Asthra Contributor Guide

Version: 1.0
Date: January 2025
Status: Active Development

Welcome to the Asthra Contributor Guide! This comprehensive resource will help you contribute to the Asthra programming language compiler and ecosystem, from your first contribution to becoming a core maintainer.

🚀 What is Asthra?

Asthra is a modern systems programming language designed specifically for AI-friendly code generation while maintaining the performance and safety requirements of systems programming. Built through AI-assisted development, Asthra represents a new paradigm in programming language design.

What Makes Asthra Special

  • AI-First Design: Every language feature optimized for AI code generation
  • Memory Safety: Four-zone memory model with automatic safety guarantees
  • Concurrency: Three-tier concurrency system from deterministic to advanced
  • FFI Safety: Automatic C interoperability with transfer semantics
  • Zero-Cost Abstractions: High-level features with C-level performance

📊 Project Status

Asthra is in active development with a production-ready compiler featuring:

  • ✅ Complete compilation pipeline (Lexer → Parser → Semantic → CodeGen)
  • ✅ 176 tests across 30 categories with 100% success rate
  • ✅ Full AI integration (annotations, linting, API)
  • ✅ Advanced features (concurrency, FFI, memory management, OOP)
  • ✅ Rich standard library (JSON, HTTP, channels, coordination)

🎯 How You Can Contribute

Code Contributions

  • Compiler improvements and bug fixes
  • New language features and optimizations
  • Standard library modules and utilities
  • Testing and quality assurance improvements

Documentation

  • User guides and tutorials
  • API documentation and references
  • Architecture documentation and design docs
  • Translation and localization

Community

  • Issue triage and user support
  • Code review and mentoring
  • Community building and outreach
  • Educational content creation

📚 Contributor Resources

Getting Started

Quick Start Guide

Get up and running with Asthra development in under 5 minutes.

Developer Handbook

Comprehensive guide covering everything from setup to advanced development.

Development Workflows

Development Workflows

Build processes, testing procedures, and release management.

Troubleshooting Guide

Common issues, solutions, and debugging techniques.

Technical Reference

Architecture Reference

Detailed technical documentation of compiler architecture and design.

Development Guides

In-depth guides for specific development tasks and features.

🚀 Quick Start (5 Minutes)

Prerequisites

  • C17 Compiler: Clang 6+ (preferred) or GCC 7+
  • Make: GNU Make 4.0+
  • Git: For version control
  • Platform: macOS, Linux, or Windows (with MinGW)

Setup Commands

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/asthra-lang/asthra.git
cd asthra

# 2. Build the compiler (2-3 minutes)
make -j$(nproc)

# 3. Run basic tests (1 minute)
make test-basic

# 4. Verify installation
./bin/asthra --version

Expected Output:

Asthra Compiler v2.0.0
Build: production-ready
Features: AI-integration, concurrency, FFI, memory-safety

🎓 Learning Paths

Choose your starting point based on your experience and goals:

🚀 Beginner Path

Perfect for your first contribution to Asthra:

  1. Quick Start - 5-minute setup
  2. First Contribution - Step-by-step walkthrough
  3. Development Environment - Complete setup guide

⚡ Intermediate Path

For understanding compiler architecture:

  1. Developer Handbook - Comprehensive guide
  2. Architecture Reference - Technical deep-dive
  3. Development Workflows - Build and test processes

🔧 Advanced Path

For adding new language features:

  1. Advanced Development - Feature development
  2. Compiler Internals - Deep technical knowledge
  3. Performance Optimization - Advanced techniques

🏆 Expert Path

For core maintainer responsibilities:

  1. Maintainer Guide - Leadership responsibilities
  2. Release Management - Release processes
  3. Community Leadership - Community building

🔧 Development Environment

IDE Configuration:

# VS Code (Recommended)
code --install-extension ms-vscode.cpptools
code --install-extension ms-vscode.makefile-tools

# Configure for Asthra development
cp .vscode/settings.json.template .vscode/settings.json

Build Commands:

# Core build commands
make                    # Build everything
make clean             # Clean build artifacts
make -j8               # Parallel build (8 jobs)

# Development builds
make debug             # Debug build with symbols
make asan              # AddressSanitizer build
make release           # Optimized release build

# Testing
make test              # Run all tests
make test-lexer        # Run specific category tests
make test-curated      # Run high-reliability tests

🤝 Community & Support

Getting Help

Code of Conduct

We are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all contributors. Please read our Code of Conduct before participating.

Recognition

We value all contributions and maintain a Contributors Hall of Fame to recognize community members who help make Asthra better.

Join us in building the future of AI-friendly programming languages! Every contribution, no matter how small, helps make Asthra better for developers worldwide.