A C compiler, targetting the Transputer for the Parachute project, EPOC16 (the OS of the Psion Series 3 PDAs), and x86_64 (for testing).
Built in Rust with TDD, and following the book ["Writing a C Compiler" by Nora Sandler] (https://nostarch.com/writing-c-compiler).
It is part of the Parachute Project.
Actively in development.
Started May 2024, there's currently the compiler driver, and the start of the actual compiler.
On Chapter 1, writing the compiler's lexer.
The intention is to build a C compiler using the progressive approach from Nora's book. Following the book closely for the EPOC16 target; adapting it as needed for the Transputer, which is quite different to the 8086.
- Language: (eventually) C89, some C99 features; Objective-C extensions.
- Runs on: Linux (Debian derivatives), HaikuOS, Windows, the BSD family, macOS. Maybe docker?
- Continuous test/build provided by CircleCI (Linux).
This project will provide a compiler driver, and the C compiler itself. It will not provide a preprocessor (we'll depend on gcc's preprocessor), assembler, or linker.
It should be able to generate optimised assembly for the Parachute TMASM assembler, for the T425ish that is currently emulated.
- Target: T425
It should generate optimised assembly for an as-yet-undecided assembler.
- Target: 8086; NEC V20 extensions
- Replicate the output of JPI/Clarion TopSpeed C 3.10 as closely as possible (pure small memory model)
All code is in Rust, and is developed as far as is practical using Test Driven Development.
The intention with TDD is two-fold:
- to provide a pressure against coupled designs (if it's hard to get into a test, it's too coupled)
- to provide an indicator of quality (if all the tests pass, we can be confident it is shippable)
The project uses Cargo workspaces, with several modules in subdirectories under the 'crates' directory: See [https://matklad.github.io/2021/08/22/large-rust-workspaces.html]
- rcc is the main compiler driver, the program you use to do compilation. It calls the preprocessor, assembler etc.
- rcc1 is the C compiler proper. It translates preprocessed C into the appropriate assembler.
- common is code that's common to the other crates.
- test_common is code for use in tests, that's common to the other crates.
You will need Rust, at least version 1.74.0. Only the stable version is used. To run tests, and build the binaries:
- cargo test
- cargo build --release
This will give you two executables: target/release/rcc and target/release/rcc1.
At some point, the executables will be packaged into the relevant package formats for the various OSs: .deb, whatever HaikuOS uses, .msi, .pkg.. or perhaps just a .zip that you extract somewhere and add to the PATH.
The executables will also be shipped as part of the overall Parachute project.
When there is some, it'll be in the 'docs' directory.
Alex Brown for planting the seed of the project. See [https://hackaday.io/project/161291-the-last-psion]
Nora Sandler for her blog posts, that eventually turned into the 'Writing a C Compiler' book.
Brian Kernighan & the late Dennis Ritchie, of course!
This code is released under the Apache 2.0 License: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html.
(C) 2024 Matt J. Gumbley and hopefully others!
Mastodon: @[email protected]