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Introduction to Wave v0.0.8-pre-beta: Pointer Support Arrives

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LunaStev
LunaStev
Programming Language Engineer

Hello! I'm LunaStev, the developer of Wave.

We are very happy to introduce Wave v0.0.8-pre-beta — a version that officially brings first-class pointer support to the language.

Wave was designed with low-level capabilities in mind, and in this version, we’re making a major leap in that direction.

✅ Added Features​

🧠 Pointer System: First-Class Pointer Support in Wave​

  • Introduced ptr<T> type syntax for defining typed pointers
    → Example: var p: ptr<i32>;

  • Implemented &x address-of operator
    → Compiles to LLVM IR as store i32* %x

  • Implemented deref p dereference operator
    → Generates IR as load i32, i32* %p

  • Supported pointer-based initialization
    → var p: ptr<i32> = &x; is now fully parsed and compiled

  • Enabled dereferencing for both expression and assignment
    → Example: deref p = 42; is valid and stored directly via IR

  • Address values can be printed as integers
    → %ld used for pointer-to-int cast in formatted output
    → println("address = {}", p); prints memory address

🔧 Bug Fixes​

🐛 Fixed Pointer Initialization Parsing Issue​

  • Changed VariableNode.initial_value from Option<Literal> to Option<Expression>
  • Allowed &x to be accepted as a valid initializer expression

🐛 Fixed LLVM IR Crash on AddressOf Expression​

  • Added support for Expression::AddressOf in IR generation
  • Prevented crash by checking for variable reference inside address-of

🐛 Fixed printf format mismatch for pointers​

  • %s → %ld for pointer values
  • Ensured correct casting of i32* to i64 before printing

✨ Other Changes​

🧠 Improved Format String Handling in IR​

  • Added dynamic format string generation based on argument types
  • Format strings now automatically adapt for int, float, and pointer types

Showcase​

Imag3e description

Ima3ge description

Thank you for using Wave! Stay tuned for future updates and enhancements.

Installation Guide​

For Linux:​

  1. Download and Extract:

    • Download the wave-v0.0.8-pre-beta-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz file from the official source.
    • Use the wget command: 
      wget https://github.com/LunaStev/Wave/releases/download/v0.0.8-pre-beta/wave-v0.0.8-pre-beta-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
    • Extract the archive: 
      sudo tar -xvzf wave-v0.0.8-pre-beta-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz -C /usr/local/bin

  2. Setting up LLVMs

    • Open a terminal and type: 
      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get install llvm-14 llvm-14-dev clang-14 libclang-14-dev lld-14 clang
      sudo ln -s /usr/lib/llvm-14/lib/libLLVM-14.so /usr/lib/libllvm-14.so
      export LLVM_SYS_140_PREFIX=/usr/lib/llvm-14
      source ~/.bashrc

  3. Verify Installation:

    • Open a terminal and type: 
      wavec --version
    • If the version number displays, the installation was successful.

Contributor​

@LunaStev | 🇰🇷

Website​

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