Evergreen introduces a new approach to systems programming by integrating explicit contracts, checked invariants, and memory control into a single language. The language requires developers to write down what must hold, allowing the compiler to verify these obligations. Positioned as more powerful than C and safer than Rust, Evergreen shifts safety checks to compile-time.
A key feature is the requirement for non-zero values, demonstrated by a custom `Non Zero` type where the constructor enforces that input must not be zero. The compiler validates invariants at construction, ensuring data integrity from the start. Beyond basic memory safety, Evergreen supports explicit memory layouts, ownership, and borrowed references.
It tracks live memory planes and validates that remaining references remain valid. The language also supports powerful formal proofs, including lemmas by induction and ideal computations. Crucially, these proofs are erased after verification, ensuring that executable code retains only the necessary work without performance overhead.
Currently available as a Web Assembly compiler, Evergreen is console-ready for immediate experimentation.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing