Franz is a radical experiment in minimalism: a high-level, functional language with zero keywords. By treating everything as a function, Franz achieves an elegant syntax without sacrificing performance. Key Features: 1) Keyword-Free: No reserved words; even control flow is a function. 2) LLVM Speed: Compiles to native binaries with Rust-like safety. 3) Capability-Safe: Sandboxed execution (use_with) prevents RCE by design. 4) Modern Core: Lexical scoping & prototypes.
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Hi Product Hunt! 👋
I’m the creator of Franz. I’ve always been fascinated by how complex modern programming languages have become. I wanted to see if I could build something that felt high-level and safe, but with a "radical minimalist" core.
The result is Franz: A language with zero keywords.
In Franz, everything, including control flow like if and loop, is just a function. I built it in C (96% of the repo!) to keep it lightweight, and used LLVM for the backend to ensure it hits native speeds that can compete with systems languages.
Why I built this:
1) To prove minimalism works: You don’t need 50+ reserved words to build complex logic.
2) Security by design: I implemented capability-safe effects to prevent RCE vulnerabilities.
3) The "Fun" Factor: There’s something deeply satisfying about a syntax where everything is a consistent S-expression.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the "keyword-free" approach. Does it make the code more readable for you, or do you prefer the traditional structure of languages like Rust or Go?
I'll be here all day to answer questions about the compiler, the stdlib, or anything else!
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