speed
• Much better Mac support
• Partial compilation to optimized .bc binary bitcode files instead of the unoptimized, bulkier, human-readable .ll IR files
• Expanded standard library
• Dynamic creation of generic class objects when necessary
• Shorter and less repetitive type-checking errors
• LLVM 3.8 and higher support (addressing a breaking change in LLVM IR syntax)
• Better integration with Eclipse plug-in
• Better installation scripts
• Countless bug fixes

Major language features not included in this release are:

• Threading and message passing (though these features are close)
• Method references
• Local methods (closures)
• Enums

Other smaller issues not included are:

• Faster and more accurate conversion from floating point values to String representations and back
• Standard library classes for networking, GUI, and many other useful things

Shadow Reference Compiler 0.6

This Shadow Reference Compiler 0.6 Beta release includes the following major language features:

• Classes
• Interfaces
• Singletons
• Exceptions
• Fields and local variables
• Methods
• If and switch statements
• Loop structures
• Arrays
• Immutable classes and references
• Operator overloading
• Generics
• Standard library

Improvements over the previous release:

• Greatly improved compilation speed
• Documentation tool Shadox for automatically generating documentation
• Partial compilation
• Expanded standard library
• Full implementation of nullable references, including nullable arrays
• Simplified singleton usage
• Unified extends and implements keywords into is keyword
• Countless bug fixes
• Dynamic creation of generic class objects when necessary
• Shorter and less repetitive type-checking errors
• LLVM 3.7 and higher support (addressing a breaking change in LLVM syntax)

Major language features not included in this release are:

• Memory management
• Threading and message passing
• Method pointers
• Local methods (closures)
• Enums

Other smaller issues not included are:

• Better data flow and control flow analysis for improved optimization
• Faster and more accurate conversion from floating point values to String representations and back
• Standard library classes for networking, GUI, and many other useful things

Shadow Reference Compiler 0.5

This Shadow Reference Compiler 0.5 Beta release includes the following major language features:

• Classes
• Interfaces
• Singletons
• Exceptions
• Fields and local variables
• Methods
• If and switch statements
• Loop structures
• Arrays
• Immutable classes and references
• Operator overloading
• Generics
• Bare-bones standard library

Major language features not included in this release are:

• Memory management
• Threading and message passing
• Method pointers
• Local methods (closures)
• Enums

Other smaller issues not included are:

• Partial compilation
• Expanded standard library
• Better data flow and control flow analysis for improved optimization
• Faster and more accurate conversion from floating point values to String representations and back