exercises/README.md

# ziglings

Welcome to `ziglings`! This project contains a series of tiny broken programs.
By fixing them, you'll learn how to read and write
[Zig](https://ziglang.org/)
code!

This project was directly inspired by the brilliant and fun
[rustlings](https://github.com/rust-lang/rustlings)
project for the [Rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/) language.
Indirect inspiration comes from [Ruby Koans]( http://rubykoans.com/)
and the Little LISPer/Little Schemer series of books.

## Intended Audience

This will probably be difficult if you've _never_ programmed before.
But no specific programming experience is required. And in particular,
you are _not_ expected to have any prior experience with "systems programming"
or a "systems" level language such as C.

Each exercise is self-contained and self-explained. However, you're encouraged
to also check out these Zig language resources for more detail:

* https://ziglearn.org/
* https://ziglang.org/documentation/master/

## Getting Started

Install a [master build](https://ziglang.org/download/) of the Zig compiler.

Verify the installation and version of `zig` like so:

```bash
$ zig version
0.8.0-dev.1065+xxxxxxxxx
```

Clone this repository with Git:

```bash
$ git clone https://github.com/ratfactor/ziglings
$ cd ziglings
```

Then run `zig build` and follow the instructions to begin!

```bash
$ zig build
```

## A Note About Versions

The Zig language is under very active development. Ziglings will attempt to
be current, but not bleeding-edge. However, sometimes fundamental changes
will happen. Ziglings will check for a minimum version and build number.

(See Getting Started above for the current minimum.)

It is likely that you'll download a build which is _greater_ than the minimum.

Once you have a version of the Zig compiler that works with your copy of
Ziglings, they'll continue to work together. But if you update one, you may
need to also update the other.

## Advanced Usage

It can be handy to check just a single exercise or _start_ from a single
exercise:

```bash
zig build 19
zig build 19_start
```

You can also run without checking for correctness:

```bash
zig build 01_test
```

Or skip the build system entirely and interact directly with the compiler
if you're into that sort of thing:

```bash
zig run exercises/01_hello.zig
```

Calling all wizards: To prepare an executable for debugging, install it
to zig-cache/bin with:

```bash
zig build 01_install
```

## TODO

Contributions are very welcome! I'm writing this to teach myself and to create
the learning resource I wished for. There will be tons of room for improvement:

* Wording of explanations
* Idiomatic usage of Zig
* Additional exercises

Planned exercises:

* [x] Hello world (main needs to be public)
* [x] Importing standard library
* [x] Assignment
* [x] Arrays
* [x] Strings
* [x] If
* [x] While
* [x] For
* [x] Functions
* [x] Errors (error/try/catch/if-else-err)
* [x] Defer (and errdefer)
* [x] Switch
* [x] Unreachable
* [x] Enums
* [x] Structs
* [x] Pointers
* [ ] Optionals
* [ ] Slices
* [ ] Multi pointers
* [ ] Unions
* [ ] Numeric types (integers, floats)
* [ ] Labelled blocks and loops
* [ ] Loops as expressions
* [ ] Comptime
* [ ] Inline loops (how to DEMO this?)
* [ ] Anonymous structs
* [ ] Sentinel termination
* [ ] Vectors
* [ ] Imports
* [ ] Allocators
* [ ] Arraylist
* [ ] Filesystem
* [ ] Readers and Writers
* [ ] Formatting
* [ ] JSON
* [ ] Random Numbers
* [ ] Crypto
* [ ] Threads
* [ ] Hash Maps
* [ ] Stacks
* [ ] Sorting
* [ ] Iterators
* [ ] Formatting specifiers
* [ ] Advanced Formatting
* [ ] Suspend / Resume
* [ ] Async / Await
* [ ] Nosuspend
* [ ] Async Frames, Suspend Blocks

The initial topics for these exercises were unabashedly cribbed from
[ziglearn.org](https://ziglearn.org/). I've since moved things around
in an order that I think best lets each topic build upon each other.