Alpha

Complete Compiler and Virtual Machine for Alpha

Linux Installation

The Alpha compiler requires GNU Bison & Flex:

sudo apt install bison
sudo apt install flex

Download & build Alpha:

git clone "https://github.com/PhivPap/AlphaLang_hy340.git"
cd AlphaLang_hy340
make

Compile an Alpha source file with:

./alphac <source.a> -o <bytecode.abc>

Execute an Alpha binary file with:

./alpha <bytecode.abc>

Alternatively, do both in one line:

./alphac <source.a> --run

Print the quads and human readable byte code with:

./alphac <source.a> --quads --instructions

While the language is sadly not described in this repo, you can try guessing with the provided testfiles. You can, however, know the following:

The Alpha compiler has:
- compile-time expression evaluation
- dead code elimination
- temporary variable reuse optimization
- minimal evaluation
The Alpha virtual machine has:
- the following library functions:
  - print(...) - Variadic print function. Catches direct or indirect object self reference loops
  - input() - Returns line from console. Implicit convertion to other-than-string possible types.
  - objectmemberkeys(t) - Returns a table with the keys of t indexed from 0 and up.
  - objecttotalmembers(t) - Returns the number of entries in t.
  - objectcopy(t) - Returns a shalow copy of t.
  - totalarguments() - Returns argc of the calling function.
  - argument(i) - Returns the ith argument of the function from where this was called in. Can be used with totalarguments() to create an Alpha variadic function.
  - typeof(x) - Returns the type of x as a string.
  - strtonum(s) - Converts string s to num.
  - sqrt(n) -
  - cos(n) -
  - sin(n) -
- table functors (double dot ".." operator)
- tables which are implemented as expanding open addressing linearly probed hash tables
- tables which receive any type as key and value
- string concat (ikr damn)
- perfectly hashed library functions (i.e. they are called in O(1))
- complete garbage collection