ROADMAP.md

ROADMAP (WORK IN PROGRESS)

There are two main steps : the bootstrap compiler in Python, and the self hosted compiler.

Goal

The goal is an executable program that compiles a source written in SelfHosted (a C-like language) and generates a LLVM IR. This LLVM IR may be compiled to an executable. This executable is generated from a LLVM IR source, and this LLVM IR source is generated:

• from a Python source (bootstrap)
• from a SelfHosted source (SelfHosted compiler).

References

• The LLVM documentation: https://llvm.org/docs/LangRef.html

The bootstrap

Python and llvmlite.

The lexer

References:

• https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/54regexp/NFA.java.html
• Sedgewick, Algorithms in C, p. 293 sqq
• Dragon Book, p. 116 sqq
• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/automata_theory/index.htm

Steps

• Create in Python + llvmlite a LLVM-IR program that converts a subset of regexes into a NFA.
• Create in Python + llvmlite a LLVM-IR program that converts a NFA into a DFA.
• Given a language specification (pattern - action written in Python), build in Python + llvmlite a LLVM-IR source for a lexer.

The parser

References:

• Dragon Book, p. 233 sqq

Steps

• Given a BNF set of rules (with semantic actions associated), build in Python + llvmlite a LLVM-IR source for a parser.

At this point, we have a LLVM-IR program that takes any (very simple) token definition and grammar and outputs a basic compiler in LLVM-IR.

The self hosted compiler

• Given a SelfHosted grammar, create a basic SelfHosted compiler
• Adapt llvmlite to SelfHosted
• Convert the Python + llvmlite sources to SelfHosted + llvmlite sources.