89 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
## Code Structure
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I tried to make the code of the compiler and vlib as simple and readable as
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possible. One of V's goals is to be open to developers with different levels
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of experience in compiler development. Compilers don't need to be black boxes
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full of magic that only few people understand.
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The V compiler is modular, and can by used by other applications. It is located in `cmd/v/` and `vlib/v/`.
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The main files are:
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1. `cmd/v/v.v`. The entry point.
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- V figures out the build mode.
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- Constructs the compiler object (`struct V`).
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- Creates a list of .v files that need to be parsed.
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- Creates a parser object for each file and runs `parse()` on them.
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- The correct backend is called (C, JS, x64), and a binary is compiled.
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2. `v/scanner` The scanner's job is to parse a list of characters and convert
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them to tokens.
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3. `v/token` This is simply a list of all tokens, their string values, and a
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couple of helper functions.
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4. `v/parser` The parser. It converts a list of tokens into an AST.
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In V, objects can be used before declaration, so unknown types are marked as unresolved.
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They are resolved later in the type checker.
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5. `v/table` V creates one table object that is shared by all parsers. It
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contains all types, consts, and functions, as well as several helpers to search
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for objects by name, register new objects, modify types' fields, etc.
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6. `v/checker`. Type checker and resolver. It processes the AST and makes sure
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the types are correct. Unresolved types are resolved, type information is added
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to the AST.
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7. `v/gen` C backend. It simply walks the AST and generates C code that can be
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compiled with Clang, GCC, Visual Studio, and TCC.
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8. `json.v` defines the json code generation. This file will be removed once V
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supports comptime code generation, and it will be possible to do this using the
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language's tools.
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9. `v/gen/x64` is the directory with all the machine code generation logic. It
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defines a set of functions that translate assembly instructions to machine code
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and build the binary from scratch byte by byte. It manually builds all headers,
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segments, sections, symtable, relocations, etc. Right now it only has basic
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support of the x64 platform/ELF format.
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The rest of the directories are vlib modules: `builtin/` (strings, arrays,
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maps), `time/`, `os/`, etc. Their documentation is pretty clear.
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## Example Workflow for Contributing
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(provided by [@spytheman](https://github.com/spytheman))
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(If you don't already have a GitHub account, please create one. Your GitHub
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username will be referred to later as 'YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME'. Change it
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accordingly in the steps below.)
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1. Clone https://github.com/vlang/v in a folder, say nv (`git clone
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https://github.com/vlang/v nv`)
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1. `cd nv`
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1. `git remote add pullrequest git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/v.git` #
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(NOTE: this is your own forked repo of: https://github.com/vlang/v - After
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this, we just do normal git operations such as: `git pull` and so on.)
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1. When finished with a feature/bugfix, you can: `git checkout -b fix_alabala`
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1. `git push pullrequest` # (NOTE: the pullrequest remote was setup on step 3)
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1. On GitHub's web interface, I go to: https://github.com/vlang/v/pulls Here
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the UI shows a nice dialog with a button to make a new pull request based on
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the new pushed branch. (Example dialogue:
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https://url4e.com/gyazo/images/364edc04.png)
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1. After making your pullrequest (aka, PR), you can continue to work on the
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branch... just do step #5 when you have more commits.
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1. If there are merge conflicts, or a branch lags too much behind V's master,
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you can do the following:
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1. `git checkout master`
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1. `git pull`
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1. `git checkout fix_alabala`
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1. `git rebase master` # solve conflicts and do git rebase --continue
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1. `git push pullrequest -f`
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The point of doing the above steps to never directly push to the main V
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repository, only to your own fork. Since your local master branch tracks the
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main V repository's master, then `git checkout master; git pull --rebase origin
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master` work as expected (this is actually used by `v up`) and it can always do
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so cleanly. Git is very flexible, so there may be simpler/easier ways to
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accomplish the same thing.
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