flan/test/programs/embed.flan
Joseph Ferano 1d7f5e1c85 Assets are baked in at compile time, one file or one whole directory
Decision 1. Odin's #load and #load_directory are the model, spelled as
ordinary named calls — an s-expression language already has a head
position and does not need Odin's `#`. (embed "p") is a [u8], (embed "p"
string) is a string, and (embed-dir "d") is a [n EmbedFile] sorted by
name.

Two spellings rather than one that changes type with its context. Odin
threads a type_hint everywhere and can afford it; with structural
equality and no implicit widening, the same text meaning two types here
would be a wart. The path is a literal and resolves relative to the file
the form is written in, both of which are Odin's rules and for Odin's
reasons: the bytes must be in hand before any value exists, and a
package's assets must not depend on where flan was invoked from.

The bytes reach the program as a [Str] node typed [u8], not as a [Bytes]
prim over a string. [Bytes] is identity — emit.ml lowers String and
Slice _ to the same %slice — and wrapping the literal in a prim would
make the node non-constant, so an (embed-dir) bound with defconst could
not be an LLVM constant. Both string emitters take the bytes and ignore
the node's type, so it is the same constant either way and one a global
can hold. emit.ml's escape is byte-exact, so a PNG survives the .ll.

The directory lookup is a linear scan in the prelude over a slice of
EmbedFile. A directory embed is tens of entries out of cache-warm
.rodata, and a compile-time perfect hash would be a build-time map with
its own failure modes that nothing has asked for. Sorted because readdir
order is filesystem-dependent and an unsorted embed would make two
builds of identical sources emit different .ll.

The slice points into .rodata, so a store through it segfaults at -O0
and is deleted at -O2 — the same measured trap the prelude's ASCII-case
note describes for (bytes "Hi"). Inherited, not widened; clone into a
Vec for a mutable copy.
2026-09-12 11:36:01 +07:00

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;;;; Assets baked in at compile time — NEXT.md decision 1.
;;;;
;;;; Odin's #load and #load_directory are the model, spelled as ordinary named
;;;; calls because an s-expression language already has a head position and
;;;; does not need Odin's `#`. The whole reason for preferring this to a build
;;;; flag is that it is a *compiler* feature: no linker arguments, no
;;;; per-target packaging, and identical on desktop and web. A single-file
;;;; program has no link channel at all — `Load` hands out lflags only to a
;;;; directory package — so the file that needs the asset is structurally the
;;;; one file that could not declare it. Embedding has no such hole.
;;;;
;;;; Nothing here costs anything at run time: every one of these is a
;;;; `private unnamed_addr constant` in the emitted module.
;; Bound once at top level, where it becomes an LLVM constant outright rather
;; than an array rebuilt on the stack per call (emit.ml's `const`).
(defconst assets [3 EmbedFile] (embed-dir "assets"))
(defn main [] i32
;; The default answer is a [u8]: bytes, because that is what an asset is.
(let [a (embed "assets/a.txt")]
(println (len a)) ; 13
(print (string a))) ; hello from a
;; `string` is the second spelling, not a different meaning for the same
;; text. With structural equality and no implicit widening, one form that
;; changes type with its context would be a wart.
(println (embed "assets/b.bin" string)) ; BBB
;; Byte-exact, including bytes no text encoding would survive: emit.ml's
;; escape hex-escapes everything outside printable ASCII, so a PNG makes the
;; round trip through the .ll unchanged.
(let [raw (embed "assets/raw.bin")]
(println (len raw)) ; 4
(println (at raw 0)) ; 0
(println (at raw 2)) ; 255
(println (at raw 3))) ; 254
;; A directory embed is a fixed array of EmbedFile, sorted by name — sorted
;; because readdir order is filesystem-dependent and an unsorted embed would
;; make two builds of identical sources emit different .ll.
(println (len assets)) ; 3
(println (.name (at assets 0))) ; a.txt
(println (.name (at assets 1))) ; b.bin
(println (.name (at assets 2))) ; raw.bin
;; The name-to-bytes lookup is a linear scan in the prelude. It takes a slice
;; rather than the array, because an array's length is part of its type and
;; there are no generics.
(let [all (slice assets 0 (len assets))]
(match (embed-find all "b.bin")
(Some b) (println (string b)) ; BBB
None (println "missing"))
(match (embed-find all "nope.txt")
(Some _) (println "found")
None (println "no nope.txt"))) ; no nope.txt
0)