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Changelog

v1.0.0 — Initial Release

First stable release of Zen.

  • Compiler core stabilized (LLVM backend)
  • Language design finalized
  • Standard library introduced
  • Basic tooling and documentation added

Notes

This marks the first public version of Zen. Future updates will be incremental improvements and new features.

v1.0.1

  • Disabled map dynamic key access (compile-time safety)
  • Disabled loop in mutation during iteration (undefined behavior prevention)
  • Added sys.performance() to stdlib
  • Added sys.argv to stdlib
  • Various bug fixes

v1.1.1

Language

  • Added support for List<Struct>
  • Added limited struct literal support
  • Struct variables can now be initialized using literals: 
    Person p = { name: "Jishith", age: 21 }
  • Functions can now return structs
  • Structs can now be exported and imported across modules
  • Empty initialized global struct instances can be exported and imported
  • Added byte generic support through List<byte>
  • Added limited empty List type inference when type context is available
  • Disabled automatic function type inference for structs
  • Disabled dynamic map access and dynamic map assignment
  • Disabled maps as function parameters

Standard Library

  • Added matchRegex() with POSIX ERE regex support
  • Added ffi.fn
  • Added List.join()
  • Added List.indexOf()
  • Added Map.keys() returning List<string>
  • Added fs.readFileBytes()
  • Added fs.writeFileBytes()
  • Added binary file support through List<byte>

Compiler & Runtime

  • Added function name mangling
  • Migrated compiler and runtime to LLVM opaque pointers (ptr)
  • Added 32-bit and 64-bit aware size and alignment calculations
  • Standardized internal LLVM helper functions with _-prefixed names
  • Improved global string handling after opaque pointer migration
  • Improved struct passing and struct return behavior

Tooling

  • Added zen init <project-name> for project scaffolding

Creates a new project directory containing:

<project-name>/
├── main.zen
└── zen.json

Generated zen.json:

{
  "name": "<project-name>",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "main.zen"
}
  • Added official Zen Package Registry for package management
  • Added zen signup and zen login for authentication
  • Added zen logout and zen whoami for account management
  • Added zen install <package> to install packages from registry
  • Added zen publish to publish packages to registry
  • Added zen unpublish to remove packages from registry
  • Added zen list with pagination to browse all packages (50 per page)
  • Registry supports both runnable applications (main) and library packages (bin)
  • Library packages install to ~/.zen/packages/
  • Runnable applications install to current directory
  • Secure JWT-based authentication
  • GitHub-hosted package source code

Fixes

  • contains() no longer performs struct literal comparisons
  • Various compiler, runtime, and standard library bug fixes

v1.2.1

Language

  • Introduced enum with constant integer values
  • Added support for importing and exporting within the same module
  • Added circular import detection and resolution
  • Added installed package imports (import(...) from "package")
  • Exported modules can now import other modules and packages
  • Added built-in HttpServer, HttpRequest, and HttpResponse structs

Standard Library

  • Added httpServer namespace
  • Added httpServer.create(port)
  • Added HttpServer.listen()
  • Added HttpServer.next()
  • Added HttpServer.close()
  • Added HttpRequest.method
  • Added HttpRequest.path
  • Added HttpRequest.json()
  • Added HttpRequest.html()
  • Added HttpRequest.css()
  • Added HttpRequest.send()
  • Added HttpRequest.setHeader()
  • Added HttpRequest.redirect()
  • Added HttpRequest.status()
  • Added sys.setEnv()
  • Added sys.hasEnv()
  • Added sys.timestamp()
  • Added sys.execOutput()
  • Added os.exit()
  • Added os.pid()
  • Added os.parentPid()
  • Added os.platform()
  • Added os.isWindows()
  • Added os.isLinux()
  • Added os.isMac()
  • Added os.isAndroid()
  • Added os.homeDir()

Tooling

  • Added zen recovery for account recovery
  • Added zen uninstall <package>
  • Added zen search <package>
  • Added zen kind <package>
  • Added zen mine
  • zen install now automatically detects the repository's default Git branch
  • Increased package description limit from 50 to 400 characters
  • Migrated the package registry backend from JSON storage to PostgreSQL

Compiler & Runtime

  • Improved module dependency resolution
  • Improved import/export compilation
  • Improved HTTP runtime support

Fixes

  • Various compiler, runtime, CLI, package registry, and standard library bug fixes

v1.3.0

Language

  • Added built-in Json, JsonObject, and JsonArray structs
  • Added JSON parsing and traversal API
  • Added HttpRequest.body
  • Added bitwise XOR (^) operator for integer operands
  • Added time.now()
  • Added time.format()
  • Added sys.clipboard.get()
  • Added sys.clipboard.set()
  • Added sys.clipboard.clear()
  • Added sys.clipboard.hasText()

Standard Library

  • Added Json.parse()
  • Added Json.free()
  • Added Json.getRootObject()
  • Added Json.getRootArray()
  • Added JsonObject.getString()
  • Added JsonObject.getInt()
  • Added JsonObject.getDouble()
  • Added JsonObject.getBool()
  • Added JsonObject.getObject()
  • Added JsonObject.getArray()
  • Added JsonArray.getString()
  • Added JsonArray.getInt()
  • Added JsonArray.getDouble()
  • Added JsonArray.getBool()
  • Added JsonArray.getObject()
  • Added JsonArray.getArray()
  • Added HttpRequest.sendFile(path, contentType)

Compiler & Runtime

  • Added compile-time distinction between built-in struct properties and methods
  • Added compile-time validation for built-in struct property access
  • Added runtime JsonError
  • Added use-after-free detection for JSON objects
  • Improved HTTP server runtime
  • Improved JSON runtime
  • Improved bitwise operator validation

Documentation

  • Expanded language specification
  • Added JSON API documentation
  • Added HTTP server documentation
  • Added semantics documentation
  • Added runtime error reference

Removed

sys.timestamp() has been removed.
Use time.now() instead.

Fixes

  • Various compiler, runtime, CLI, package registry, and standard library bug fixes