aryx / fork-tiger

                   Tiger front-end for C--

This directory contains source code for a Tiger language compiler.
This compiler is a front end for the Quick C-- compiler. The Tiger
language is described in "Modern Compiler Implementation in ML" by
Andrew W. Appel. To quote from Appendix A of this book:

  The Tiger language is a small language with nested functions,
  record values with implicit pointers, arrays, integer and
  string variables, and a few simple structured control constructs.

BUILDING
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This version of the tiger compiler requires OCaml, GCC, and a binary
version of Quick C-- to build. To build the sources, do:

  $ ./configure
  $ make depend
  $ make

The following files will be produced:

   tigerc             - the tiger compiler
   stdlib/stdlib.a    - the tiger standard library
   runtime/runtime.o  - the stand-alone startup code

USING THE COMPILER
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The tigerc program converts a tiger program into an equivalent c--
program which can then be compiled with qc--. Since this compiler is
intended to be used for testing qc--, it does not attempt to call qc--
or the system linker to produce an executable program. In it's most
basic usage:

   $ ./tigerc demos/hello.tig > demos/hello.c--

A simple standard library and startup code are included with the
compiler. In order to create an executable, these will have to be
linked with the final result. The qc-- compiler can handle this for
us: 

  $ qc-- -globals -o hello  runtime/runtime.o stdlib/stdlib.a demos/hello.c--

ADDITIONAL NOTES
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The tiger compiler supports two implementations of exceptions. The
default implementation uses a C-- "cut to". Alternatively, you can
generate code for the stack unwinding implementation:

  $ tigerc -unwind demos/hello.tig > demos/hello.c--

For additional command line options see:

  $ ./tigerc -help

The Quick C-- interpreter client can be used to run code compiled for
the interpreter. The client registers the tiger standard library
functions and sets up the garbage collector before running the source
program:

   qc-- -interp source.c--
   client source.qs