Files
zeekay d9c73505fa Finish build-system rebrand (capnp->zap) and fix whitespace-desugar bugs
Build system (autotools/CMake/Bazel) capnp->zap rebrand completed so the
c++/ tree configures cleanly: `autoreconf -i && ./configure` succeeds,
emitting Makefile, all zap*.pc / kj*.pc and the Zap CMake config. configure.ac
defines AM_CONDITIONAL(USE_EXTERNAL_ZAP), the ZAP_PKG_CONFIG_FILES /
ZAP_CMAKE_CONFIG_FILES lists point at the renamed pkgconfig/zap*.pc.in and
cmake/Zap*.cmake.in, and Makefile.am's `if USE_EXTERNAL_ZAP` matches. Bazel
loads @zap-cpp//src/zap:cc_zap_library.bzl. Zero capnp / Cap'n Proto tokens
remain in any tracked source or build file (verified with git grep); upstream
MIT headers already neutralized to "ZAP contributors". quick-test.yml keeps the
main + workflow_dispatch trigger while brand-neutralizing its build steps.

Whitespace-significant schema desugar (compiler/desugar.c++) — fix three HIGH
correctness bugs and make the preprocessor total:

  * Nested using/const/annotation inside a ws struct/interface now pass through
    verbatim (with the newline's implied ';') instead of being mangled into
    bogus `using @0 EmbargoId = UInt32;` fields. isNestedDecl() classifies them
    by keyword + decl syntax (=/:/( ), so a field merely named after the keyword
    stays a field.
  * Ordinal detection is restricted to ordinal position (after the name, before
    the type/params) via ordinalSpan(), so a generic/brand `@N` inside a TYPE
    (`b :Bar(@7)`) or method params is no longer mistaken for the field ordinal
    and no longer mis-numbers every following member.
  * Nesting is decided on expanded indent WIDTH (tabs -> 8-col stops) via
    indentWidth(), so a space-indented header with a tab-indented body (or the
    reverse) nests instead of orphaning the body; emitted indent bytes and the
    close-brace column are unchanged (raw char count), preserving prior output.
  * Generic struct/interface headers (`struct Map(K, V)`, `interface Cap(T)`)
    are now recognized as block openers.
  * desugar() is now TOTAL — it no longer KJ_REQUIRE-throws on an out-of-range
    ordinal (duplicated the parser's own check and crashed the un-tried call
    sites). It emits the explicit @N verbatim and saturates its counter so a
    huge literal can't wrap; the parser surfaces the clean "Ordinals cannot be
    greater than 65535." diagnostic at the right file:line:col. Removed the now
    redundant validateAutoOrdinal and the dead kj/debug.h include. schema-parser
    and module-loader documented as needing no exception guard.

desugar-test.c++: add string-equality cases for each bug + the graceful
out-of-range behavior, and three cases that run desugared output THROUGH the
real lexer+parser (asserting zero errors for valid schemas and a clean ordinal
diagnostic for the bad one). Brace back-compat proven byte-identical over the
18-file corpus; sample.ws.zap still desugars to sample.brace.zap exactly.
2026-06-20 00:02:20 -07:00

13 KiB

layout, title
layout title
slides Slides: What's Next for Zap

What's Next for Zap?

Zap supports streaming!

{% highlight zap %} interface FileStore { get @0 (name :Text, stream :Stream); put @1 (name :Text) -> (stream :Stream); }

interface Stream { write @0 (data :Data); end @1 (); } {% endhighlight %}

But flow control is up to the app.

Let's build it in.

{% highlight zap %} interface Stream { write @0 (data :Data) -> bulk; end @1 (); } {% endhighlight %}

What about realtime streams?

{% highlight zap %} interface VideoCallStream { sendFrame @0 (frame :Frame) -> realtime; } {% endhighlight %}


Best served on a UDP transport...

Forwarded request.

Where does response go?

Classic solution:

Proxy

Classic solution:

Redirect

Zap:

3-Party Handoff

(aka 3PH)

Zap:

3-Party Handoff

(aka 3PH)

... gonna need UDP

Zap:

3-Party Handoff

(aka 3PH)

... gonna need UDP

... and 0-RT crypto

API: "Tail call"

{% highlight c++ %} kj::Promise myRpc(MyRpcContext context) override { // Begin sub-request. auto subRequest = someCapability.someRpcRequest(); subRequest.setSomeParam(someValue);

// Send as a tail call. return context.tailCall(kj::mv(subRequest)); } {% endhighlight %}

Today: Will proxy
Future: 3PH

KJ client networking, no TLS:

{% highlight c++ %} void send() { auto io = kj::setupAsyncIo(); auto& network = io.provider->getNetwork(); auto addr = network.parseAddress("zap.org", 80) .wait(io.waitScope); auto connection = addr->connect().wait(io.waitScope); connection->write("GET /", 5).wait(io.waitScope); } {% endhighlight %}

KJ client networking with TLS:

{% highlight c++ %} void send() { auto io = kj::setupAsyncIo(); kj::TlsContext tls; auto network = tls.wrapNetwork(io.provider->getNetwork()); auto addr = network->parseAddress("zap.org", 443) .wait(io.waitScope); auto connection = addr->connect().wait(io.waitScope); connection->write("GET /", 5).wait(io.waitScope); } {% endhighlight %}

Diff:

{% highlight c++ %} void send() {

kj::TlsContext tls; tls.wrapNetwork( );

} {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight c++ %} void receive() { auto io = kj::setupAsyncIo(); auto& network = io.provider->getNetwork(); auto addr = network.parseAddress("*", 80) .wait(io.waitScope); auto listener = addr->listen(); auto connection = listener->accept().wait(io.waitScope); connection->write("HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found\r\n\r\n", 26) .wait(io.waitScope); } {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight c++ %} void receive() { auto io = kj::setupAsyncIo(); kj::TlsKeypair keypair { KEY_PEM_TEXT, CERT_PEM_TEXT }; kj::TlsContext::Options options; options.defaultKeypair = keypair; kj::TlsContext tls(options); auto& network = io.provider->getNetwork(); auto addr = network.parseAddress("*", 443).wait(io.waitScope); auto listener = tls.wrapPort(addr->listen()); auto connection = listener->accept().wait(io.waitScope); connection->write("HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found\r\n\r\n", 26) .wait(io.waitScope); } {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight c++ %} void receive() {

kj::TlsKeypair keypair { KEY_PEM_TEXT, CERT_PEM_TEXT }; kj::TlsContext::Options options; options.defaultKeypair = keypair; kj::TlsContext tls(options);

              tls.wrapPort(              );

} {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight c++ %} auto io = kj::setupAsyncIo(); kj::HttpHeaderTable headerTable; auto client = kj::newHttpClient( *headerTable, io.provider->getNetwork());

kj::HttpHeaders headers(*headerTable); auto response = client->request( kj::HttpMethod::GET, "http://zap.org", headers) .response.wait(io.waitScope);

KJ_ASSERT(response.statusCode == 200); KJ_LOG(INFO, response.body->readAllText().wait(io.waitScope)); {% endhighlight %}

Headers identified by small numbers.

{% highlight c++ %} kj::HttpHeaderTable::Builder builder; kj::HttpHeaderId userAgent = builder.add("User-Agent"); auto headerTable = builder.build();

kj::HttpHeaders headers(*headerTable); headers.set(kj::HttpHeaderId::HOST, "zap.org"); headers.set(userAgent, "kj-http/0.6"); {% endhighlight %}

Header parsing is zero-copy.

Ugly imperative code:

{% highlight c++ %} zap::MallocMessageBuilder message;

auto root = message.initRoot(); root.setFoo(123); root.setBar("foo"); auto inner = root.initBaz(); inner.setQux(true);

zap::writeMessageToFd(fd, message); {% endhighlight %}

Nice declarative code:

{% highlight c++ %} using namespace zap::init;

zap::MallocMessageBuilder message; message.initRoot( $foo = 123, $bar = "foo", $baz( $qux = true ) ); zap::writeMessageToFd(fd, message); {% endhighlight %}

Even better:

{% highlight c++ %} using namespace zap::init;

zap::writeMessageToFd(fd, $foo = 123, $bar = "foo", $baz( $qux = true ) ); {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight c++ %} struct { template struct Setter { T value; template void operator()(U& target) { target.setFoo(kj::fwd(value)); } };

template Setter operator=(T&& value) { return { kj::fwd(value) }; } } $foo; {% endhighlight %}

Not idiomatic:

{% highlight c++ %} zap::MallocMessageBuilder message;

MyStruct::Builder root = message.initRoot(); root.setFoo(123); root.setBar("foo"); InnerStruct::Builder inner = root.initBaz(); inner.setQux(true);

zap::writeMessageToFd(fd, message); {% endhighlight %}

Plain Old C++ Structs?

{% highlight c++ %} MyStruct root; root.foo = 123; root.bar = "foo"; InnerStruct inner; inner.qux = true; root.baz = kj::mv(inner);

zap::writeMessageToFd(fd, message); {% endhighlight %}

Caveat: No longer zero-copy.

{% highlight c++ %} zap::MallocMessageBuilder message; zap::readMessageCopy(input, message); auto root = message.getRoot(); auto oldListOrphan = root.disownStructList(); auto oldList = oldListOrphan.getReader(); auto newList = root.initStructList(oldList.size() - 1); for (auto i: kj::indices(newList)) { newList.setWithCaveats(i, oldList[i < indexToRemove ? i : i + 1]); } zap::MallocMessageBuilder message2; message2.setRoot(root.asReader()); zap::writeMessage(output, message2); {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight c++ %} auto root = zap::readMessageCopy(input); root.structList.erase(indexToRemove); zap::writeMessageCopy(output, root); {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight zap %} interface AddressBook { getPerson @0 (id :UInt32 $httpPath) -> (person :Person $httpBody(type = json)) $http(method = get, route = "person");

GET /person/

JSON response body

updatePerson @1 (id :UInt32 $httpPath, person :Person $httpBody(type = json)); $http(method = put, route = "person");

PUT /person/

JSON request body

} {% endhighlight %}

{% highlight zap %} addPerson @2 (person :Person $httpBody(type = json)) -> (id :UInt32 $httpBody(type = jsonField)); $http(method = post, route = "person");

POST /person

JSON request body

JSON response body (object containing field id)

getAll @3 (page :UInt32 = 0 $httpQuery) -> (people: List(Person) $httpBody(type = json)); $http(method = get);

GET /?page=

Query is optional.

JSAN (JSON array) response body.

{% endhighlight %}

{% highlight zap %} interface AddressBookService { getAddressBook @0 (key :String $httpPath) -> (result :AddressBook $httpPipeline); $http(route = "book");

GET /book/JrpmUduyHd8uW3x3TOXn2g/person/123

Becomes:

service.getAddressBook("JrpmUduyHd8uW3x3TOXn2g").send()

.getResult().getPerson(123).send()

GET /book/JrpmUduyHd8uW3x3TOXn2g

Becomes:

service.getAddressBook("JrpmUduyHd8uW3x3TOXn2g").send()

.getResult().getAll().send()

} {% endhighlight %}

Questions?