~ashn/sunder

#The Sunder Programming Language

Sunder is a C-like systems programming language and compiler for x86-64 and ARM64 Linux.

#Dependencies

Sunder tooling should build and run on any x86-64 or ARM64 Linux machine satisfying the following dependencies:

POSIX-compatible make
Supported toolchain containing:
- C99 compiler (POSIX c99, clang, gcc, etc.)
- ld
clang or gcc (C backend only)
nasm or yasm (x86-64 NASM backend only)
clang-format (development only)

The top-level Dockerfile defines a Debian image with all development dependencies pre-installed. The Docker image can be built and run with:

$ docker buildx build --platform=linux/amd64 --tag sunder .             # Build the image (do this once)
$ docker run --rm --interactive --tty --volume "$(pwd)":/sunder sunder  # Run the image (do this every time)

#Building

#Quick Version

Run make to build the compiler.

Run make check examples to run the test suite and compile the example programs under the examples directory.

#Long Version

The top-level Makefile contains the following important targets:

build => Build the compiler (default make target).
check => Run the test suite for the language and standard library.
examples => Compile the example programs under the examples directory.
format => Run clang-format over the compiler sources.
clean => Remove build artifacts.

Targets will execute with CC=c99 using release mode CFLAGS by default.

Specific compiler/compiler-flag combinations include:

$ make <targets> CFLAGS='$(C99_DBG)'  # POSIX c99 (debug)
$ make <targets> CFLAGS='$(C99_REL)'  # POSIX c99 (release)

$ # Use CC=clang for Clang or CC=gcc for GCC
$ make <targets> CC=clang CFLAGS='$(GNU_DBG)'              # clang/gcc (debug)
$ make <targets> CC=clang CFLAGS='$(GNU_DBG) $(SANITIZE)'  # clang/gcc (debug with Address Sanitizer)
$ make <targets> CC=clang CFLAGS='$(GNU_REL)'              # clang/gcc (release)

The compiler is built with SUNDER_DEFAULT_BACKEND=C and SUNDER_DEFAULT_CC=clang by default, indicating that the C backend should be used with clang if SUNDER_BACKEND and/or SUNDER_CC (explained below) are not set when the compiler is invoked.

To use nasm as the default compiler backend, override SUNDER_DEFAULT_BACKEND with nasm when executing targets:

$ make <targets> SUNDER_DEFAULT_BACKEND=nasm

To use yasm as the default compiler backend, override SUNDER_DEFAULT_BACKEND with yasm when executing targets:

$ make <targets> SUNDER_DEFAULT_BACKEND=yasm

#Installing

The install target will install the Sunder toolchain into the directory specified by SUNDER_HOME (default $HOME/.sunder). Run make install with SUNDER_HOME specified as the directory of your choice:

$ make install                          # Install to the default $HOME/.sunder
$ make install SUNDER_HOME=/opt/sunder  # Install to /opt/sunder

Then, add the following snippet to your .profile, replacing $HOME/.sunder with your chosen SUNDER_HOME directory if installing to a non-default SUNDER_HOME location:

export SUNDER_HOME="$HOME/.sunder"
if [ -e "$SUNDER_HOME/env" ]; then
    . "$SUNDER_HOME/env"
fi

Verify that the compiler has been successfully installed by running sunder-compile -h. You may have to source your .profile in new shells until the start of your next login session.

#Using the Sunder Compiler

Sunder programs are compiled into executables with sunder-compile.

import "std";

func main() void {
    std::print_line(std::out(), "Hello, world!");
}

$ sunder-compile -o hello examples/hello.sunder
$ ./hello
Hello, world!

The -o OUT option may be used to specify the name of the output executable. If this option is not provided then the output executable will default to the name a.out.

The intermediate files OUT.tmp.asm, OUT.tmp.c, and OUT.tmp.o (output executable name plus tmp.asm, tmp.c, and tmp.o extensions) are generated during compilation (depending on the chosen SUNDER_BACKEND) and subsequently removed after the output executable has been created. The -k flag will instruct the compiler not to remove these files (useful for debugging).

$ SUNDER_BACKEND=C sunder-compile -k -o hello examples/hello.sunder
$ ls hello*
hello  hello.tmp.c

$ SUNDER_BACKEND=nasm sunder-compile -k -o hello examples/hello.sunder
$ ls hello*
hello  hello.tmp.asm  hello.tmp.o

The following environment variables affect compiler behavior:

SUNDER_BACKEND => Selects the backend to be used for object file generation. Currently, SUNDER_BACKEND=C, SUNDER_BACKEND=nasm, and SUNDER_BACKEND=yasm, are supported. If this environment variable is not set, then the default backend is used.
SUNDER_SEARCH_PATH => Colon-separated list of directories specifying the module search path for import and embed statements.
SUNDER_SYSASM_PATH => Location of the platform specific sys.asm file that defines the program entry point as well as low-level operating system and hardware abstractions when using the NASM backend. If this environment variable is not set, then the default path is used.
SUNDER_CC => Selects the C compiler to be used when compiling with the C backend. Currently, SUNDER_CC=clang and SUNDER_CC=gcc are supported. If this environment variable is not set, then the default C compiler is used.
SUNDER_CFLAGS => Space-separated list of additional flags passed to the C compiler when compiling with the C backend.

#Using Sunder as a Scripting Language

Sunder can be used for scripting by adding #!/usr/bin/env sunder-run (or equivalent) as the first line of a Sunder source file. If this environment variable is not set, then the default path, $SUNDER_HOME/lib/sys/sys.asm, is used.

#!/usr/bin/env sunder-run
import "std";

func main() void {
    std::print(std::out(), "What is your name?\n> ");

    var result = std::read_line(std::input());
    if result.is_error() {
        std::print_line(std::err(), result.error().*.data);
        std::exit(std::EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    var optional = result.value();
    if optional.is_empty() or countof(optional.value()) == 0 {
        std::print_line(std::err(), "unexpected empty input");
        std::exit(std::EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    var line = optional.value();
    defer std::slice[[byte]]::delete(line);

    var name = std::ascii::view_trimmed(optional.value());
    std::print_format_line(std::out(), "Nice to meet you {}!", (:[]std::formatter)[std::formatter::init[[typeof(name)]](&name)]);
}

$ ./examples/greet.sunder
What is your name?
> Alice
Nice to meet you Alice!

#Using Sunder Without Installing

Executing the following commands will create an environment sufficient for Sunder development and experimentation without requiring the Sunder toolchain to be installed.

$ cd /your/path/to/sunder
$ make
$ SUNDER_HOME="$(pwd)"
$ . ./env
$ sunder-run examples/hello.sunder
Hello, world!

#License

Sunder is distributed under the terms of the Apache License (Version 2.0).

See LICENSE for more information.

refs

clone