rlox - A Rust-Based Lox Interpreter

rlox is an interpreter for the Lox programming language, implemented in Rust. This project is inspired by the Crafting Interpreters book by Robert Nystrom and follows its principles to build a tree-walking interpreter. The goal of rlox is to provide a simple, expressive scripting language while demonstrating core interpreter concepts, all while taking advantage of Rust’s powerful safety and performance features.

Features

• Lexical Analysis: rlox includes a tokenizer that breaks down source code into tokens, categorizing elements like keywords, identifiers, operators, and literals.
• Parsing: A recursive descent parser processes tokens into an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) to represent code structure.
• Interpretation: rlox executes code by evaluating the AST directly, supporting basic control flow, expressions, functions, and variable scope.
• Error Handling: Detailed error messages help developers debug their rlox scripts, with syntax and runtime error reporting.

File Extension

Lox programs for rlox use the .rlox extension.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

To build and run rlox, you will need:

• Rust installed (recommended version: 1.50 or later)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/will-create/rlox.git
   cd rlox

2. Build the project:

   cargo build --release

3. Run the interpreter with an example .rlox file:

   cargo run --release examples/script.rlox

Usage

You can run rlox files directly from the command line:

rlox path/to/script.rlox

Example Code

Here’s a simple .rlox script:

// Hello World in rlox
print "Hello, world!";

// Variables and expressions
var x = 10;
print x * 2;

// Functions
fun greet(name) {
    print "Hello, " + name + "!";
}
greet("Rustaceans");

Project Structure

• src: Contains all source code files for rlox, including lexer, parser, AST definitions, and interpreter logic.
• examples: Sample .rlox files showcasing various language features.
• tests: Unit and integration tests.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you would like to contribute to rlox, feel free to fork the repository, make changes, and submit a pull request. Please ensure all code passes the tests before submitting.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.