Zig

The reason why we can often get away with using languages like Python or JavaScript to drive resource-intensive computations, is because under the hood somebody took years to perfect a C implementation of a key procedure and shared it with the world under a permissive license. - Maintain it With Zig / HN / Home

Zig position itself as better replacement to C.

It is a direct (close to system)
and simple langage like C, python, Visual Basic, Go…

Introduction to Zig

Zig book

main.zig

const std = @import("std");

pub fn main() void {
    std.debug.print("Hello, Zig!\n", .{});
}

Then to run

work from scracth with vscode .runner
zig run main.zig - compile & run
zig build-exe main.zig - materialize binary
- ./main - to execute

RAII

Zig does not have RAII in the C++ sense, but it does support deterministic resource management through explicit defer/errdefer and scope-based cleanup - ChatGPT

Object

Zig does not have classes or objects in the traditional OOP sense. - ChatGPT

Zig uses struct to group data and behavior.

Methods are just functions with an explicit self parameter (like python)
No inheritance (by design)

Zig function

Zig function can return

Primitive values
Composite types
Pointers and references
Optional values
Error unions
Anyerror or specific error sets
Types themselves (comptime)

Install

As of now, Zig is generally not included in the official Debian repos. The easiest way seems to use Hombrew or Nix (prefered for linux)

Nix Install

Using nix profile

$ nix profile add nixpkgs#zig

C++ interop

Zig / C++ Interop

Zig Interop Overhead Table with Metrics

These are rough per-function call latencies on modern desktop CPUs. Actual values vary based on OS, CPU, type conversion, and data size.

Language	Interop Method	Typical Workflow	Overhead Level	Approx. Call Latency*
Java	JNI	Zig shared lib loaded via `System.loadLibrary()`	Low	~50–200 ns per native call
	JNA/JNR	Reflection-based FFI	Medium	~1–5 µs per call
	IPC (sockets, REST)	Zig as separate process	High	~100 µs – 1 ms per request
C++	C ABI wrappers	`extern "C"`	Low	~5–50 ns per call
	Direct C++ interop	`@cImport` + C++	Medium	~50–200 ns (depends on ABI, exceptions)
Ruby	C extension	Zig lib loaded as native Ruby extension	Low	~50–200 ns per call
	Ruby FFI (`ffi` gem)	Zig C ABI lib via FFI	Medium	~1–5 µs per call
Python	CPython C API	Zig compiled as Python module	Low	~50–200 ns per call
	`ctypes`/`cffi`	Zig C ABI lib loaded in Python	Medium	~1–10 µs per call
General	IPC	Sockets/pipes/gRPC	High	~100 µs – 1+ ms per round-trip

#4577

Zig