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Document how to use the .NET backend.
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README.DotNet:
Document how to use the .NET backend.
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Tyson Dowd
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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INTRODUCTION
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This release of Mercury contains an incomplete port to the Microsoft.NET
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Common Language Runtime (CLR). This port is very new, and the target
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platform is still in beta, so there are many unimplemented features.
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The Mercury compiler will generate code in Microsoft's Intermediate
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Language (IL) that can be assembled into bytecode suitable for running
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in the .NET runtime system. In addition, a small part of the Mercury library
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has been ported to use the .NET Frameworks.
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In order to try this system you will need
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- The Microsoft .NET Beta 1 SDK, see
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<http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/>
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to download. If you are an MSDN Universal subscriber you can
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also order CDs as part of your subscription.
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- A windows system suitable for development with Microsoft .NET
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(Windows 2000 is the most likely). Microsoft advises not to
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install the SDK onto a production machine. Consider using a
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separate boot partition, or a virtual environment such as
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VMWare (www.vmware.com).
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- Cygwin (see README.MS-Windows for how to install).
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The Mercury compiler still runs as a native compiler, built
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with gcc by default -- although see README.MS-VisualC for how
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to build with VC++ if you wish).
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Mercury still relies upon the Cygwin environment for
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development environment tools such as `mmake'.
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- The Mercury distribution -- installed as usual. You make sure
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the installation is run after the .NET SDK is installed (run
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it again if necessary) so that the configuration scripts
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detect the installation path of the SDK. If `configure' finds
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`ilasm' then this has been successful.
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If you're reading this file from somewhere other than the
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Mercury distribution, try the Mercury homepage at
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<http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/mercury/>
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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THE ILC GRADE
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The Mercury compiler currently supports the grade 'ilc' to target the
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Microsoft.NET CLR. Support for building and installation of this grade
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is still somewhat rudimentary.
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To run a Mercury program using the ilc grade, you need to build the
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library and runtime. Run the following commands in a cygwin shell:
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cd mercury
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autoconf
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./configure
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cd runtime
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MMAKE_DIR=../scripts mmake GRADE=ilc
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cd ..
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cp runtime/*.dll library
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cd library
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mmake depend
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MMAKE_DIR=../scripts mmake GRADE=ilc
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cd ..
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You can now build programs such as hello.m or eliza.m in the samples
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directory.
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cd samples
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mmake hello.depend
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mmake hello.il
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ilasm hello.il
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Currently, to run executables, you also need to create a corresponding
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.cfg file which describes where to find the library. So create a file
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called hello.cfg which contains the following XML fragment:
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<configuration>
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<assemblies>
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</assemblies>
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<AppDomain
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PrivatePath="../library/"
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/>
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</configuration>
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Now you can finally run hello
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./hello.exe
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We expect to automate or eliminate most of these steps in the future.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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USING DOTNET
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The Mercury standard library has not been ported to .NET yet, only a few
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important predicates have been implemented. Unimplemented predicates
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will issue a message saying "Unimplemented: foreign code for this
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function".
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If you find missing functionality, you can interface to the .NET
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Frameworks using the Managed extensions for C++, and Mercury's foreign
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language interface.
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For example:
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:- pragma foreign_code("MC++", io__getenv(Var::in, Value::out),
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[will_not_call_mercury],
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"{
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Value = System::Environment::GetEnvironmentVariable(Var);
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SUCCESS_INDICATOR = (Value != 0);
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}").
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The implementation will put this Managed C++ code into a separate file,
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which can be compiled with Microsoft's VC++.NET. You will need to make
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sure it is compiled into a dll by running
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mmake <modulename>.il
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ilasm <modulename>.il
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mmake <modulename>__c_code.dll
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Once again, we expect to add automatic dependency generation in future,
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so this step will be done for you.
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If you add MC++ code to the Mercury standard library, the library/Mmakefile
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will take care of this step when you run `mmake GRADE=ilc'.
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You can also use the MC++ interface to interface with any .NET language
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(Implementations have been announced or are under development for
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C++, C#, Visual Basic, Cobol, Eiffel, SmallTalk, ML, Haskell, Scheme,
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Python, Perl, Component Pascal and others).
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Add a
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:- pragma foreign_header("MC++", "
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#using ""foreignmodulename.dll""
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").
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and you can use a .dll that contains .NET code for any other language to
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implement Mercury predicates. You can use the tool `ildasm' to look at
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the contents of a DLL.
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We plan to offer a tool that automatically generates a Mercury interface
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for any .NET component in the future.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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RESOURCES
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You might find the following pages useful:
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http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/research/mercury/dotnet.html
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http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/
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http://www.gotdotnet.com/
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