Three years ago, the author proposed the idea of using the type system to track data before a pure call, eliminating memory safety overhead. Another idea that came up later was using generational indices as the foundation for a new language. These ideas have evolved into a region-based borrowing system and generational references, which together offer a new approach to memory safety. Developers can write their programs in a normal way and use Vale’s generational references for memory safety. The exciting part is that region borrowing is optional, allowing flexibility in optimizing different parts of the program. The author has built a prototype and conducted benchmarks, showing that Vale’s approach can be very fast. However, further work is needed before Vale can compete with languages like C and C++. The author is seeking sponsorship to continue developing Vale and make it a production-ready language.
https://verdagon.dev/blog/first-regions-prototype