Four roads lead to a running Mica. They differ in where the work happens; every one of them gives you the same compiler, the same debugger and the same example suite. Pick the row that matches the machine you are sitting at.

RoadWhat you needWhat you get
The dev containerDocker and VS Codethe starter repository open in your editor with the compiler and the debugger inside it, and F5 on every example
The imageDockera shell with the compiler in it, in one command
The packagesa Linux machine, x86_64 or AArch64the compiler installed natively, in one command
A machine in the clouda Google Cloud accounta machine of any size, set up and opened in your editor, gone again when you are done

Nothing else has to be installed on your own machine, and nothing outside Docker or the cloud account is left behind when you stop.

The dev container

git clone https://gitlab.com/mica-lang/mica-container.git
code mica-container      # then: Reopen in Container

Get started with Mica walks from here to your first program stopped in the debugger, in fifteen minutes.

The image

docker run -it micalang/mica

The image holds the compiler, the assembler and linker it drives, and gdb. Its page on Docker Hub has the one-minute hello.

The packages

Two .deb packages, the compiler and the runtime it links, for x86_64 and AArch64:

sudo apt install ./mica_<version>_<arch>.deb ./mica-dragon-rt_<version>_<arch>.deb

Installing Mica has the downloads, the checks, and the cross-architecture setup.

A machine in the cloud

The starter repository’s devkit creates a machine in Google Cloud, sets it up, opens it in your editor, and removes it when you are done. The devkit describes the three commands.

Then