Exercises

Exercises

These exercises use the material from Chapters 15.1 through 15.8. Most are small. The goal is to practice reading and writing build.zig files until the structure becomes familiar.

Exercise 15-33

Create this project layout:

project/
├── build.zig
├── build.zig.zon
├── src/
│   └── main.zig
└── examples/
    └── hello.zig

Build the executable with:

zig build

Run the example with:

zig build run-example

Exercise 15-34

Add these build steps:

check
run
test
fmt
examples

Verify that:

zig build --help

shows all five.

Exercise 15-35

Write a program that accepts command-line arguments.

Pass arguments through the build system:

zig build run -- alpha beta gamma

Print each argument on a separate line.

Exercise 15-36

Add a build option:

-Dtrace=true

Expose the value through a generated configuration module named config.

Print:

trace enabled

only when the option is true.

Exercise 15-37

Add a second build option:

-Dport=9000

Use it as the default port number in the program.

Exercise 15-38

Write tests for these functions:

max
min
clamp

Use:

std.testing.expectEqual

instead of expect where possible.

Exercise 15-39

Write a test that intentionally leaks memory.

Observe the failure from the testing allocator.

Then fix the leak.

Exercise 15-40

Create two examples:

examples/read-file.zig
examples/write-file.zig

Add one examples build step that builds both.

Exercise 15-41

Add a dependency to build.zig.zon.

Import it into the main executable.

Then create a second executable that does not receive the dependency.

Verify that the second executable cannot import the module.

Exercise 15-42

Build the project for:

x86_64-linux
x86_64-windows
aarch64-macos

Observe the output directory structure.

Exercise 15-43

Write a small platform abstraction:

pub fn separator() u8

Return '\\' on Windows and '/brain/' elsewhere.

Hide the implementation behind a module import.

Exercise 15-44

Add a ci step that depends on:

check
test
fmt
examples

Run:

zig build ci

Exercise 15-45

Write a helper function in build.zig:

fn addExample(...)

Use it to reduce duplicated code when adding example executables.

Exercise 15-46

Create a static library:

const lib = b.addStaticLibrary(...)

Link it into an executable.

Exercise 15-47

Create a shared library.

Build it for Linux and Windows.

Observe the generated file extensions.

Exercise 15-48

Add a generated source file step.

Generate a Zig source file containing:

pub const version = "0.1.0";

Import the generated module into the main program.

Exercise 15-49

Write a program that prints:

architecture
operating system
pointer width
endianness

using compile-time target information.

Build it for several targets.

Exercise 15-50

Take a small command-line program from an earlier chapter and reorganize it as a complete Zig project with:

• build.zig
• build.zig.zon
• tests
• examples
• custom build steps
• build options
• cross-build support

The final project should build cleanly with:

zig build
zig build test
zig build run
zig build examples
zig build ci