Lynxer

Lynxer is a small, statically-flavoured, C-style scripting language. Programs use the .lynx extension and run on the standalone native interpreter in lynxer/ — no VM, no bytecode. The same interpreter can also compile a program into a single executable.

global setup(){
    str name = input("What's your name? ");
}

global main(){
    println("Hello, ", name, "!");
}

→ Documentation | Installation | Language reference | Functions | Macros | Standard library

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Platforms

Lynxer supports 64-bit Linux and 64-bit Windows on amd64 and arm64. The Linux-specific system calls in os (and the sys module) are excluded on Windows; builds fail early rather than mix syscall tables. Windows builds provide the interpreter, --compile, the embedding runtime, and --emit-library through MSYS2 MinGW-w64/CLANGARM64. See docs/windows.md.

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Status

v0.1.8.4 — a standalone C++ implementation with:

• a native interpreter and an AST optimizer;
• 40 standard-library modules, native (C++/Rust) backends included;
• a frozen native-module ABI for third-party backends;
• class inheritance with extends and super(...), first-class functions and closures, inferred generic parameters, and scoped named lambdas;
• static analysis via --lint, a source debugger via --debug, and a language server in lynxer/lsp.py;
• single-file executables via --compile and C ABI shared libraries via --emit-library;
• performance benchmarks via make benchLynxer;
• a full test suite on amd64 and arm64.

Planned gaps are tracked in docs/limitations.md.

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Quick start

make build                                       # build the interpreter and every stdlib module
./lynxer/lynxer syntax.lynx                      # run a source file
./lynxer/lynxer --compile syntax.lynx -o syntax  # compile to a standalone executable
./lynxer/lynxer --version                        # print the version
./lynxer/lynxer --help                           # list every command

make test                                        # build and run the full test suite

To install the interpreter system-wide (default prefix /usr, override with LYNXER_PREFIX):

sudo ./lynxer/lynxer --install

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Language at a glance

global setup(){
    importAs("math", "m");
    const str LANG = "Lynxer";
}

global greet(str name){
    println("Hello, ", name, "!");
}

global main(){
    int x = 10;
    float pi = 3.14;
    bool ok = true;

    x += 5;

    if(x > 10){
        global.greet(LANG);
    }

    for(int i = 0; i < 3; i = i + 1){
        println(i);
    }

    // stdlib
    println(global.m.sqrt(144));
}

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Documentation

The documentation lives in docs/ and is rendered into a static site by site/build.py (output under site/).

Page	Contents
Installation	How to build and run Lynxer
CLI reference	Complete command-line usage
Language reference	Types, variables, control flow, functions, and scoping
Functions	global, func, local, and named lambda declarations, inferred generic parameters, and caller-supplied codeblocks
Operators	Arithmetic, comparison, boolean and bitwise operators, precedence, deprecated spellings
Errors	The try/catch statement, raise, and exceptionInfo()
Type reference	Primitive, fixed-width integer, and fixed-width float types
Built-ins	Core language functions and unmanaged memory operations
Lists	list and tuple values and their builtins
importAs	importAs("module", "alias") — import under a custom name
Module system	import(), importAs(), namespaces, writing your own modules
Standard library	Per-module documentation pages
Native-module ABI	The shared C ABI for C++ and Rust backends
Extending	Adding a module: wrapper, backend, fixture, contract
Vargroups	Named typed records (struct-like)
Structs	Data-only named types with positional constructors
Classes	Instances, constructors, fields, methods, and extends inheritance
Enums	Rust-style tagged unions, payloads, and pattern matching
Limitations	Planned implementation gaps

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Links

Resource	Link
GitHub repository	https://github.com/andy64lol/Lynxer

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Project layout

lynxer/        The interpreter and its standard library
  *.cpp, *.hpp   Lexer, parser, interpreter, optimizer, formatter, CLI
  stdlib/        Native and pure stdlib modules
  rust/          Rust-backed native modules
docs/          Documentation (Markdown source)
site/          Static website: home page plus docs/ rendered to HTML
packaging/     Distribution packaging (AUR)
syntax.lynx    Full syntax showcase
Makefile
README.md

packaging/ supports distribution and installation.

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License

MIT — see LICENSE.