Kora is a high-performance, deeply object-oriented programming language where everything is treated as an object. No statics, no globals, and no exceptions to the object model. It’s built to run efficiently across platforms using a custom virtual machine, with optional native compilation for extra speed and portability. Kora’s design focuses on a pure object model, consistent message passing, and dynamic flexibility, all while keeping real-world use in mind.
Note: As I’m currently working on this solo, development might be slow, but I’m focused on prioritizing quality over speed.
-> Contributions welcome <3
- Pure Object Model: Everything is an object, ensuring a consistent and extensible programming experience.
- Cross-Platform VM: Runs on a lightweight, custom-built virtual machine designed for portability.
- Optional Native Compilation: For performance-critical applications, Kora can compile down to native machine code.
- Dynamic & Flexible: Supports dynamic message passing and reflection while maintaining high performance.
- Minimal Syntax: Focused on simplicity and expressiveness without sacrificing power.
- Finalize Kora’s core syntax and how the language looks
- Figure out naming rules like how files, modules, and classes should be organized
- Decide on the type system and the basics of the object model
- Plan out the big picture: compiler, VM, runtime & how it all fits together
- Design the bytecode format and how the VM will run it
- Write up a clear language spec to keep everything on track
Note: Everything beyond this point is highly hypothetical and subject to change as development progresses.
- Write the lexer, parser, and build the AST based on the syntax rules
- Create the compiler to turn source code into bytecode
- Build a simple stack-based VM to run that bytecode
- Add primitive types with boxing/unboxing to keep things efficient
- Get basic memory management going (like ref counting or simple GC)
- Set up a REPL and a small standard library to play with
- Speed up the VM and improve error messages
- Look into adding JIT or native compilation for extra performance
- Grow the standard library and add tools like a package manager and formatter
- Make sure it builds smoothly on different platforms and set up continuous testing
- Add support for concurrency and async programming
- Improve the garbage collector to be smarter and faster
- Build meta-programming and reflection features
- Create a Foreign Function Interface (FFI) so Kora can talk to C, Rust, etc.
- Work on IDE support and language server integration
Instructions for building, running, and contributing will be added soon.
Kora is an open-source project. Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome! Please follow the contribution guidelines once they are published.
Kora is released under the MIT License.
Built with ❤️ for object-oriented programming — inspired by Java, Rust, and C.
