Mica Language Support for Visual Studio Code

A modern systems programming language with native C interoperability

🔗 Homepage · 📥 Download Compiler · 📚 Tutorials · 🎬 YouTube · 🐛 Report Issues

Welcome!

Thank you for your interest in Mica! We're thrilled to have you here. Whether you're exploring systems programming, learning about compiler design, or building your next project, this extension is designed to make your Mica development experience smooth and enjoyable. We hope you'll find Mica both educational and fun to work with.

What is Mica?

Mica is a statically-typed, modern compiled language designed for clarity, performance, and education:

Key Features

• 🎯 Clean, readable syntax — Pascal-inspired structure that's easy to learn and powerful to use
• 📚 Educational focus — Perfect for learning compiler construction and systems programming
• ⚡ Native performance — Compiles directly to x86_64 assembly with zero runtime overhead
• 🔗 Seamless C interoperability — Call C libraries and export Mica functions with no FFI wrappers
• 🧩 Advanced language features — Nested procedures, lexical scoping, type inference, and format strings
• 🌍 Full Unicode support — UTF-8 source files and UTF-32/UTF-8 string literals
• 🐛 Complete debugging support — DWARF v5 debug information for GDB integration

Why Learn Mica?

• Understand how compilers work — See exactly how high-level code becomes assembly
• Master systems programming — Direct access to Linux system calls and C standard library
• Build real programs — No toy language—Mica produces production-ready native executables
• Grow with the language — Follow active development and contribute to an evolving ecosystem

Visual Studio Extension Features

✨ Syntax Highlighting

• Complete syntax highlighting for all Mica language features
• Support for all data types: int8, int16, int32, int64, float32, float64, uint8, uint16, uint32, uint64, unicode, bool, string
• Import declarations with imp keyword for namespace imports
• Logical operators: and, or, not
• Type casting with as keyword
• Loop and decision logic with while and if keywords
• String literals with escape sequences
• Unicode character literals
• Line comments (//) and block comments ({ })
• Floating-point numbers with scientific notation

🔧 Language Features

• IntelliSense-ready: Proper token classification for future language server
• Auto-indentation: C-style formatting with smart indentation
• Auto-closing pairs: Automatic closing of brackets, parentheses, quotes, and begin/end blocks
• Comment toggling: Easy comment/uncomment with keyboard shortcuts
• Code folding: Fold procedures, functions, blocks, and comments

🐛 Debugging Support

• Breakpoint support for .mica files
• Integration with GDB for native debugging of compiled executables
• DWARF v5 debug information generated by Mica compiler

📝 Code Snippets

Ready-to-use code snippets:

• program - Complete program template
• procedure - Procedure declaration
• function - Function declaration
• if, ifelse - Conditional statements
• while - Loop structure
• var, const, import - Variable, constant, and import declarations
• imports - Multiple import declarations block
• writeln, readln - I/O operations
• cast - Type casting
• And more!

Example

{ Fibonacci sequence calculator }
program fibonacci;

imp
    writeln : std;

var
    n, a, b, temp : int32;

begin
    writeln("Enter number of terms: ");
    readln("%d", address n);
    
    a := 0;
    b := 1;
    
    writeln("Fibonacci sequence:");
    writeln("%d", a);
    writeln("%d", b);
    
    while n > 2 do
    begin
        temp := a + b;
        a := b;
        b := temp;
        writeln("%d", temp);
        n := n - 1;
    end;
    
    exit := 0;
end.

Getting Started

New to Mica? Get up and running quickly:

1. Install the extension — From the VS Code Marketplace
2. Get the compiler — Download the binary compiler release
3. Learn the language — Work through the step-by-step tutorials
4. Start coding — Use the built-in snippets to write your first program

💡 Tip: Type program in a .mica file and press Tab to insert a complete program template.

Extension Settings

Release Notes

2.3.3 — January 2026 📡

• New links: Hyperlink corrections for Mica compiler release 4 to latest release

2.3.2 — December 2025 📡

• Bug fixes: Hyperlink corrections and wording improvements

2.3.0 — December 2025 📡

• New links: Repository was migrated to GitLab

2.2.0 — December 2025 📺

• Documentation: Improved README with professional formatting
• New links: Added YouTube channel and compiler download links
• Better navigation: Quick access to all Mica resources

2.1.0 — December 2025 🐉

• New icon: Fresh 3D dragon icon for a distinctive look in your editor
• Snippet improvements: Updated and refined code snippets
• Bug fixes: Resolved issues with snippet behavior

2.0.0 — November 2025 ✨

Complete rewrite with comprehensive language support:

1.0.0 — Initial Release

• Basic syntax highlighting
• Simple language configuration

License

This VS Code extension is released under the MIT License.

⚠️ Note: The Mica compiler uses a separate license. See the Mica website for details.

Have fun with the Mica compiler project! 🐉