This is an experimental compiler for AliceSoft's System 4 programming language, written in OCaml. The goal of this project is to eventually replace the somewhat more mature compiler in alice-tools (written in C).
The following dependencies should be installed via opam:
-
ocaml
-
core
-
core_unix
-
camlzip
-
dune
-
menhir
$ opam install core core_unix camlzip dune menhir
Then build the compiler with dune,
dune build
Run the command dune install to install sys4c (via opam). This does not
require root.
Alternatively, you can run the compiler without installing it with
dune exec src/sys4c.exe.
To compile one or more .jaf source files in batch mode, pass them to the
compiler on the command line. The -o option is used to specify the output
.ain file name (defaults to out.ain).
sys4c -o foobar.ain foo.jaf bar.jaf
To compile a source file in unit mode, the -c option is used. If the unit
depends on definitions from another source file, that source file should be
compiled first and passed on the command line using the -i option:
sys4c -c -o foo.ain foo.jaf
sys4c -c -o bar.ain -i foo.ain bar.jaf
Once all of the source files have been compiled as units, they can be linked to create the final .ain file similar to how .jaf files are compiled in batch mode:
sys4c -o foobar.ain foo.ain bar.ain
At this point, a source file needs to be recompiled if:
- The source file was modified, or
- Any of the external definitions it depends on have changed.
In order to determine (2), the old .ain file can be compared against its dependencies using the -m option:
sys4c -m foo.ain bar.ain
If this returns non-zero, the source file should be recompiled. In bash, you can check if a source file needs to be recompiled as follows:
if [ ! -f bar.ain ] || [ bar.jaf -nt bar.ain ] || ! sys4c -m foo.ain bar.ain; then
sys4c -c -i foo.ain -o bar.ain bar.jaf
fi
An example makefile-based build system is provided in the
extras/project-template directory in this repository.