Learning TypeRB

TypeRB is in alpha, so the fastest way to learn it is to combine executable feedback with focused references. This page is a path through the existing material, not a second copy of the language specification.

1. Try the language

Start with A Tour of TypeRB. It runs the compiler in the browser and introduces the core syntax in short lessons.

Use the Playground when you want to change a lesson, switch targets, format source, or inspect generated Go, Ruby, and TypeScript.

For a terminal session:

$ trb
trb:go> puts("Hello, TypeRB!")
Hello, TypeRB!
trb:go> 1 + 2
3 : Integer

The scratch REPL uses Go mode. Select another target with trb repl --mode ruby or trb repl --mode typescript.

2. Build one local program

Follow Create a project, then keep this loop short:

trb fmt
trb check
trb lint
trb run

trb check validates the complete configured project without generating target source or starting a target toolchain. That makes it the normal command to run while editing. trb lint repeats that correctness check and then adds the project's optional maintainability rules.

Read the language guide alongside the first program. Focus on:

1. functions, canonical type names, and immutable or mut bindings;
2. records, classes, enums, Arrays, and Hashes;
3. if, exhaustive case, nullable narrowing, and iteration; and
4. Result, prefix try, and postfix catch at recoverable-error boundaries.

Use the language specification only when you need the exact rule or are evaluating an edge case.

3. Choose an application path

Continue with one small vertical slice:

• Complete backend: Web, ORM, and Jobs tutorial
• JSON API: portable Web guide
• Database application: trb/orm guide
• Background worker: Jobs guide
• Browser UI: React and JSX guide and browser HTTP guide
• Reusable dependency: package guide

The complete backend tutorial connects request binding, an application transaction, durable enqueueing, and worker execution in one runnable project. The focused guides describe each public API and its intentional limitations; use them when extending that slice or building one of the other paths.

4. Look up details

Use the reference that owns the surface you are changing:

• Command-line reference
• Project configuration
• Standard library
• Current capability and limitations
• Language roadmap

The documentation index groups all application and contributor material.

5. Learn with an AI agent

The repository includes a use-typerb agent skill. In an agent that discovers repository skills, ask:

Use $use-typerb to teach me TypeRB by building a small JSON API. Give me one
exercise at a time and validate my code with the compiler before continuing.

The skill routes the agent to the current guide and compiler diagnostics rather than asking it to infer TypeRB from a target language. See AI-assisted TypeRB development for the same workflow when building an application rather than taking a tutorial.

6. Understand the compiler

Contributors should first read Development and compiler architecture. Trace one small feature through tokens, syntax AST, checking, typed IR, and a backend, then run its focused tests. The language specification defines behavior; generated target source is an implementation result rather than the source of semantics.