Attention

PotatoOS is currently in early alpha and is not available for download. Features and APIs documented here are subject to change.

Introduction to STARCH

Welcome to the STARCH development environment. STARCH is the high-level, C-styled programming language that powers all native applications and services within PotatoOS. Its design prioritizes consistency, simplicity, and deep integration with the core operating system kernel.

The STARCH Development Workflow

Warning

These features are planned, and are subject to change.

All development on PotatoOS follows a unified, three-step workflow utilizing the built-in system tools:

  1. Write: Use the graphical Text Editor (or a command-line editor like sted) to create your application source file. All STARCH files use the .starch extension.

  2. Execute: Execute the script directly using the Mash shell. The shell automatically invokes the STARCH Interpreter to execute your code.

  3. Debug: Output, errors, and system warnings are handled by the console module and routed to the primary Mash terminal or a system log.

Example Execution from Mash:

/users/alice/myscript.starch arg1 arg2
/system/app/calculator

Core Concepts: Modularity and I/O

Unlike traditional scripting languages with global I/O functions (like print()), STARCH is built on a modular design, even for basic operations. This promotes cleaner code and better separation of concerns, especially for future graphical applications.

using console;

function main() {
    console.print("Welcome to STARCH!");
    let name = console.input("What is your name? ");
    console.print("Hello, " + name + ".");
}

main();

Next Steps

The next page provides a detailed look at the fundamental building blocks of the language: Language Syntax.