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https://github.com/google/rune

Rune is a programming language developed to test ideas for improving security and efficiency.
https://github.com/google/rune

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Rune is a programming language developed to test ideas for improving security and efficiency.

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README 

        
# ᚣ The Rune Programming Language



_A faster, safer, and more productive systems programming language_



This is not an officially supported Google product.



**NOTE: Rune is an unfinished language. Feel free to kick tires and evaluate the

cool new security and efficiency features of Rune, but, for now, it is not

recommended for any production use case.**



- [ᚣ The Rune Programming Language](#ᚣ-the-rune-programming-language)

- [What is Rune?](#what-is-rune)

- [Rune in Action](#rune-in-action)

  - [Dedicated "secret" types](#dedicated-secret-types)

  - [A _"DB-embedded"_ language: relational data-structures and optimal memory-efficiency](#a-db-embedded-language-relational-data-structures-and-optimal-memory-efficiency)

    - [How does this work?](#how-does-this-work)

- [Installation](#installation)

  - [Compiling the Rune compiler:](#compiling-the-rune-compiler)



# What is Rune?



Rune is a Python-inspired efficient systems programming language designed to

interact well with C and C++ libraries. Rune has many security features such as

memory safety, and constant-time processing of secrets. Rune aims to be faster

than C++ for most memory-intensive applications, due to its Structure-of-Array

\([SoA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AoS_and_SoA#:~:text=AoS%20vs.,AoS%20case%20easier%20to%20handle.)\)

memory management.



It provides many of its features by deeply integrating features similar to the

["DataDraw"](https://datadraw.sourceforge.net) tool into the primitives and

constructs of the language. DataDraw is a code-generation tool that generates

highly-optimized C code which outperforms e.g., the C++ STL given a declarative

description of data-structures and relationships between them. For more

information, see the [DataDraw 3.0

Manual](https://datadraw.sourceforge.net/manual.pdf).



Additional documentation:



-   [Rune Overview](g3doc/index.md)

-   [Rune for Python programmers](g3doc/rune4python.md)

-   [DataDraw 3.0 Manual](https://datadraw.sourceforge.net/manual.pdf)

-   [DataDraw GitHub repository](https://github.com/waywardgeek/datadraw)



# Rune in Action



Let's take a look at two examples that showcase many of the unique features of Rune:



1. A simple example of a secret type, and how it can be used to protect against timing attacks.

2. A more complex example of a data-structure with nullable, self-referential recursive references.

    - _(This can present footguns in many languages, but it is trivial in Rune)_



## Dedicated "secret" types



Consider the following example for treatment of secrets:



```go

// Check the MAC (message authentication code) for a message.  A MAC is derived

// from a hash over the `macSecret` and message.  It ensures the message has not

// been modified, and was sent by someone who knows `macSecret`.

func checkMac(macSecret: secret(string), message: string, mac: string) -> bool {

    computedMac = computeMac(macSecret, message)

    return mac == computedMac

}



func computeMac(macSecret: string, message: string) -> string {

  // A popular MAC algorithm.

  return hmacSha256(macSecret, message)

}

```



Can you see the potential security flaw? In most languages, an attacker with

accurate timing data can forge a MAC on a message of their choice, causing a

server to accept it as genuine.



Assume the attacker can tell how long it takes for `mac == computedMac` to run.

If the first byte of an attacker-chosen `mac` is wrong for the attacker-chosen

`message`, the loop terminates after just one comparison. With 256 attempts,

the attacker can find the first byte of the expected MAC for the

attacker-controlled `message`. Repeating this process, the attacker can forge

an entire MAC.



Users of Rune are protected, because the compiler sees that `macSecret` is

secret, and thus the result of `hmacSha256` is secret. The string comparison

operator, when either operand is secret, will run in constant time, revealing no

timing information to the attacker. Care must still be taken in Rune, but many

common mistakes like this are detected by the compiler, and either fixed or

flagged as an error.



## A _"DB-embedded"_ language: relational data-structures and optimal memory-efficiency



As for the speed and safety of Rune's memory management, consider a simple

`Human` class. This can be tricky to model in some languages, yet is trivial in

both SQL and Rune.



```rs

class Human(self: Human, name: string, mother: Human? = null(self), father: Human? = null(self)) {

  self.name = name



  // The methods "appendMotheredHuman" and "appendFatheredHuman" are generated

  // by code "transformers", a key factor in Rune's performance.

  //

  // We'll learn more about these methods in the next section ("How does this work?").

  if !isnull(mother) {

    mother.appendMotheredHuman(self)

  }

  if !isnull(father) {

    father.appendFatheredHuman(self)

  }



  func printFamilyTree(self, level: u32) {

    for i in range(level) {

      print "    "

    }

    println self.name

    for child in self.motheredHumans() {

      child.printFamilyTree(level + 1)

    }

    for child in self.fatheredHumans() {

      child.printFamilyTree(level + 1)

    }

  }

}



// Relation statements are similar to "Foreign Key" constraints in SQL.

// They are used to define the relationships between data-structures.

//

// The "cascade" keyword means that when a Human is destroyed, all of

// its children are recursively destroyed.

// (In other words, manual invalidation of pointers is not required)

//

// This ability is also provided by code transformers.  See

// builtin/doublylinked.rn

relation DoublyLinked Human:"Mother" Human:"Mothered" cascade

relation DoublyLinked Human:"Father" Human:"Fathered" cascade



// Let's create a family tree.

adam = Human("Adam")

eve = Human("Eve")

cain = Human("Cain", eve, adam)

abel = Human("Abel", eve, adam)

alice = Human("Alice", eve, adam)

bob = Human ("Bob", eve, adam)

malory = Human("Malory", alice, abel)

abel.destroy()

adam.printFamilyTree(0u32)

eve.printFamilyTree(0u32)

```



When run, this prints:



```

Adam

    Cain

    Alice

    Bob

Eve

    Cain

    Alice

    Bob

```



### How does this work?



Note that Abel and Malory are not listed. This is because we didn't just kill

Abel, we destroyed Abel, and this caused all of Abel's children to be

recursively destroyed. Also note that Rune now supports null safety. Null safety does not mean null does not exist in the language. It means types by default cannot be null. This can be overridden with \? in the type constraint.



Relation statements are similar to columns in SQL tables. A table with a Mother

and Father column has two many-to-one relations in a database.



Relation statements give the Rune compiler critical hints for memory

optimization. Objects which the compiler can prove are always in

cascade-delete relationships do not need to be reference counted. The relation

statements also inform the compiler to update Human's destructor to recursively

destroy children. **Rune programmers never write destructors**, removing this

footgun from the language.



To understand why Rune's generated SoA code is so efficient, consider the arrays

of properties created for the Human example above:



```typescript

nextFree = [null(Human)]

motherHuman = [null(Human)]

prevHumanMotheredHuman = [null(Human)]

nextHumanMotheredHuman = [null(Human)]

firstMotheredHuman = [null(Human)]

lastMotheredHuman = [null(Human)]

fatherHuman = [null(Human)]

prevHumanFatheredHuman = [null(Human)]

nextHumanFatheredHuman = [null(Human)]

firstFatheredHuman = [null(Human)]

lastFatheredHuman = [null(Human)]

name = [""]

```



A total of 12 arrays are allocated for the Human class in SoA memory layout. In

`printFamilyTree`, we only access 5 of them. In AoS memory layout, all 12

fields would be loaded into cache during the tree traversal, and all fields

would be 64 bits on a 64-bit machine. In Rune, only the string references are

64-bits by default. As a result, **Rune loads only 25% as much data into

cache** during the traversal, improving memory load times, while simultaneously

improving cache hit rates.



This is why Rune's `binary_trees.rn` code already runs faster than any other

single-threaded result in the [Benchmark

Games](https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/index.html).

(Rune is not yet multi-threaded). The only close competitor is C++, where the

author uses the little-known `std::pmr::monotonic_buffer_resource` class from the `` library.

Not only is Rune's SoA memory layout faster, but its solution is more generic:

we can create/destroy Node objects arbitrarily, unlike the C++ benchmark based

on `std::pmr::monotonic_buffer_resource`. When completed, we expect Rune to win most memory-intensive

benchmarks.



# Installation



## Compiling the Rune compiler:



You'll need 6 dependencies installed to compile Rune:



-   Bison (parser generator)

-   Flex (lexer generator)

-   GNU multi-precision package gmp

-   Clang version 10

-   Datadraw, an SoA data-structure generator for C

-   CTTK, a constant-time big integer arithmetic library

    The first four can be installed with one command:



```sh

$ sudo apt-get install bison flex libgmp-dev clang clang-14

```



Installing Datadraw requires cloning [the source from

github](https://github.com/waywardgeek/datadraw).



```sh

$ git clone https://github.com/waywardgeek/datadraw.git

$ sudo apt-get install build-essential

$ cd datadraw

$ ./autogen.sh

$ ./configure

$ make

$ sudo make install

```



Hopefully that all goes well... After dependencies are installed, to build

rune:



```sh

$ git clone https://github.com/google/rune.git

$ git clone https://github.com/pornin/CTTK.git

$ cp CTTK/inc/cttk.h CTTK

$ cd rune

$ make

```



CTTK was written by Thomas Pornin. It provides constant-time big-integer

arithmetic.



If `make` succeeds, test the Rune compiler in the rune directory with:



```sh

$ ./runtests.sh

```



Some tests are currently expected to fail, but most should pass. To install

rune under /usr/local/rune:



```sh

$ sudo make install

```



Test your installation:



```sh

$ echo 'println "Hello, World!"' > hello.rn

$ rune -g hello.rn

$ ./hello

```



You can debug your binary executable with gdb:



```sh

$ gdb ./hello

```



TODO: add instructions on how to debug the compiler itself, especially the datadraw debug functionality.