Ironwood is an interesting project: a Java-like, object-oriented language that compiles AOT to native executables, without a JVM, JIT, garbage collector, raw pointers, or Rust-style ownership.

Unlike GraalVM Native Image, which takes existing Java bytecode and packages the required Java runtime components into a native executable, Ironwood is a separate language designed from the start around native execution and explicit compiler-enforced safe memory management.

It uses LLVM, like Rust and Zig, so the native code produced can be very fast. It has a "defer" keyword for deferred cleanup, like Zig.

What do you think of the idea?

public class Hello {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Chatter chatter = new Chatter();

        String text = "Hello " + chatter.getWord() + "!";
        System.out.println(text);
        free text; // destroy object and reclaim the memory

        free chatter; // destroy object and reclaim the memory

        // System.out.println(chatter); // use after free NEVER compiles
    }

}

// OR:

public class Hello {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Chatter chatter = new Chatter();
        defer free chatter;

        String text = "Hello " + chatter.getWord() + "!";
        defer free text;
        System.out.println(text);
    }
}