1. Introduction

Vala is an object-oriented programming language with a self-hosting compiler that generates C code and uses the GObject type system.

Vala is designed to allow access to existing C libraries, especially GObject-based libraries, without the need for runtime bindings.

All that is needed to use a library with Vala is an API file, containing the class and method declarations in Vala syntax.

Vala currently comes with bindings for GLib and GTK+ and many others from the GNOME Platform.

Vala can also be used to create C libraries too.

The syntax of Vala is inspired by C# and Java, so if you have used either of those, you’ll seamlessly adapt to writing Vala code.

1.1. Why Vala?

• Comfortably write your code in an object-oriented way with high level abstractions, while having access to deep integrations with GNOME technolgies such as: GObject, GTK and more!

• Vala compiles code down to blazingly fast, fully native binaries. You’re also able to reuse existing C Code in your Vala programs as well as generate C Code from Vala.

• Vala is free and open-source software. It has a great community that contributes to the compiler and develops lots of tooling.

1.2. Who is this tutorial for?

This tutorial is for anybody intrested in learning Vala. This tutorial is written with the assumption that the reader is a beginner at programming so we do make an effort to explain programming concepts and practices throught the tutorial.