Show HN: Bithoven – A high-level, imperative language for Bitcoin Smart Contract

Summary

Bithoven 🎼 A High-Level, Imperative Language for Bitcoin Smart Contracts Bithoven is a type-safe, developer-friendly programming language designed to compile down to native Bitcoin Script. It bridges the gap between complex smart contract logic and the low-level stack machine of the Bitcoin Virtual Machine (VM). Write readable, auditable code with modern control flow ( if/else ), named variables, and built-in safety checks—then compile it to highly optimized Bitcoin Script for SegWit or Taproot. ⚡ Key Features Imperative Syntax: Write logic using familiar if , else , and return statements instead of mental stack juggling. Write logic using familiar , , and statements instead of mental stack juggling. Type Safety: First-class support for bool , signature , string , and number types to prevent common runtime errors. First-class support for , , , and types to prevent common runtime errors. Multiple Spending Paths: Define complex contracts (like HTLCs) with distinct execution branches and input stack requirements. Define complex contracts (like HTLCs) with distinct execution branches and input stack requirements. Targeted Compilation: Support for legacy , segwit , and taproot compilation targets via pragmas. Support for , , and compilation targets via pragmas. Native Bitcoin Primitives: Built-in keywords for timelocks ( older , after ), cryptography ( sha256 , checksig ), and verification ( verify ). 🚀 Quick Start Bithoven Web IDE , see: https://bithoven-lang.github.io/bithoven/ide/ , see: https://bithoven-lang.github.io/bithoven/ide/ Bithoven Documentation, see: https://bithoven-lang.github.io/bithoven/docs/ Installation # For CLI user cargo install bithoven # For rust user cargo add bithoven # For js user npm install bithoven Writing Your First Contract Bithoven contracts are defined with a .bithoven extension. Below is an implementation of a standard Hashed Time-Locked Contract (HTLC), demonstrating how Bithoven simplifies conditional spending paths. htlc.bithoven pr...