idris-compiler-tools

About

This project aims to design a framework for safe and convenient compiler construction. The general approach is to define a set of data types that will represent both the compiled and the target language elements in such a way that will make it possible to express, and thus, enforce their key properties. Dependent types play a key role here.

The two properties that receive the most attention in this project are the type correctness of the language elements (expressions, instructions, function definitions) and the correctness of jumps between basic blocks of the target language code.

To test the framework in practice, a compiler of a simple imperative language LNG is included in the project.

Key modules

The entire source code is located in the src folder.

• Data definitions:

  • LNG.Parsed - a representation of LNG as it is returned by the parser. A representation of syntactically correct LNG code, i.e., the AST tree.
  • LNG.TypeChecked - a representation of LNG as it is returned by the type-checker. A semantically correct (to the extent it is worth it to enforce) LNG code.
  • LLVM - a representation of the LLVM intermediate representation, that takes the role of the target language.
  • CFG - a representation of a control-flow graph, which enforces the correctness of jumps between basic blocks.
  • Compile.Data.CBlock - a representation of a basic block in the process of being constructed, i.e., one that facilitates construction of basic blocks from partially defined ones.

• The compiler:

  • Main - the main program of the compiler.
  • Parse.Parse, Parse.[...] - the parsing phase of the compiler.
  • TypeCheck, TypeCheck.[...] - the type-checking phase of the compiler.
  • Compile, Compile.[...] - the code-generating phase of the compiler.

The LNG language

The LNG language is a simple typed imperative language. It has three data types (four including void): boolean, int, and string. It supports basic arithmetic, boolean logic, if-then-else statements, while loops, and allows defining and calling functions.

You can see examples of LNG programs in the test folder.

How to run the compiler

Dependencies

Package manager

This project is built using the pack package manager: https://github.com/stefan-hoeck/idris2-pack

LLVM

To run the code generated by the compiler, you will need the LLVM interpreter. You can install it with:

sudo apt install llvm

Build the compiler:

pack build compiler-tools

Run the compiler

To compile a source file SOURCE_DIR.lng run the following:

pack run compiler-tools <SOURCE_DIR>.lng <SOURCE_DIR>.ll

Run the compiled code

To execute the compiled file DIR.ll run the following

./scripts/run <DIR>.ll

Tests

To compile all test cases run the following:

./scripts/compile

To test the compiled examples, run the following:

./scripts/test

You can clean the files generated during the compilation and testing:

./scripts/clean

Warning

The parser is slow when input is invalid

Because the parser is based on the list monad, it is extremely slow to reject input that is not syntactically correct.