zig

name	zig
description	Zig systems programming skill covering comptime, allocators, cross-compilation, build system, and error unions. Use when building Zig applications.
trigger	zig, ziglang, zig build, zig cross-compilation, comptime, zig allocators, zig vs c

zig

Core Concepts

• Comptime: compile-time code execution, comptime parameters/values, inline for loops, compile-time reflection
• Allocators: explicit memory management — ArenaAllocator (batch free), page_allocator (OS pages), heap page allocator (general purpose), FixedBufferAllocator (fixed buffer)
• Error Union Types: !T syntax combining error set with value type, try/catch, error return traces
• Testing: test blocks inline with code, test runner, expect/expectEqual, memory leak detection

Build System

• build.zig: declarative build configuration, Build object with addExecutable/addLibrary, step dependencies
• Cross-compilation: target triple (arch-os-abi), built-in libc detection, no need for cross toolchains
• Zig vs C: no hidden control flow, no implicit allocations, first-class cross-compilation, @cImport for C interop

Common Patterns

• var vs const: explicit mutability, const pointer vs mutable pointer distinct
• Optionals: T? with orelse for defaults, unwrap by capture (?)
• Slices: []const T for read-only views, len + ptr primitive, slice syntax
• Standard library: std.fs (file system), std.net (networking), std.json (JSON parsing), std.ArrayList (growable arrays)