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186 lines
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ReStructuredText
186 lines
8.1 KiB
ReStructuredText
==============================
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Writing and building a program
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==============================
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.. _building_compiler:
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First, getting a working compiler
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---------------------------------
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Before you can compile Prog8 programs, you'll have to download or build the compiler itself.
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First make sure you have installed the :ref:`requirements`.
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Then you can choose a few ways to get a compiler:
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**Download a precompiled version from github:**
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#. download a recent "fat-jar" (called something like "prog8compiler-all.jar") from `the releases on Github <https://github.com/irmen/prog8/releases>`_
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#. run the compiler with "java -jar prog8compiler-all.jar" to see how you can use it.
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**using the Gradle build system to make it yourself:**
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The Gradle build system is used to build the compiler.
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The most interesting gradle commands to run are probably:
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``./gradlew check``
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Builds the compiler code and runs all available checks and unit-tests.
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``./gradlew installDist``
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Builds the compiler and installs it with scripts to run it, in the directory
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``./compiler/build/install/p8compile``
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``./gradlew installShadowDist``
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Creates a 'fat-jar' that contains the compiler and all dependencies, in a single
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executable .jar file, and includes few start scripts to run it.
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The output can be found in ``.compiler/build/install/compiler-shadow/``
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``./gradlew shadowDistZip``
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Creates a zipfile with the above in it, for easy distribution.
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This file can be found in ``./compiler/build/distributions/``
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For normal use, the ``installDist`` target should suffice and ater succesful completion
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of that build task, you can start the compiler with:
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``./compiler/build/install/p8compile/bin/p8compile <options> <sourcefile>``
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(You should probably make an alias...)
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.. note::
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Development and testing is done on Linux, but the compiler should run on most
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operating systems. If you do have trouble building or running
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the compiler on another operating system, please let me know!
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What is a Prog8 "Program" anyway?
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---------------------------------
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A "complete runnable program" is a compiled, assembled, and linked together single unit.
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It contains all of the program's code and data and has a certain file format that
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allows it to be loaded directly on the target system. Prog8 currently has no built-in
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support for programs that exceed 64 Kb of memory, nor for multi-part loaders.
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For the Commodore-64, most programs will have a tiny BASIC launcher that does a SYS into the generated machine code.
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This way the user can load it as any other program and simply RUN it to start. (This is a regular ".prg" program).
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Prog8 can create those, but it is also possible to output plain binary programs
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that can be loaded into memory anywhere.
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Compiling program code
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----------------------
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Make sure you have installed the :ref:`requirements`.
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Compilation of program code is done by telling the Prog8 compiler to compile a main source code module file.
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Other modules that this code needs will be loaded and processed via imports from within that file.
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The compiler will link everything together into one output program at the end.
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If you start the compiler without arguments, it will print a short usage text.
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For normal use the compiler is invoked with the command:
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``$ java -jar prog8compiler.jar sourcefile.p8``
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Other options are also available, see the introduction page about how
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to build and run the compiler.
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By default, assembly code is generated and written to ``sourcefile.asm``.
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It is then (automatically) fed to the `64tass <https://sourceforge.net/projects/tass64/>`_ cross assembler tool
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that assembles it into the final program.
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If you use the option to let the compiler auto-start a C-64 emulator, it will do so after
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a successful compilation. This will load your program and the symbol and breakpoint lists
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(for the machine code monitor) into the emulator.
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Continuous compilation mode
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Almost instant compilation times (less than a second) can be achieved when using the continuous compilation mode.
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Start the compiler with the ``-watch`` argument to enable this.
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It will compile your program and then instead of exiting, it waits for any changes in the module source files.
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As soon as a change happens, the program gets compiled again.
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Other options
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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There's an option to specify the output directory if you're not happy with the default (the current working directory).
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Also it is possible to specify more than one main module to compile:
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this can be useful to quickly recompile multiple separate programs quickly.
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(compiling in a batch like this is a lot faster than invoking the compiler again once per main file)
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Module source code files
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------------------------
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A module source file is a text file with the ``.p8`` suffix, containing the program's source code.
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It consists of compilation options and other directives, imports of other modules,
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and source code for one or more code blocks.
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Prog8 has a couple of *LIBRARY* modules that are defined in special internal files provided by the compiler:
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``c64lib``, ``c64utils``, ``c64flt`` and ``prog8lib``. You should not overwrite these or reuse their names.
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They are embedded into the packaged release version of the compiler so you don't have to worry about
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where they are, but their names are still reserved.
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User defined library files
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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You can create library files yourself too that can be shared among programs.
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You can tell the compiler where it should look for these files, by setting the java command line property ``prog8.libdir``
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or by setting the ``PROG8_LIBDIR`` environment variable to the correct directory.
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.. _debugging:
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Debugging (with Vice)
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---------------------
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There's support for using the monitor and debugging capabilities of the rather excellent
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`Vice emulator <http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/>`_.
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The ``%breakpoint`` directive (see :ref:`directives`) in the source code instructs the compiler to put
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a *breakpoint* at that position. Some systems use a BRK instruction for this, but
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this will usually halt the machine altogether instead of just suspending execution.
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Prog8 issues a NOP instruction instead and creates a 'virtual' breakpoint at this position.
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All breakpoints are then written to a file called "programname.vice-mon-list",
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which is meant to be used by the Vice emulator.
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It contains a series of commands for Vice's monitor, including source labels and the breakpoint settings.
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If you use the emulator autostart feature of the compiler, it will take care of this for you.
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If you launch Vice manually, you'll have to use a command line option to load this file:
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``$ x64 -moncommands programname.vice-mon-list``
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Vice will then use the label names in memory disassembly, and will activate any breakpoints as well.
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If your running program hits one of the breakpoints, Vice will halt execution and drop you into the monitor.
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Troubleshooting
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---------------
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Getting an assembler error about undefined symbols such as ``not defined 'c64flt'``?
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This happens when your program uses floating point values, and you forgot to import ``c64flt`` library.
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If you use floating points, the compiler needs routines from that library.
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Fix it by adding an ``%import c64flt``.
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Examples
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--------
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A couple of example programs can be found in the 'examples' directory of the source tree.
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Make sure you have installed the :ref:`requirements`. Then, for instance,
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to compile and run the rasterbars example program, use this command::
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$ java -jar prog8compiler.jar -emu examples/rasterbars.p8
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or::
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$ ./p8compile.sh -emu examples/rasterbars.p8
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Virtual Machine / Simulator
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---------------------------
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You may have noticed the ``-sim`` command line option for the compiler:
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-sim
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Launches the "AST virtual machine Simulator" that directly executes the parsed program.
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No compilation steps will be performed.
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Allows for very fast testing and debugging before actually compiling programs
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to machine code.
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It simulates a bare minimum of features from the target platform, so most stuff
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that calls ROM routines or writes into hardware registers won't work. But basic
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system routines are emulated.
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