Documentation

Welcome to the Sailfin documentation. Whether you're new to the language or looking for a specific reference, start here.

Getting Started

• Installing Sailfin — Set up the compiler and toolchain
• Hello, World! — Write your first program
• Tour of Sailfin — A guided introduction to the language

Learning Sailfin

• Language Basics — Variables, types, and control flow
• Functions & Methods — Defining and calling functions
• Types & Structs — Custom types, enums, and interfaces
• The Effect System — Capability-based security
• Ownership & Borrowing — Memory safety
• Error Handling — Try/catch and results
• Concurrency — Routines, channels, and async
• AI Constructs — Models, prompts, and pipelines
• Testing — Built-in test framework
• Effective Sailfin — Best practices and idioms

Reference

• Language Specification — Complete language spec
• Grammar (EBNF) — Formal grammar
• Keywords — Reserved keywords
• Effect System — Effect reference
• Standard Library — Prelude and stdlib
• CLI Reference — The sfn command
• Runtime ABI — Native runtime spec

Advanced

• Capsules & Packages — Package management
• Workspaces — Multi-capsule projects
• Models & Pipelines — Advanced AI features
• Unsafe & FFI — Foreign function interface

Contributing

• Contributor Guide — How to contribute
• Compiler Architecture — How the compiler works
• Style Guide — Code conventions
• Roadmap — What's planned