Introduction

Chemical is a high-performance, statically typed systems programming language designed for modern developers who value both local systems performance and web-scale interoperability. It combines the strictness and power of C/C++ with a cleaner, more readable syntax, and incorporates an "Astro-like" web development model.

Key Philosophies

• No Magic: Chemical avoids background magic. For example, memory allocation is explicit, giving you full control over performance.
• Modern Syntax: A clean, expression-oriented syntax that reduces boilerplate.
• Seamless Interoperability: Chemical translates directly to C and also has a LLVM backend for performance that is fully functional.

In This Documentation

This book is organized to take you from a curious beginner to a Chemical expert:

1. Getting Started: Install the compiler and build your first program.
2. Language Guide: Explore the core syntax, type system, and memory management.
3. Web Development: Learn how to build websites using static HTML and interactive components (React, Solid).
4. Build System: Learn the lab build engine and chemical.mod configuration.
5. Standard Library: Discover the built-in tools for strings, vectors, maps, and more.

Quick Look

public func main() : int {

    var message = "Hello, Chemical!"

    printf("%s\n", message)

    return 0

}

Ready to dive in? Let's get started!