A fast, simple language
that compiles to native code.

Why Festina

Six decisions that shape everything else about the language.

Get started

$ sudo apt install clang libsqlite3-dev libcairo2-dev libx11-dev libasound2-dev pkg-config
$ bin/festina compile examples/hello.f -o hello
$ ./hello

Or skip the intermediate binary and just run it:

$ bin/festina run examples/hello.f

Not sure your machine has everything Festina needs? bin/festina doctor checks every dependency above and tells you exactly what's missing and how to install it — including whether festina itself is on PATH yet.

That's the whole loop — see setup.md for the full dependency breakdown, packaged-binary installs, and running the test suite.

A familiar language, statically typed

int count = 10
text message = 'Hello'
bool active = true

if active {
    log(`${message}, ${count} times`)
}

int func add(a:int, b:int) {
    return a + b
}

for int i = 0, i < 10, i++ {
    log(i)
}

int and float never mix implicitly — convert explicitly with .toFloat() or Math.floor/ceil/round/trunc. Division and modulo by zero return null instead of crashing. See the API reference for the full language and standard library documentation.

Built in, not bolted on

// SQLite -- no setup code, no ORM
table People { id:int  name:text }
arr[People] people = sqlite('SELECT * FROM People')

// Graphics -- a real window, opened on first use
drawRect(0, 0, 100, 100)
on click(x:int, y:int) { log(`clicked ${x}, ${y}`) }

// Audio
aud music = loadAudio('music.wav')
music.play()

// Timers
setTimeout(showMessage, 1000)
setInterval(tick, 500)

// Regex, literal syntax
'room 42'.replace(/[0-9]+/, 'N')

// Maps -- text-keyed, JS-object-literal-flavored
map[int] npcHealths = { 'npc1': 10, 'npc2': 15 }
npcHealths['npc1'] = 30

// Config straight from the environment, no extra library
text apiKey = environment.API_KEY

How it compares

Festina, Rust, Go, and Bun on the same small equivalent-logic benchmarks. Not a claim that Festina is faster in general — see benchmark.md for methodology and the full, regularly-refreshed results.

Short version: Festina holds its own against Rust and Go on compute-bound native code, and comfortably outruns a JIT on cold single-shot execution — unsurprising for a young optimizer against two of the most mature compiled-language backends around.

Project status

The compiler frontend, LLVM codegen backend, and native C runtime are real and tested. Every claude.md language construct this project has committed to is implemented end to end, not just parsed. See tests/CONTRACT.md for exactly what's covered, and todo.md for what's next (macOS, Windows, HTTP).

Documentation

Design philosophy

Festina intentionally favors:

• Performance over flexibility
• Static typing over runtime inference
• Simple language rules over extensive syntax
• Compile-time work over runtime work
• Native representations over unnecessary abstraction
• Familiar syntax without dynamic-language semantics

Festina is not a scripting language with a compiler bolted on — it's a compiled, statically typed language designed from the start for native performance, that happens to keep its syntax approachable.