Silica: A functional systems language for modern chips, modern tools, and honest(…)

on YouTube ↗37m

" summary

Language aims to match modern chips by making actors, effects, and region-owned memory first-class, targeting ARC64 and ESP32S3 and removing the heap so there is no GC. A compiler is bootstrapped in months, now self-hosting and running 2,000 CI tests with only two failing groups (FFI trapping and first-class data structures). Foreign calls live in Fifi/FFI in dangerous_ modules that trap crashes, supervisors and actors are built into the language, and the compiler emits chip-specific assembly rather than relying on LLVM.

AI-written summary · about

" chapters (15)

1. 0:00Silica language project
2. 3:28Need for a new systems language
3. 7:04Silica versus existing languages
4. 10:20First-class chip behaviors
5. 12:07Eliminating heap and garbage collection
6. 14:58Safe and transparent FFI
7. 17:29LLM-friendly and readable
8. 19:14BEAM concepts in Silica
9. 21:19Silica development timeline
10. 24:32Q&A on LLMs and OS support
11. 27:25Language design philosophy
12. 29:12FFI for hardware interaction
13. 31:02LLM-friendly design details
14. 34:43Compiler verification
15. 36:31Closing remarks

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