The Nue Programming Language 🐵🦝🐯🐍

Nue is designed for small grammar, deterministic syntax, and explicit semantics.

Language

The language is under active development.

Syntax

• Grammar is intentionally small and deterministic.
• EOL is a real syntax token; parser behavior is strict by default.
• Automatic EOL insertion exists, but only under explicit tokenizer rules.

Ownership and memory management

• Ownership is explicit: use move and copy where ownership changes.
• Function arguments are borrow-by-default; own consumes, inout is exclusive.
• ref, str, and slice are non-storable views. They can be used temporarily, not stored.
• Memory management is GC-less with compiler-inferred lifetimes.
• Flexible shared/cyclic patterns are handled through explicit library/runtime mechanisms.

Types and abstraction

• Protocols support associated types and default implementations.
• Opaque result types are available through some in return position.
• Const generics are supported via const parameters.

Roadmap

There are no roadmap milestones yest, but the current focus areas are:

• The compiler is in early alpha but is functional for core syntax, ownership, and types.
• Standard library coverage is limited but expanding, focusing on protocols and collections.
• Tooling such as formatter and language server are in work-in-progress.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about the Nue programming language.

Why the name “Nue”?

Nue is pronounced “new” reflecting the idea of a completely new, home-brew programming language crafted from scratch.

The name Nue (written as the kanji “鵺” and pronounced “nue” in Japanese) also comes from Japanese folklore, referring to a chimera-like creature with the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake. Inspired by this hybrid form, Nue is positioned as a personal exploration in language design—an attempt to bring together a range of techniques I’ve learned into a single, coherent language.