Quick Start¶

Let's get you up and running with Raven in just a few minutes!

Your First Program¶

Create a file called hello.rv:

fun main() -> void {
    print("Hello, Raven!");
}

main();

Run it:

raven hello.rv

You should see: Hello, Raven!

Interactive REPL¶

Try the interactive mode:

raven

You'll see the Raven prompt:

raven> let name: string = "World";
raven> print(format("Hello, {}!", name));
Hello, World!
raven> exit

Basic Syntax¶

Variables¶

let name: string = "Alice";
let age: int = 25;
let height: float = 5.9;
let isActive: bool = true;

Arrays¶

let numbers: int[] = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
numbers.push(6);
print(numbers);  // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Control Flow¶

let age: int = 18;

if (age < 18) {
    print("Too young");
} else {
    print("Welcome!");
}

// While loop
let i: int = 0;
while (i < 5) {
    print(i);
    i = i + 1;
}

Functions¶

fun greet(name: string) -> void {
    print(format("Hello, {}!", name));
}

fun add(a: int, b: int) -> int {
    return a + b;
}

// Usage
greet("Raven");
let result: int = add(5, 3);
print(result);  // 8

Data Structures¶

Structs¶

struct Person {
    name: string,
    age: int,
    isActive: bool
}

let person: Person = Person { 
    name: "Alice", 
    age: 25, 
    isActive: true 
};

print(person.name);  // Alice

Enums¶

enum HttpStatus {
    OK,
    NotFound,
    InternalError
}

let status: HttpStatus = HttpStatus::OK;
print(status);  // HttpStatus::OK

File Operations¶

// Write to file
let content: string = "Hello from Raven!";
write_file("output.txt", content);

// Read from file
if (file_exists("output.txt")) {
    let data: string = read_file("output.txt");
    print(data);
}

Next Steps¶

Now that you've got the basics:

Language Reference - Complete syntax guide
Standard Library - Built-in functions
rvpm and formatting - rv.toml, formatter, rvpm fmt
Examples - More sample programs
VS Code Extension - Development setup

Common Commands¶

# Run a program
raven program.rv

# Start REPL
raven

# Type-check only (parse + types; does not run)
raven program.rv -c

# Verbose output (tokens, AST)
raven program.rv -v

# Show help
raven --help

Project commands (`rvpm`)¶

From a directory that contains (or is under) an rv.toml project:

rvpm init my_app    # create rv.toml, src/main.rv, rv_env/
cd my_app
rvpm run            # runs raven on src/main.rv
rvpm fmt            # format .rv files (optional [fmt] in rv.toml)
rvpm fmt --check    # fail if formatting would change files (CI)

Ready for more? Check out our Language Reference for complete syntax details!