What Is VAL? The New System Programming Language Aiming to Rival Rust

21CTO导读：Val 是一种运行接近 Rust 的高级编程语言，该语言的创建者 Dimi Racordon 表示。

VAL was developed by Dimi Racordon at Northeastern University and is intended for system programming, especially for applications running at the machine edge that need to fully exploit hardware performance.

Racordon, who researches type‑safe memory‑safe programming languages, created VAL after collaborating with Google and Adobe on Swift and mutable‑value semantics, aiming to support value independence for localized computation and reasoning.

She cites languages such as Haskell, Rust, and R as examples that use mutable‑value semantics.

Racordon began the project about two years ago, initially thinking it could be done in a few weeks, but it has grown into a two‑year effort.

Because Swift supports mutable‑value semantics and can compile to machine code, Racordon chose it as the implementation language, believing Swift is suitable for system programming.

Mutable‑value semantics focus on the concepts of values themselves—for example, an array’s values are the primary concern, enabling local reasoning about changes made within functions.

However, such semantics make it hard to apply local reasoning and ensure program correctness, complicating compiler optimizations which must remain conservative.

Racordon argues that avoiding references altogether leads to a simpler model, which is the core idea behind VAL.

Why choose VAL?

The language targets system programming, making it ideal for edge‑computing applications that must maximize performance.

Some applications cannot afford the overhead of a virtual machine or garbage collector, such as operating systems, video games, and image processing; embedded applications are also a promising target.

Embedded systems present a fragmented ecosystem with a single CPU architecture, making a universal language challenging, but VAL aims to provide a common solution while allowing specialization for maximum performance.

VAL is currently open‑source on GitHub and still under active development, with Racordon seeking contributors who want to improve the language.

She emphasizes that the language avoids references, using a type system that ensures safety without the complexities of traditional reference handling.

Compiled by: 大雄 Source: https://thenewstack.io/meet-val-a-new-language-alternative-to-c-rust/