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Getting Started

Installing the compiler​

https://qat.dev/downloads lists all the versions available for the compiler. It is recommended that you pick the latest version so as to get the latest features and to avoid bugs/problems.

Make sure that the folder/directory that contains the executable of the compiler is added to the PATH variable of your system. This makes it possible for you to invoke the compiler by using the qat command without specifying the full path to the executable. If you face issues that seems to unsolveable on your end, please open an issue here to seek help

Linux​

The general idea is to update the PATH variable of the system to include the parent directory of the compiler executable. The following instructions are provided if you have bash in your system

If you are using bash as your terminal, edit the .bashrc file present in the user directory. If the file does not exist, create the file by running the command touch ~/.bashrc, then open the file. You can run any one of the following commands to open your preferred text editor via the terminal, or just open any text editor and open the file:

gedit ~/.bashrc
vim ~/.bashrc
nvim ~/.bashrc
nano ~/.bashrc

Now, scroll down and check if you see any line starting with the word EXPORT. If you do, find the last one of such lines and add the following line after it, while changing the contents after the $PATH: with the path of your installation of the compiler. That is, the path to the parent directory of the compiler executable.

EXPORT PATH="$PATH:/path/to/qat/directory"

Now save the file being edited and run the following command

source ~/.bashrc

In some systems, you might have to restart in order for the path to be updated properly. So if you don't want to lose your sanity over an installation, restart the system just to be sure. After that, to make sure that the compiler is available on the PATH variable, run the following command

qat version

If you see an output similar to qat v0.5.0, then the installation is successful. Otherwise, it might not be completed properly, especially if you see an error message similar to qat: command not found. If you need further help, please file an issue here

Windows​

Add the path to the PATH system environment variable

Tools​

At the moment, the language only has minimal IDE integration support. If you are using VSCode as your IDE, congrats, there is an official extension for the language available here which has code highlighting, and analysis support (errors & warnings)