Zigler is available in Hex, and the package can be installed
by adding zigler
to your list of dependencies in mix.exs
:
def deps do
[
{:zigler, "~> 0.10.3", runtime: false}
]
end
Then you should run mix zig.get
to download Zig 0.10.1
Erlang is only supported via rebar3. You must enable the rebar_mix plugin and add zigler to your deps in rebar3.
Note that erlang support is highly experimental. Please submit issues if you have difficulty.
{plugins, [rebar_mix]}.
{deps, [{zigler, "0.10"}]}.
Docs can be found at https://hexdocs.pm/zigler.
-
Linux
-
FreeBSD (tested, but not subjected to CI)
-
MacOS
-
Nerves cross-compilation is supported out of the box.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could make NIFs as easily as you can use the asm
keyword in C?
This is now possible, using the magic of Zig.
defmodule ExampleZig do
use Zig, otp_app: :zigler
~Z"""
pub fn example_fun(value1: f64, value2: f64) bool {
return value1 > value2;
}
"""
end
test "example nifs" do
assert ExampleZig.example_fun(0.8, -0.8)
refute ExampleZig.example_fun(0.1, 0.4)
end
Zigler will do automatic type marshalling between Elixir code and Zig code. It will also convert trickier types into types you care about, for example:
defmodule ZigCollections do
use Zig, otp_app: :zigler
~Z"""
pub fn string_count(string: []u8) i64 {
return @intCast(i64, string.len);
}
pub fn list_sum(array: []f64) f64 {
var sum: f64 = 0.0;
for(array) | item | {
sum += item;
}
return sum;
}
"""
end
test "type marshalling" do
assert 9 == ZigCollections.string_count("hello zig")
assert 6.0 == ZigCollections.list_sum([1.0, 2.0, 3.0])
end
Memory allocation with zigler is easy! A standard BEAM allocator is provided for you, so any zig code you import will play nice with the BEAM.
defmodule Allocations do
use Zig, otp_app: :zigler
~Z"""
const beam = @import("beam");
pub fn double_atom(env: beam.env, string: []u8) beam.term {
var double_string = beam.allocator.alloc(u8, string.len * 2) catch {
return beam.raise_enomem(env);
};
defer beam.allocator.free(double_string);
for (string) | char, i | {
double_string[i] = char;
double_string[i + string.len] = char;
}
return beam.make_atom(env, double_string);
}
"""
end
test "allocations" do
assert :foofoo == Allocations.double_atom("foo")
end
It is a goal for Zigler to make using it to bind C libraries easier than using C to bind C libraries. Here is an example:
defmodule Blas do
use Zig,
otp_app: :zigler
link_lib: {:system, "blas"},
~Z"""
const beam = @import("beam");
const blas = @cImport({
@cInclude("cblas.h");
});
pub fn blas_axpy(env: beam.env, a: f64, x: []f64, y: []f64) beam.term {
if (x.len != y.len) {
return beam.raise_function_clause_error(env);
}
blas.cblas_daxpy(@intCast(c_int, x.len), a, x.ptr, 1, y.ptr, 1);
return y;
}
"""
end
test "we can use a blas shared library" do
# returns aX+Y
assert [11.0, 18.0] == Blas.blas_axpy(3.0, [2.0, 4.0], [5.0, 6.0])
end
You can document nif functions, local functions, zig structs, variables, and types.
If you document a nif function, it will be a part of the module documentation, and
accessible using the iex h
method, etc.
Example:
defmodule Documentation do
use Zig, otp_app: :zigler
~Z"""
/// a zero-arity function which returns 47.
pub fn zero_arity() i64 {
return 47;
}
"""
end
A mix format plugin is available through the zigler_format
package.
See the installation instructions
Use of Zigler with erlang is possible using parse transforms. Annotate the zig
code into a zig_code
attribute and pass zigler options (identical to the elixir
options) into a zig_opts
attribute. Zigler will then create appropriate
functions matching the zig functions.
-module(erlang_zigler_module).
-compile({parse_transform, zigler}).
-export([foo/1, foo/0]).
-zig_code("
pub fn foo() i32 {
return 47;
}
").
-zig_opts([{otp_app, zigler}]).
foo(X) ->
47 + X.
- Make being a good citizen of the BEAM easy.
- Use magic, but sparingly, only to prevent errors.
- Let the user see behind the curtain.
- Let the user opt out of magic.
- Magic shouldn't get in the way.