i am really enjoying the jai language

Published: April 30, 2026 | Updated: April 30, 2026

hey guys,

so a month back on March of 2026, i got into the jai closed beta. to those who dont know, i will try my best to explain what jai is:

its a new systems programming language made by Jonathan Blow, known for The Witness and Braid. he originally created this language as he was frustrated with c++ and felt none of the other languages were addressing what they needed or dont understand their own programs. so he started working on jai.

jai is what c++ should have been, it brings back the joy of programming with some of the really cool features which are microprogramming, compile time execution, etc.

so with all that, lets begin with a “Hello, World!” in jai.

so i am using linux, so for me the compiler is

jai-linux: the main jai compiler

lld-linux: the linker

in jai, the “Hello, World!” is “Hello, Sailor!” as Jonathan Blow says it. so we are gonna use that terminology here as well.

#import "Basic";

main :: () {
    print("Hello, Sailor!\n");
}

another thing about jai, which makes it different from c++ is that you dont need to have the import, or “include” statement right at the top. you can have it at the bottom itself.

main :: () {
    print("Hello, Sailor!\n");
}

#import "Basic";

the jai compiler is smart enough to understand where you defined it.

to compile our program, you basically do this:

jai-linux main.jai

it will create a binary called main, also you can “autorun” the binary right after it compiled.

jai-linux main.jai +Autorun

this will compile and then execute the binary

output:

Hello, Sailor!

also you can make the compiler “quiet” by adding the following flags while compiling

jai-linux main.jai -quiet +Autorun

in jai, essentially your build script is written in the language itself, for example, this is how a first.jai would essentially look. in jai the build script is called first.jai.

#import "Basic";
#import "Compiler";

#run build();

build :: () {
    w := compiler_create_workspace("First Jai Program");

    options := get_build_options(w);

    options.output_executable_name = "our_first_program_in_jai";

    set_build_options(options, w);

    compiler_begin_intercept(w);
    add_build_file("main.jai", w);

    compiler_end_intercept(w);

    set_build_options_dc(.{ do_output = false });
}

the #run tells the compiler that this needs compile-time execution. and then you can just do:

jai-linux first.jai

so i have been enjoying jai so much, that i started working on my second steam release using this language itself. i am really having ufn programming in this language, i will be sharing the development and progress over my twitter and bluesky, so make sure to follow me there.

and this is all for today’s blog, i will see you guys in the next one. till then, take care and good bye.