| .. | ||
| all.rb | ||
| basic_expressions.rb | ||
| call_site_expression.rb | ||
| compound_expressions.rb | ||
| expression_list.rb | ||
| function_expression.rb | ||
| if_expression.rb | ||
| module_expression.rb | ||
| operator_expressions.rb | ||
| README.md | ||
| return_expression.rb | ||
| while_expression.rb | ||
Ast
The Ast (abstract syntax tree) is created by salama-reader gem and the classes defined there
Compiling
The code in this directory compiles the AST to the virtual machine code.
If this were an intrepreter, we would just walk the tree and do what it says. Since it's not things are a little more difficult, especially in time.
When compiling we deal with two times, compile-time and run-time. All the headache comes from mixing those two up.*
Similarly, the result of compiling is two-fold: a static and a dynamic part.
- the static part are objects like the constants, but also defined classes and their methods
- the dynamic part is the code, which is stored as streams of instructions in the MethodDefinition
Too make things a little simpler, we create a very high level instruction stream at first and then run transformation and optimisation passes on the stream to improve it.
Each ast class gets a compile method that does the compilation.
Method Definition and Instructions
The first argument to the compile method is the MethodDefinition. All code is encoded as a stream of Instructions in the MethodDefinition. In fact Instructions are a linked list and so the MethodDefinition only hold the head, and the current insertion point.
Code is added to the method (using add()), rather than working with the actual instructions. This is so each compile method can just do it's bit and be unaware of the larger structure that is being created. The genearal structure of the instructions is a graph (what with if's and whiles and breaks and what), but we build it to have one start and one end (return).
Messages and frames
The virtual machine instructions obviously operate on the virtual machine. Since the machine is virtual, we have to define it, and since it is oo we define it in objects.
Also it is important to define how instructions, which is is in a ohysical machine by changing the contents of registers or some stack.
Our machine is ot a register machine, but an object machine: it operates directly on objects and also has no stack.
When a Method needs to make a call, or send a message, it creates a Message object. Messages contain return addresses and arguemnts.
Then the machine must find the method to call.
Then a new Method receives the message, creates a Frame for local and temporary variables and continues execution.
The important thing here is that Messages and Frames are normal objects.
And interestingly we can partly use ruby to find the method, so in a way it is not just a top down transformation. but the sending goes back up and then down again.
The Message object is the second parameter to the compile method, the run-time part as it were. Why? Since it only exists at runtime: to make compile time analysis possible. Especially for those times when we can resolve the method at compile time. (Which is for all vm code)
As ruby is a dynamic language, it also compiles at run-time. This line of thought does not help though as it sort of mixes the seperate times up, even they are not. Even in a running ruby programm the stages of compile and run are seperate. Similarly it does not help to argue that the code is static too, not dynamic, as that leaves us with a worse working model.