Vala

Vala
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About Hello World
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Vala is a programming language with a syntax similar to C#.

Hello World example

This is very similar to a C# Hello World program. In Vala the main function doesn't need to be in a class, but in this example it is.

Code

using GLib;

public class Hello : GLib.Object {
    public static int main (string[] args) {
        stdout.printf ("Hello world!\n");
        
        return 0;
    }
}

Explanation

using GLib;

We want to use things from namespace GLib. This row is optional -- the compiler includes it anyway.

public class Hello : GLib.Object {

Now we create a new class that is derived from GLib.Object. Every class should derive from it.

    public static int main (string[] args) {

The main entry point of every Vala program is called 'main'. If it is in a class, it must be static.

        stdout.printf ("Hello world!\n");

Self-explanatory. '\n' means a new line.

        return 0;

0 means that nothing has failed.

    }
}

Closing the braces.

Compilation

($ means the command prompt.)

Compile it with

$ valac -o hello helloworld.vala

to produce an executable file named 'hello'.

Or just

$ valac helloworld.vala

to produce an executable file named by the file name.

Now run it:

$ ./hello
Hello world!

See also

• C#
• Official site