About Bear
A programming language for building things that last.
Why Bear?
We started Bear because we wanted a language that does a few things extremely well:
- Compile fast. Not just "fast enough" — Bear compiles itself in under a second. Your build step should never be the bottleneck.
- Stay simple. Learn the whole language in a weekend. No hidden control flow, no macro systems you need a PhD to debug.
- Run fast. Bear compiles to C, then to native code. As fast as C, without the footguns.
- Stay safe. No null. No undefined behavior. Immutability by default. Errors are values, not afterthoughts.
- Keep it small. The compiler is under 20 MB. Zero dependencies. You can bootstrap it from a single C file.
Our Philosophy
Bear follows a few principles that guide every design decision:
Simplicity over features
Every feature must earn its place. If two features overlap, we pick one and commit. Bear has one way to do things, not five.
Speed is a feature
A fast compiler changes how you work. When rebuilding takes less than a second, you refactor fearlessly, experiment freely, and ship faster.
Safety without ceremony
Bear protects you from common bugs without requiring complex type gymnastics. The language should get out of your way.
Pragmatic defaults
GC by default because it's right for most code. Manual control when you need it. Arena allocation for hot paths. Choose your tradeoffs.
Origins
Bear is a fork of the V programming language. V gave us a solid foundation: a fast compiler, C backend, clean syntax, and a rich standard library.
We forked to pursue our own direction — adding features like coroutines, refining the concurrency model, and building a community around our own values. The fork preserves full compatibility with V code and the V standard library.
Every line of Bear compiles to human-readable C. You can read the generated code, debug it with standard tools, and link against any C library with zero overhead.
Who Uses Bear?
Bear is designed for:
- Systems programmers who want C performance with modern ergonomics.
- Web developers building APIs and full-stack apps with the built-in web framework.
- Tool authors who need fast startup, small binaries, and easy cross-compilation.
- Teams that value maintainability and want a language that stays out of the way.
- Students learning systems programming for the first time.
Open Source
Bear is open source under the MIT license. The compiler, standard library, and this website are all built in the open.
We believe the best languages are shaped by their communities. Every bug report, every pull request, every discussion makes Bear better.