In-depth articles on the Salam programming language: its bilingual design, the self-hosting compiler, measured performance, honest comparisons with C, Rust, Go and Python, and where the language is heading. https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z The Salam Language Teamhttps://salamlang.github.io/Salam/ https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/assets/img/icon-192.png https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/what-is-salam-programming-language/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

A complete introduction to Salam: the language, the self-hosting compiler, the standard library, the tools, the measured performance and the honest limits of a young language.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/one-language-two-scripts/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam is one language with two spellings. This article shows how a Persian file and an English file reach the same compiler, share one standard library, report errors in the reader's language and call each other's packages.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/designing-a-language-for-persian-and-arabic/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

What actually goes wrong when a programming language is written in Persian or Arabic script, from names with spaces to look-alike letters, and the concrete decisions Salam made for each problem.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/right-to-left-programming-unicode/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

What it takes for a compiler, a standard library and an editor to handle code written right to left: source encoding, Persian digits, separators, strings as bytes and letters, the bidi algorithm and the traps that remain.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/programming-in-your-native-language/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

English is the hidden prerequisite of most programming courses. This article looks at what removing it can achieve, what the research supports, and how a bilingual language lets a student start in Persian and finish in English.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-translate-persian-english-code/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

salam translate rewrites a Salam program from English to Persian or from Persian to English without touching your own names, comments or strings. Here is what it changes, how it decides, and what to check afterwards.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-syntax-design/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Why Salam code looks the way it does: the decisions behind its blocks, declarations, loops, pattern matching and names, what each one costs, and how they compare with the syntax of Python, Go, Ruby and Lua.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/why-new-programming-languages/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Every successful language of the last twenty years was built to fix a specific pain. This article looks at what drove Go, Rust, Swift, Kotlin and Zig, then at the gap Salam targets and the design decisions that follow from it.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/how-the-salam-compiler-works/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Follow a Salam program through the compiler: tokens, syntax tree, type checking and static checks, generated C or LLVM IR or machine code, and the final link, with real output from each stage.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/self-hosting-compiler/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

The Salam compiler is written in Salam. This is the story of how it got there, how a release is bootstrapped from the previous one, what self-hosting buys a young language and what it costs.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-code-generation-c-llvm-native/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam can turn the same checked program into C, into LLVM IR or straight into machine code. A look inside each backend, real output from all three, and a practical guide to choosing.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/static-typing-in-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam checks every type before it generates any code, infers most of them for you, and goes further than types: exhaustive matches, optional values, checked errors and compile-time range checks, with the real compiler messages.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/native-compilation-without-vm-or-gc/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam programs run as plain machine code with no virtual machine and no garbage collector. What that buys you, what it costs you, how memory is handled instead, and what the benchmarks do and do not show.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/memory-management-in-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

A practical guide to memory in Salam: what is copied, what is shared, who frees what, how defer and compiler-inserted drops help, what the ownership checker catches at compile time and how memcheck finds the rest.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-run-vs-salam-build/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam is a compiled language that also ships an interpreter and a REPL. What each of check, run, build and exec actually does, how they differ, and a simple guide to picking the right one.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/cross-compilation-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

The --target flag, the three code generators behind it, the sysroots and linker built into the compiler, and an honest list of which targets are run in CI and which are only built.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-webassembly-and-javascript/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

One source file, several destinations: native executables, WASI modules, browser JavaScript, web pages, edge workers, an in-browser editor, phone apps and bare metal, with the trade-offs of each.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/is-salam-faster-than-c-and-rust/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

A methodology-first walk through Salam's published benchmark: what was measured, how, what the averages hide, where Salam loses, and why the honest summary is the same range as C and Rust.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-c/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

The same small programs written in C and in Salam, followed by an honest comparison of memory management, strings, safety checks, C interop, performance, tooling and maturity.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-rust/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Rust proves memory safety at compile time and Salam does not. This comparison shows what each language checks, the same programs in both, the measured speed and where each one is the better choice.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-go/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Go's goroutines and garbage collector against Salam's threads, task pool, channels and manual memory, with the same programs in both languages and an honest reading of the HTTP benchmark.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-python/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam reads almost like Python but compiles to native code with static types and no garbage collector. Here are the same programs in both, the measured speed difference, and the many cases where Python still wins.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-typescript/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

TypeScript runs everywhere JavaScript does and owns the largest ecosystem in software. Salam takes another route to one language for the whole stack: a native server, a page language and a JavaScript backend. Here is how they differ in practice.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-cpp/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

C++ is the default language for performance-critical software and has forty years of libraries behind it. Salam is a young systems language with a smaller surface. This comparison puts the same code side by side and is plain about where each one wins.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-zig/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Zig and Salam are both pre-1.0 systems languages with no garbage collector, a defer statement and a try keyword. They make very different choices about allocators, compile-time code and how much the standard library should do.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-java-and-csharp/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Java and C# run on managed runtimes with a JIT compiler and a garbage collector, backed by two of the largest ecosystems in software. Salam compiles ahead of time to native code with no collector. The differences reach from startup time to how a team writes code.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-vs-python-and-julia/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Python owns scientific computing through NumPy and its ecosystem, and Julia was designed for it. Salam brings a native compiler and a pure-Salam numerics library. This is what that library can do, what the benchmark rows measure, and where each language belongs.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/can-a-new-language-compete/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Every popular language was once new, and most new languages never become popular. This article looks at what carried Go, Rust, Kotlin and others to adoption, and measures Salam against the same forces without pretending the gap is small.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/web-development-with-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam has a page language inside its compiler. You describe a page as a tree of elements, the compiler checks every element, attribute and CSS value, and you get HTML, CSS and JavaScript back. This article walks from a static page to components, events and pages rendered by a Salam server.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/interactive-ui-components-state-events/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

A practical guide to interactivity in Salam pages: handlers written in Salam, components with their own state, lists with keys, callbacks, events that bubble, and the compile-time checks around them.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/full-stack-development-with-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam can write the server, the database layer, the HTML and CSS, and the browser handlers in one language and one toolchain. This is how the pieces connect, with working code, and what is still missing.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/fast-web-servers-with-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Everything Salam's standard library offers for network services, from a ten-line HTTP server to WebSocket rooms and gRPC, how the server works inside, and what the router benchmark does and does not show.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/typed-sql-database-apps/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

How Salam talks to databases: one connection interface over SQLite, MySQL and PostgreSQL, migrations at start-up, a SQL checker that reads your schema, and a generator that turns annotated queries into typed functions.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-standard-library-tour/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam ships more than 170 packages with the compiler. This tour walks through them by area, runs a few of them, and says where the library is deep, where it is thin, and what it costs to have so much in std.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-c-interop-ffi/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam can call any C function after a one-line declaration, pass structs by value, hand its own functions to C as callbacks, load libraries at run time and even build libraries that C programs call. A practical guide with the rules that keep it safe.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/concurrency-in-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam's concurrency is built on operating system threads with a bounded task pool on top. This guide covers each tool, from spawn and join to channels, select, groups and futures, with programs that run, and compares the model with Go, Rust and Java.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/desktop-gui-apps-with-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam has three ways to put a window on the screen: a web interface in the system's WebView, a native UI drawn by Salam from the page language, and raylib for games. What each one does, how to package it, and where each stops.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/freestanding-salam-bare-metal/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

The same compiler that builds Salam web servers can emit a program that owns the machine: no libc, no syscalls, a tiny runtime and a kernel that boots in QEMU. Here is how it works and what you still have to write yourself.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/machine-learning-with-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Tensors, reverse-mode autograd, neural network layers, optimizers, scikit-learn style models, ONNX and GGUF readers: Salam's machine learning stack lives in the standard library and compiles to native code. A guided tour with programs that run, and a clear list of what it does not do.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-developer-tools/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

A language is only as pleasant as its tools. Salam puts the compiler, language server, formatter, test runner, REPL, debugger launcher and memory checker in one executable, with plugins for eleven editors. What each tool does, with real output, and what is still missing.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/programming-languages-in-the-ai-era/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Code generators are good at languages they have seen millions of times and weak at everything else. A young language cannot change its training data, but it can change what happens after the first draft. What Salam does about it, and what any language designer can learn from it.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-ai-and-salam-agent/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam has its own assistant, a desktop agent that works in a folder on your computer, a hosted MCP server for the AI tools you already use, an API and a Telegram bot. What each one does, how they fit together, and which limits you set.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/can-ai-write-persian-code/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Writing Persian code is a harder test for a code generator than writing English code, because there is so little of it to learn from. What goes wrong, what the Salam compiler catches in Persian, and three practical ways to get Persian programs that compile and do what you meant.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/ai-workloads-with-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam's standard library can read GGUF language models, run small Llama-family models on the processor and execute ONNX graphs, all in pure Salam. Here is what works, what it costs and what it is not meant for.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/building-an-open-source-language-ecosystem/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

A language is only as useful as the code around it. This is how Salam's package manager, standard library, documentation and contributor process are built, and an honest account of how small the ecosystem still is.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-in-programming-education/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam lets a student start in Persian, move to English keywords without switching languages, and later read a production compiler written in the same language. What exists for teachers today, and what classrooms would still need.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/multilingual-programming-future/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam compiles English and Persian source with one front end, one standard library and one set of error codes. This article takes the design apart and asks what it would take to add a third human language, and whether that is a good idea.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/salam-in-industry/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Salam has the technical pieces for web services, cloud tools, back-office software and systems work. It does not yet have the stability promise, ecosystem or support model most companies need. This is a map of the fit and the gaps.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/what-makes-a-language-production-ready/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

Production readiness is not one feature but a dozen boring guarantees. This article lists them, then scores Salam honestly on each one, with the evidence from the repository and the gaps that remain.

https://salamlang.github.io/Salam/blog/future-of-salam/ 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z

A vision piece with its feet on the ground: where Salam stands in November 2026, what the history of Go, Rust, Python and Kotlin says about how languages grow, and the five milestones that would turn Salam into a durable ecosystem.