Introduction
Zeta is a systems programming language inspired by the algebraic foundations of Elements of Programming by Alexander Stepanov. It exists for one reason: to become the most efficient systems programming language ever created. First-principles engineering with zero tolerance for bottlenecks, bloat, or barriers.
“Complexity assertions have to be part of the interface.” — Alexander Stepanov, 1995
Compiling to WebAssembly
Zeta has native WebAssembly support. Compile your programs to wasm32-unknown-unknown for direct browser execution with zero dependencies.
zeta hello.z --target wasm32-unknown-unknown -o hello.wasm
The resulting .wasm module is tiny (~4-7 kB for simple programs) and instantly deployable.
Experiment with the WASM target directly in the Playground.
Key Features
Algebraic semiring CTFE + fusion
CacheSafe → strict TBAA → maximum LLVM vectorization
Thin monomorphization + global specialization cache
M:N green-thread actors (full runtime < 200 LOC)
Built-in std::http_get, std::tls_get, std::datetime_now
Live AI-driven optimization (#[ai_opt])
Affine borrow checking with speculative states
No borrow checker, macros, Cargo, or lockfiles
Dictionary literals, single-line functions, ? error propagation
Installation
See the Downloads page for one-line installer, Cargo installation, or pre-built binaries.
Language Reference
A comprehensive language reference is under active development following the self-hosting milestone.
Start with the Language Tour for an introduction to Zeta syntax and concepts.