Zig with GraalVM Native Image: FFM Metadata, Shared Libraries, Downcalls, and Symbol Visibility

A practical two-hour session on Zig with GraalVM Native Image, focused on FFM Metadata, Shared Libraries, Downcalls, and Symbol Visibility. The session treats Zig as a native component exposed through C-compatible boundaries, with attention to exported symbols, allocators, packaging, host-runtime tests, and failure handling.

Audience: entry-level and intermediate developers who want a practical engineering session, not a language tour.

Outcomes:

• Explain the practical boundaries of Zig with GraalVM Native Image
• Apply FFM Metadata in a small working example
• Apply Shared Libraries in a small working example
• Apply Downcalls in a small working example

Format: two hours with a short framing walkthrough, a concrete example, discussion of tradeoffs, and a closing checklist for practice.