constexpr-8cc: Compile-time C Compiler
constexpr-8cc is a compile-time C compiler implemented as C++14 constant expressions. This project is a port of 8cc built on ELVM Infrastructure.
Constant expressions in C++ are expressions that can be evaluated at compile-time. In C++14, by relaxing constrains, constant expressions became so powerful that a C compiler can be implemented in!
In constexpr-8cc, the main routine for compilations of C programs is implemented in a C++14 constexpr
function.
Therefore, if you compile 8cc.cpp
to a binary file by g++, compilation of a C program will be performed as a compile-time computation and the result of this C compilation will be embedded into the generated binary.
In this sense, constexpr-8cc is a compile-time C compiler.
The following is the main
function in 8cc.cpp.
int main() {
// Compile-time
constexpr buffer buf = eight_cc(); // Compile C code into ELVM IR
constexpr unsigned int output_size = buf.size;
static_assert(0 <= output_size && output_size < EIGHT_CC_OUTPUT_LIMIT, "8cc: Error");
// Run-time
for(int i = 0; i < output_size; ++i) {
putchar(buf.b[i]);
}
}
In this program, the return value of eight_cc
is stored into the variable buf
with a constexpr
specifier.
So, you will find that the compilation of a C program is done in compile-time.
Usage
constexpr-8cc requires g++ 6.2. (The version of g++ is important!)
run_8cc.py
Compilation by In order to try constexpr-8cc easily, use run_8cc.py
.
$ ./run_8cc.py x86 ./test/hello.c -o ./hello.exe # It takes several minutes.
$ chmod +x ./hello.exe
$ ./hello.exe
Hello, world!
You can change the target language of compilations like the following:
$ ./run_8cc.py py ./test/hello.c -o ./hello.py # target language is Python
$ python ./hello.py
Hello, world!
Compilation by hand
If you want to compile 8cc.cpp
manually, please look at config.hpp
.
In this file, the variable EIGHT_CC_INPUT_FILE
is defined.
EIGHT_CC_INPUT_FILE
should be a name of a file that contains a source C program as a C++ string literal.
This string will be embedded in 8cc.cpp at pre-processing-time and used as an input of the compile-time computation.
So, before compiling 8cc.cpp
manually, you have to convert a raw program to a string literal like the following:
$ sed "1iR\"(" ./test/hello.c | sed "$ a )\"" > ./test/hello.c.txt # Convert C to string literal
$ g++-6 ./8cc.cpp -o eir_gen.out
$ ./eir_gen.out > ./test/hello.eir # eir_gen.out outputs ELVM IR
$ sed -i "1iR\"(x86" ./test/hello.eir # Convert IR to string literal
$ sed -i "$ a )\"" ./test/hello.eir
$ g++-6 ./elc.cpp -o exe_gen.out
$ ./exe_gen.out > ./hello.exe # exe_gen.out outputs x86 binary
$ chmod +x ./hello.exe
$ ./hello.exe
Hello, world!
How was constexpr-8cc generated?
When you see 8cc.hpp
, you will know this program was not written by hand.
Actually, I used ELVM Compiler Infrastructure to generate it.
I just implemented a translator from ELVM IR to C++14 constexpr here.
References
- 8cc (@rui314)
- A very cool C compiler. constexpr-8cc is a C++14's constexpr port of 8cc.
- ELVM (@shinh)
- ELVM is a Eso Lang Virtual Machine. constexpr-8cc is built on ELVM infrastructure.
- 8cc.vim (@rhysd), 8cc.tex (@hak7a3)
- constexpr-8cc is influenced by these projects.
- Compile-time Brainf*ck compiler (@bolero-MURAKAMI)
- I got some ideas from this program.