Draft:Zen C (programming language)

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• Comment: We need independent refs. Stuartyeates (talk) 07:30, 30 June 2026 (UTC)

Zen C is a modern general-purpose, statically typed, compiled systems programming that compiles to human-readable GNU C/C11 code.^[3][4] It was created by Zuhaitz Méndez Fernández de Aránguiz, who is from Spain. Zen C has advanced features like type inference, pattern matching, generics, traits, and async/await (with 100% C ABI compatibility).^[4][5] It emphasizes: systems programming, manual memory management with RAII-like mechanisms (e.g. defer and autofree), and metaprogramming capabilities.^[5]

Zen C was created by the desire to have access to the C ecosystem, but with high-level language ergonomics and keeping C level raw performance. More expressive code can be written, that compiles to efficient human-readable C, allowing full integration with existing C tools and libraries. Modern features, without losing the desired control and compatibility that many developers want.^[6][5][3]

Zen C uses manual memory management, combined with certain features to prevent leaks. There is no use of a garbage collector.^[5][6]

• autofree automatically frees a variable upon scope exit.
• defer is used for cleanup code, when the current scope exits.
• Double-free errors are prevented by treating types with destructors as "Resources" and strictly following Move Semantics by default (on assignment).
• RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization) is supported by implementing the Drop trait.

let d = fopen("doc.txt", "r");
defer fclose(d);

Zen C can create custom structures and methods.^[5][6]

• Shared behavior and interfaces are defined using trait
• Methods are attached to structs (or types) using impl
• Zen C uses composition via use keyword, instead of traditional inheritance, which allows developers to mix in fields from other structs.

struct Point {
    x: int;
    y: int;
}

impl Point {
    fn new(x: int, y: int) -> Self {
        return Point{x: x, y: y};
    }

    fn dist(self) -> float {
        return sqrt(.x * .x + .y * .y); 
    }
}