Twinkies Language Documentation

Welcome to the comprehensive documentation for the Twinkies programming language! This documentation covers all aspects of the language, from basic syntax to advanced features.

Table of Contents

1. Installation - How to install Twinkies from source
2. Language Overview - Introduction to Twinkies
3. Syntax and Basics - Basic syntax, keywords, and language structure
4. Type System - All data types, type conversions, and type checking
5. Functions - Function declarations, parameters, overloading, and recursion
6. Control Flow - If/else, while loops, break, continue, and return
7. Arrays and Strings - Array operations, string manipulation, and bounds checking
8. Modules - Module system, header files, and includes
9. Foreign Function Interface - Calling external libraries and functions
10. Inline Assembly - Embedding assembly code in Twinkies programs
11. Examples Guide - Comprehensive guide to all example programs
12. Quick Reference - Quick lookup for syntax and features

What is Twinkies?

Twinkies is a statically-typed, C-like programming language that compiles to C or assembly code. It features:

• Static type checking with helpful error messages
• C-like syntax that's familiar and easy to learn
• Automatic array bounds checking (compile-time and runtime)
• Foreign Function Interface (FFI) for calling external libraries
• Inline assembly support with GCC-style syntax
• Module system with header files for code organization
• Function overloading based on parameter types
• Multiple output formats - transpile to C or compile to assembly

Getting Started

The simplest Twinkies program:

func main() -> int {
    print("Hello, World!");
    return 0;
}

Language Keywords

Twinkies has 25 keywords:

Control Flow & Declarations:

• func, let, if, else, while, break, continue, return, print, extern, from

Type Keywords:

• int, int8, int16, int32, int64, bool, float, double, string

Literal Keywords:

• true, false, null

Other:

• asm, volatile

File Extensions

• .tl - Twinkies source files
• .tlh - Twinkies header files (for modules)

Compiler Usage

# Compile to C (default)
./compiler input.tl -o output.c

# Compile to assembly
./compiler input.tl -o output.s --asm

# Enable module system
./compiler main.tl -o main.c math.tl string.tl --modules

# Debug options
./compiler input.tl -o output.c --debug --verbose --tokens --ast --ir

Next Steps

Start with Language Overview for a gentle introduction, or jump to Syntax and Basics to dive right in!