README

This repository holds several tools for enhancing .NET and C# development:

• The Loyc .NET Core libraries, a set of libraries whose theme is "stuff that should be built into the .NET framework, but isn't." These libraries have their own repository and home page, and the Loyc .NET Core repository is the Core/ folder in this repository.

• Enhanced C# (or EC#) is a liberalization and regularization of the C# language. You can think of EC# as a C# preprocessor, since only the "front end" part of the project is done. The preprocessor consists of three mostly-independent parts,

  1. The Enhanced C# parser
  2. LeMP, the Lexical Macro Processor
  3. LeMP Standard Macros

• LLLPG, the Loyc LL(k) Parser Generator, which is used to generate code from the grammars of Enhanced C#, LES, and LLLPG itself.

These projects are the first products of the Loyc (Language of Your Choice) initiative.

Installation

If you just want the core libraries, you can find them in NuGet. Otherwise, see

• How to set up LeMP or LLLPG in Visual Studio
• How to set up LeMP or LLLPG on other platforms
• Download page

How to build

Open Loyc.sln in Visual Studio, set the build configuration to Debug.NET45, and build it!

What's the deal with the binaries?

LeMP and LLLPG are self-hosting: they rely on themselves to help build themselves. Therefore, a binary copy of LeMP and LLLPG is kept in the Lib\LeMP subdirectory. However, to avoid bloating the git history, it is rarely updated. Consider checking here for a newer release. As of late 2016, releases still contain the .NET 4 Release build rather than .NET 4.5, because the Visual Studio syntax highlighters are still built with VS 2010 (and compatible with VS 2010, VS 2012, VS 2013 and VS 2015). As soon as someone asks me to switch the main release .NET 4.5, I will.

Of course, you can also just build Loyc.sln to get a .NET 4.5 or even .NET 3.5 build. Compatibility with .NET 3.5 is aided by the Theraot compatibility library.

How to publish new versions

This is not necessary for pull requests: qwertie will take care of versioning.

1. Rebuild all (Release configuration in Loyc.all.sln) and run tests (Tests.exe)
2. Update version in Core/AssemblyVersion.cs
3. Update appveyor.yml at version: (first line)
4. Update appveyor.yml at - set SEMVER= (semantic version combines w.x.y into wx.y, e.g. 2.7.1 => 27.1, because semantic versioning demands a new major version number for each breaking change, while the internal version number increments the minor version for a minor breaking change.)
5. If a GitHub release is to be created, uninstall the LeMP VS extension and rebuild it with UpdateLibLeMPAndReinstall.bat. Manually check that it still works.
6. Commit changes
7. Push changes. Appveyor will publish NuGet packages automatically.
8. Create an (unannotated) git tag like v2.7.1 locally: git tag v2.7.1. Push the tag: git push origin v2.7.1 (optional if creating a release on GitHub)
9. Every so often, create a release on GitHub.com. Prepare a zip file from the built binaries and include Lib\LeMP\LeMP_VisualStudio.vsix separately as part of the release.