bshift

import io;

u64 factorial(u64 n)
{
    if (n == 0)
    {
        return 1;
    }

    return n * factorial(n - 1);
}

u64 main()
{
    io::print("%u\n", factorial(5));

    return 0;
}

This is a toy compiler for a C-style language with a few other features:

• Structs can have methods, including optional constructors and destructors
• Function overloading based on argument types
• Templates
• No header files

These come with some drawbacks, including:

• Symbol name mangling
• All the other drawbacks

For an example of a bshift program, take a look at show.

Hint: don't use this for anything, it's super unstable.

Dependencies

• ldc
• gcc
• basm or nasm
• GNU make

Usage

make
bin/bshift examples/hello.bs
./a.out

Running the tests

Additional dependencies for running the tests:

• btest

From the bshift repository root directory:

btest

The bshift language

A hello world example can be written like so:

import io;

u64 main()
{
    io::print("Greetings!\n");

    return 0;
}

Built-in types in bshift

There are only a few built-in datatypes so far:

You can also have arrays of these primitives and pointers to these primitives. A pointer is always a u64 under the hood.

Type inference

There is also an auto keyword (thanks @eatonphil) which attempts to do some type inference:

import io;

u64 increment(u64 x)
{
    return x + 1;
}

u64 main()
{
    auto y = increment(6);

    io::print("%u\n", y);

    return 0;
}

Import

A module can be imported into another module using the import keyword:

import io;

u64 main()
{
    io::print("hello\n");

    return 0;
}

In the above example, the compiler will look for an io.bs file in the following locations, in order:

• ./io.bs
• ./lib/io.bs
• /usr/local/lib/bshift/io.bs

If it finds a match, any exported functions/structs will become available by using the module name and the scope operator. So io::print refers to a function called print which is exported by the module io.

Unqualified imports

Specific functions or structs can be imported without requiring the module scope operator by naming them directly:

import print from io;

u64 main()
{
    print("hello\n");

    return 0;
}

You can also import multiple functions or structs from a module:

import length, reverse from cstring;

Export

By default, all definitions in a module are private to that module. In order to make them available to other modules, they have to be exported:

// example.bs

export u64 increment(u64 a)
{
    return a + 1;
}

export struct point
{
    u64 x;
    u64 y;
}

void not_exported()
{
}

The above module can be imported by another module:

import io;
import example;

u64 main()
{
    example::point p;
    p.x = 3;

    u64 a = example::increment(p.x);

    io::print("%u\n", a);

    return 0;
}

The exported struct point and the exported function increment are available to the importing module. However, trying to access the not_exported function would result in an error.

When run, the output will be:

4

Structs

Structs can be made up of primitives and/or other structs. They can also have member methods:

import io;

struct point
{
    u64 x;
    u64 y;
}

bool point::equals(point* other)
{
    return this.x == other.x && this.y == other.y;
}

u64 main()
{
    point p1;
    p1.x = 3;
    p1.y = 7;

    point p2;
    p2.x = 4;
    p2.y = 9;

    if (p1.equals(&p2))
    {
        io::print("p1 equals p2\n");
    }
    else
    {
        io::print("p1 does not equal p2\n");
    }

    return 0;
}

Constructors

Structs can have constructors, which are used to initialize struct instances. A constructor is defined by making a struct method called construct which returns void:

import io;

struct point
{
    u64 x;
    u64 y;
}

void point::construct(u64 x, u64 y)
{
    this.x = x;
    this.y = y;
}

u64 main()
{
    point p(3, 7);

    io::print("%u, %u\n", p.x, p.y);

    return 0;
}

When run, the output will be:

3, 7

Destructors

Structs can have destructors, which are called automatically when they leave scope. A destructor is defined by making a struct method called destruct which takes no arguments and returns void:

import io;

struct val
{
    u64 x;
}

void val::destruct()
{
    io::print("destruct called\n");
}

u64 main()
{
    val v;

    io::print("main() body\n");

    return 0;
}

When run, the output will be:

main() body
destruct called

Defer

Statements can be deferred to the end of the current scope, similar to Go, to help with cleaning up heap-allocated memory, open file handles, etc:

import io;

u64 main()
{
    defer io::print("deferred\n");

    io::print("not deferred\n");

    return 0;
}

The output will be:

not deferred
deferred

Function overloading

Functions can be defined which have the same name but differ based on the types of their arguments:

import io;

void show(u64 x)
{
    io::print("%u\n", x);
}

void show(u8* s)
{
    io::print("%s\n", s);
}

u64 main()
{
    show(3);
    show("hello");

    return 0;
}

When run, the output will be:

3
hello

Method overloading

Struct methods can also be overloaded. One example use-case is to provide multiple ways of initializing a struct instance:

import io;

struct point
{
    u64 x;
    u64 y;
}

// Initialize a point with the given values
void point::construct(u64 x, u64 y)
{
    this.x = x;
    this.y = y;
}

// Initialize a point with default values
void point::construct()
{
    this.construct(0, 0);
}

u64 main()
{
    point p1();
    io::print("%u, %u\n", p1.x, p1.y);

    point p2(3, 7);
    io::print("%u, %u\n", p2.x, p2.y);
}

When run, the output will be:

0, 0
3, 7

Function templates

Generic programming of functions is possible by using templates. After a function name, put type parameters in angled brackets. When the function is called with a new list of concrete types, a new version of the template will be rendered:

import io;

T max<T>(T a, T b)
{
    if (a > b)
    {
        return a;
    }

    return b;
}

u64 main()
{
    io::print("%u\n", max<u64>(3, 7));

    return 0;
}

When run, the output will be:

7

When max<u64>(3, 7) is called the first time, the compiler will notice that the template has not been called yet with T set to u64. So it will convert the following:

T max<T>(T a, T b)
{
    if (a > b)
    {
        return a;
    }

    return b;
}

To this:

u64 max(u64 a, u64 b)
{
    if (a > b)
    {
        return a;
    }

    return b;
}

Struct templates

Generic structs are also possible using a similar syntax:

import io;

struct container<T>
{
    T a;
    T b;
}

u64 main()
{
    container<u64> c;

    c.a = 3;
    c.b = 7;

    io::print("%u, %u\n", c.a, c.b);

    return 0;
}

When run, the output will be:

3, 7

When an instance of container<u64> is created, the compiler will convert the following template:

struct container<T>
{
    T a;
    T b;
}

To:

struct container
{
    u64 a;
    u64 b;
}

Sizeof

The sizeof built-in can be used to get the size (in bytes) of a type. Examples:

struct point
{
    u64 x;
    u64 y;
}

u64 main()
{
    u64 result0 = sizeof(u64);      // Returns 8
    u64 result1 = sizeof(point);    // Returns 16
    u64 result2 = sizeof(point*);   // Returns 8
    u64 result3 = sizeof(u8);       // Returns 1
    u64 result4 = sizeof(u8*);      // Returns 8

    return 0;
}

Variadic functions

Functions can accept an arbitrary number of arguments, with a couple of limitations:

1. Variadic arguments must come after any fixed positional arguments.
2. Variadic arguments are always type u64.

To make a function variadic, use the ... operator:

u64 sum(u64 total, ...)
{
    u64 ret = 0;

    for (u64 i = 0; i < total; i++)
    {
        ret = ret + variadic(i);
    }

    return ret;
}

This function can be called like this:

    u64 result1 = sum(1, 15);         // Returns 15
    u64 result2 = sum(3, 50, 20, 80); // Returns 150
    u64 result3 = sum(0);             // Returns 0

You can access a variadic argument by position using the variadic built-in. The variadic built-in takes a u64 index and returns the value of the variadic argument at that index.

To retreive the first variadic argument, use variadic(0). To retreive the third, use variadic(4).

Notice that the total number of variadic arguments provided is not inherently available. Variadic functions must provide some other way of communicating this information, like the parameter total above.

System calls

You can make system calls using the built-in syscall function. It takes a variable number of arguments. Each argument must be of the type u64. Only the first argument is required. The position of the argument determines which register the data will be copied into before the syscall instruction:

So to make an exit system call with a status code of 0:

    syscall(60, 0);

This will result in the following approximate assembly:

    mov rax, 60
    mov rdi, 0
    syscall

The syscall function returns whatever value is left in rax after the system call completes.

Standard library

The standard library is a collection of modules located in lib/.

io

The io module contains helper functions for input/output.

u64 io::print(u8* fmt, ...)

Prints text to standard output, with some formatting options.

import io

u64 main()
{
    io::print("Hello\n");
    io::print("Integer %u\n", 7);

    return 0;
}

Output:

Greetings!
Integer 7

cstring

The cstring module contains functions for dealing with C-style null-terminated ASCII strings.

u64 cstring::length(u8* str)

Returns the length of the given buffer by traversing it until the null-termination byte 0 is found.

import io;
import cstring;

u64 main()
{
    u8* str = "here is a string";

    io::print("Length: %u\n", cstring::length(str));

    return 0;
}

Output:

Length: 16

bool compare(u8* source, u8* destination)

Compares the contents of two C-style strings, returning true if they are identical and false otherwise.

import io;
import cstring;

u64 main()
{
    if (cstring::compare("these match", "these match"))
    {
        io::print("first is a match\n");
    }

    if (cstring::compare("not these", "though"))
    {
        io::print("this won't be written\n");
    }

    return 0;
}

Output:

first is a match

bool to_u64(u8* source, u64* destination)

Converts digits from a C-style string into a u64 integer. Returns true if the operation was successful or false if it failed.

import io;
import cstring;

u64 main()
{
    u8* str = "123";

    u64 converted = 0;

    if (cstring::to_u64(str, &converted) == false)
    {
        io::print("Failed to convert string to u64\n");
        return 1;
    }

    io::print("Converted to: %u\n", converted);

    return 0;
}

Output:

Converted to: 123

u64 from_u64(u64 source, u8* destination)

Converts an integer to an ASCII C-string. destination must have enough bytes to contain the value in source. Returns the number of digits written, not including the null termination character.

import io;
import cstring;

u64 main()
{
    u8[16] str;

    u64 written = cstring::from_u64(123, &str);

    io::print("digits written: %u\n", written);
    io::print(&str);
    io::print("\n");

    return 0;
}

Output:

digits written: 3
123

memory

The memory module contains helper functions for working with raw buffers of memory on a byte-level.

void copy(u8* source, u8* destination, u64 bytes)

Copies bytes bytes from source to destination.

import io;
import memory;

u64 main()
{
    u8* src = "hello\n";
    u8* dst = "erased";

    memory::copy(src, dst, 6);

    io::print(dst);

    return 0;
}

Output:

hello

heap

The heap module implements a very basic memory manager.

u8* allocate(u64 bytes)

Allocate a new buffer of size bytes. Returns the address to the beginning of the new buffer, or 0 if the request couldn't be fulfilled.

u8* reallocate(u8* ptr, u64 bytes)

Resize an existing buffer. Involves a linear time copy operation if the buffer has to be moved to accommodate the size change. Returns the address to the beginning of the buffer, which may or may not be the same as ptr.

void free(u8* ptr)

Free a buffer previously allocated with heap::allocate, marking that region of memory available for reuse by further allocation requests.

import io;
import memory;
import heap;

u64 main()
{
    u8* str = heap::allocate(5);

    memory::copy("Greet", str, 5);

    io::print(str);
    io::print("\n");

    str = heap::reallocate(str, 10);

    memory::copy("ings!", str + 5, 5);

    io::print(str);
    io::print("\n");

    heap::free(str);

    return 0;
}

Output:

Greet
Greetings!

math

The math module contains common math functions.

T math::max(T a, T b)

Returns the larger of the two given values.

import io;
import math;

u64 main()
{
    auto r = math::max<u64>(10, 25);

    io::print("%u\n", r);
}

Output:

25

T math::min(T a, T b)

Returns the smaller of the two given values.

import io;
import math;

u64 main()
{
    auto r = math::min<u64>(5, 3);

    io::print("%u\n", r);
}

Output:

3

T math::align(T value, T alignment)

Aligns value to the nearest larger multiple of alignment. For example, align(13, 4) = 16 and align(12, 4) = 12.

import math;

u64 main()
{
    auto r = math::align<u64>(13, 4);

    io::print("%u\n", r);
}

Output:

16

vector

The vector module contains an implementation of a dynamically-sized array.

Here's an example which creates a new vector of u64 integers, adds two elements, then prints those elements out as well as the total length of the vector:

import io;
import vector from vector;

u64 main()
{
    vector<u64> v;

    v.add(3);
    v.add(7);

    io::print("%u\n", v.get(0));
    io::print("%u\n", v.get(1));
    io::print("%u\n", v.length);

    return 0;
}

When run, the output will be:

3
7
2

Notes

Some notes on various peculiarities of the compiler:

• Compiles straight to Intel-style x86-64 assembly. Adding an LLVM mode would be really cool but there are no immediate plans.
• No 32-bit support.
• bshift programs don't link to libc by default. bshift has its own interface to syscalls and its own (extremely naive) memory manager.