Files
mercury/compiler/notes/compiler_design.html
Simon Taylor 3e244090d7 Rework the handling of types in higher_order.m.
Estimated hours taken: 50

Rework the handling of types in higher_order.m.
- Fix bugs in higher_order.m that stopped it working with --typeinfo-liveness.
- Perform type and typeclass specialisation.

compiler/polymorphism.m:
	Previously the type of typeclass_infos variables did not contain
	any information about the constraint about which the variable contains
	information. Now the type of a typeclass_info is
	`private_builtin:typeclass_info(
		private_builtin:constraint([ClassName, ConstrainedTypes]))'.
	This allows predicates such as type_list_subsumes to check that
	the class constraints match.
	Note that `private_builtin:constraint' has no declaration, so
	a lookup in the type definition map will fail. That's OK, because
	type_to_type_id will fail on it, so it will be treated as a type
	variable by any code which doesn't manipulate types directly.
	Added polymorphism__typeclass_info_class_constraint to get the
	class_constraint from a typeclass_info's type. This isn't used yet.

	Also, fix a bug in extract_type_info: an entry in the typeinfo_var_map
	was being overwritten using an entry from a dummy typevarset. Actually
	the optimization to overwrite the location of the type_info after
	extracting it from a typeclass_info was wrong because the type_info
	won't be in that location in other branches.

compiler/higher_order.m:
	Rework the handling of type substitutions. Now the types of the
	called procedure are `inlined' into the calling procedure, rather
	than building up the types of the specialised version using the
	higher-order arguments. The advantage of this is that the code is
	a bit simpler and handles extra type_infos properly. The disadvantage
	is that the argument types for specialised versions may be more
	specific than they need to be, so in some cases more specialised
	versions will be created than before.
	Also, don't actually rebuild the higher-order terms in the specialised
	versions - just pass the terms through in case they are needed.
	Handle the extra typeinfos required for --typeinfo-liveness.
	Specialize calls to unify/2, index/2 and compare/3.
	Specialize class_method_calls.
	Specialize calls to the predicates in private_builtin.m which
	manipulate typeclass_infos.

compiler/type_util.m:
	type_to_type_id now fails on the dummy `constraint' type.
	Remove typeinfos for non-variable types from the typeinfo_varmap
	after inlining and higher-order specialisation.

compiler/inlining.m:
	Factor out some common code to handle type substitutions
	for use by higher_order.m.

compiler/hlds_pred.m:
	Return the list of extra type_info variables added to the
	argument list.

compiler/goal_util.m:
	Take a set of non-locals as an argument to
	goal_util__extra_nonlocal_typeinfos rather than extracting
	them from a goal.

compiler/special_pred.m:
	Handle unmangled unify/compare/index in special_pred_get_type.

compiler/base_type_layout.m:
	Don't generate references to the typeinfo for
	`private_builtin:constraint' - it doesn't exist.

compiler/unused_args.m:
	Don't barf on specialised unification predicate names.

compiler/options.m:
	Added options:
	`--type-specialization' (default off).
	`--higher-order-size-limit' - restrict the size of specialized
		versions produced by higher_order.m.
	`--disable-opt-for-trace' (default on) - where possible don't
		change the options to make the trace match the source code.

compiler/handle_options.m:
	Don't disable higher_order.m when --typeinfo-liveness is set.
	Handle `--disable-opt-for-trace'.

compiler/hlds_data.m:
compiler/*.m:
	Add the instance number to `base_typeclass_info_const' cons_ids,
	so that higher_order.m can easily index into the list of instances
	for a class to find the methods.

compiler/hlds_out.m:
	Use the correct varset when printing out the constraint proofs.
	Write the typeclass_info_varmap for each procedure.

compiler/mercury_to_mercury.m:
	Print type variables with variable numbers.

library/private_builtin.m:
	Add the argument to the typeclass_info type to hold the representation
	of the constraint.

runtime/mercury_ho_call.c:
	Semidet and nondet class_method_calls where
	(0 < num_arg_typeclass_infos < 4) were aborting at runtime
	because arguments were being placed starting at r1 rather
	than at r(1 + num_arg_typeclass_infos).

doc/user_guide.texi
	Document the new options.

compiler/notes/compiler_design.html:
	Update the role of higher_order.m.

tests/hard_coded/typeclasses/extra_typeinfo.m:
	Test case for the mercury_ho_call.c bug and the polymorphism.m
	extract_typeinfo bug and for updating the typeclass_info_varmap
	for specialised versions.
1998-09-10 06:56:14 +00:00

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<html>
<head>
<title>
Notes On The Design Of The Mercury Compiler
</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<hr>
<!-------------------------->
This file contains various notes about the design of the compiler.
<hr>
<!-------------------------->
<h2> OUTLINE </h2>
<p>
The main job of the compiler is to translate Mercury into C, although it
can also translate (subsets of) Mercury to some other languages (Goedel,
the bytecode of a debugger currently under development, and in the future
the Aditi Relational Language).
<p>
The top-level of the compiler is in the file mercury_compile.m.
The basic design is that compilation is broken into the following
stages:
<ol>
<li> parsing (source files -&gt; HLDS)
<li> semantic analysis and error checking (HLDS -&gt; annotated HLDS)
<li> high-level transformations (annotated HLDS -&gt; annotated HLDS)
<li> code generation (annotated HLDS -&gt; LLDS)
<li> low-level optimizations (LLDS -&gt; LLDS)
<li> output C code (LLDS -&gt; C)
</ol>
<p>
Note that in reality the separation is not quite as simple as that.
Although parsing is listed as step 1 and semantic analysis is listed
as step 2, the last stage of parsing actually includes some semantic checks.
And although optimization is listed as steps 3 and 5, it also occurs in
steps 2, 4, and 6. For example, elimination of assignments to dead
variables is done in mode analysis; middle-recursion optimization and
the use of static constants for ground terms is done in code
generation; and a few low-level optimizations are done in llds_out.m
as we are spitting out the C code.
<p>
<hr>
<!-------------------------->
<h2> DETAILED DESIGN </h2> (well, more detailed than the OUTLINE anyway ;-)
<p>
The action is co-ordinated from mercury_compile.m.
<p>
<h3> 0. Option handling </h3>
<p>
The command-line options are defined in the module options.m.
mercury_compile.m calls library/getopt.m, passing the predicates
defined in options.m as arguments, to parse them. It then invokes
handle_options.m to postprocess the option set. The results are
stored in the io__state, using the type globals defined in globals.m.
<h3> 1. Parsing </h3>
<p>
<ul>
<li> lexical analysis (library/lexer.m)
<li> stage 1 parsing - convert strings to terms. <br>
library/parser.m contains the code to do this, while
library/term.m and library/varset.m contain the term and varset
data structures that result, and predicates for manipulating them.
<li> stage 2 parsing - convert terms to `items' (declarations, clauses, etc.)
<br>
The result of this stage is a parse tree that has a one-to-one
correspondence with the source code. The parse tree data structure
definition is in prog_data.m, while the code to create it is in
prog_io.m and its submodules prog_io_dcg.m (which handles clauses
using Definite Clause Grammar notation), prog_io_goal.m (which handles
goals), prog_io_pragma.m (which handles pragma declarations),
prog_io_typeclass.m (which handles typeclass and instance declarations)
and prog_io_util.m (which defines predicates and types needed by the
other prog_io*.m modules. The data structure for insts is stored in
its own module, inst.m.
<p>
The modules prog_out.m and mercury_to_mercury.m contain predicates
for printing the parse tree. prog_util.m contains some utility
predicates for manipulating the parse tree.
<li> imports and exports are handled at this point (modules.m) <br>
modules.m has the code to write out `.int', `.int2', `.int3',
`.d' and `.dep' files.
<li> module qualification of types, insts and modes <br>
module_qual.m - <br>
Adds module qualifiers to all types insts and modes,
checking that a given type, inst or mode exists and that
there is only possible match. This is done here because
it must be done before the `.int' and `.int2' interface files
are written. This also checks whether imports are really needed
in the interface.
<br>
Notes on module qualification:
<ul>
<li> all types, typeclasses, insts and modes occuring in pred, func,
type, typeclass and mode declarations are module qualified by
module_qual.m.
<li> all types, insts and modes occuring in lambda expressions and
explicit type qualifications are module qualified in
make_hlds.m.
<li> constructors occuring in predicate and function mode declarations
are module qualified during type checking.
<li> predicate and function calls and constructors within goals
are module qualified during mode analysis.
<li> predicate and function names in typeclass instance declarations
are qualified in check_typeclass.m (after mode analysis).
</ul>
<li> reading and writing of optimization interfaces (intermod.m). <br>
&lt;module&gt;.opt contains clauses for exported preds suitable for
inlining or higher-order specialization. The .opt file for the
current module is written after type-checking. .opt files
for imported modules are read here.
<li> expansion of equivalence types (equiv_type.m) <br>
This is really part of type-checking, but is done
on the item_list rather than on the HLDS because it
turned out to be much easier to implement that way.
<li> conversion to superhomogeneous form and into HLDS <br>
make_hlds.m transforms the code into superhomogeneous form,
and at the same time converts the parse tree into the HLDS.
It converts `pragma import' and `pragma c_code' declarations
into clauses with HLDS `pragma_c_code' instructions for bodies.
make_hlds.m also calls make_tags.m which chooses the data
representation for each discriminated union type by
assigning tags to each functor.
</ul>
<p>
The result at this stage is the High Level Data Structure,
which is defined in four files:
<ol>
<li> hlds_data.m defines the parts of the HLDS concerned with
function symbols, types, insts, modes and determinisms;
<li> hlds_goal.m defines the part of the HLDS concerned with the
structure of goals, including the annotations on goals;
<li> hlds_pred.m defines the part of the HLDS concerning
predicates and procedures;
<li> hlds_module.m defines the top-level parts of the HLDS,
including the type module_info.
</ol>
The module hlds_out.m contains predicates to dump the HLDS to a file.
The module goal_util.m contains predicates for renaming variables
in an HLDS goal.
<p>
<h3> 2. Semantic analysis and error checking </h3>
<p>
Any pass which can report errors or warnings must be part of this stage,
so that the compiler does the right thing for options such as
`--halt-at-warn' (which turns warnings into errors) and
`--error-check-only' (which makes the compiler only compile up to this stage).
<p>
<dl>
<dt> implicit quantification
<dd>
quantification.m handles implicit quantification and computes
the set of non-local variables for each sub-goal
<dt> type checking
<dd>
<ul>
<li> typecheck.m handles type checking, overloading resolution &
module name resolution, and almost fully qualifies all predicate
and functor names. It sets the map(var, type) field in the
pred_info. However, typecheck.m doesn't figure out the pred_id
for function calls or calls to overloaded predicates; that can't
be done in a single pass of typechecking, and so it is done
later on (in post_typecheck.m, for preds, and in
modecheck_unify.m, for function calls).
Typeclass constraints are checked here, and
any redundant constraints that are eliminated are recorded (as
constraint_proofs) in the pred_info for future reference. When it has
finished, typecheck.m calls clause_to_proc.m to make duplicate copies
of the clauses for each different mode of a predicate; all later
stages work on procedures, not predicates.
<li> type_util.m contains utility predicates dealing with types
that are used in a variety of different places within the compiler
<li> post_typecheck.m may also be considered to logically be a part
of typechecking, but it is actually called from purity
analysis (see below). It contains the stuff related to
type checking that can't be done in the main type checking pass.
</ul>
<dt> purity analysis
<dd>
purity.m is responsible for purity checking, as well as
defining the <CODE>purity</CODE> type and a few public
operations on it. It also calls post_typecheck.m to
complete the handling of predicate
overloading for cases which typecheck.m is unable to handle,
to check for unbound type variables,
and to copy the clauses to the proc_infos in
preparation for mode analysis.
<dt> mode analysis
<dd>
<ul>
<li> modes.m is the main mode analysis module.
It checks that the code is mode-correct, reordering it
if necessary, and annotates each goal with a delta-instmap
that specifies the changes in instantiatedness of each
variable over that goal.
<li> modecheck_unify.m is the sub-module which analyses
unification goals. It also converts higher-order pred terms
into lambda expressions and module qualifies data constructors.
<li> modecheck_call.m is the sub-module which analyses calls.
It also converts function calls into predicate calls.
<p>
The following sub-modules are used:
<dl>
<dt> mode_info.m
<dd>
(the main data structure for mode analysis)
<dt> delay_info.m
<dd>
(a sub-component of the mode_info data
structure used for storing the information
for scheduling: which goals are currently
delayed, what variables they are delayed on, etc.)
<dt> instmap.m
<dd>
Defines the instmap and instmap_delta ADTs
which store information on what instantiations
a set of variables may be bound to.
<dt> inst_match.m
<dd>
This contains the code for examining insts and
checking whether they match.
<dt> inst_util.m
<dd>
This contains the code for creating new insts from
old ones: unifying them, merging them and so on.
<dt> mode_errors.m
<dd>
This module contains all the code to
print error messages for mode errors
</dl>
<li> mode_util.m contains miscellaneous useful predicates dealing
with modes (many of these are used by lots of later stages
of the compiler)
<li> mode_debug.m contains utility code for tracing the actions
of the mode checker.
</ul>
<dt> indexing and determinism analysis
<dd>
<ul>
<li> switch_detection.m transforms into switches those disjunctions
in which several disjuncts test the same variable against different
function symbols.
<li> cse_detection.m looks for disjunctions in which each disjunct tests
the same variable against the same function symbols, and hoists any
such unifications out of the disjunction.
If cse_detection.m modifies the code,
it will re-run mode analysis and switch detection.
<li> det_analysis.m annotates each goal with its determinism;
it inserts cuts in the form of "some" goals wherever the determinisms
and delta instantiations of the goals involved make it necessary.
Any errors found during determinism analysis are reported by
det_report.m.
Det_util.m contains utility predicates used in several modules.
</ul>
<dt> checking of unique modes (unique_modes.m)
<dd>
unique_modes.m checks that non-backtrackable unique modes were
not used in a context which might require backtracking.
Note that what unique_modes.m does is quite similar to
what modes.m does, and unique_modes calls lots of predicates
defined in modes.m to do it.
<dt> checking typeclass instances (check_typeclass.m)
<dd>
check_typeclass.m checks that, each instance declaration, that the
types, modes and determinism of each predicate/function that is a
method of the class is correct (ie. that it matches the typeclass
declaration). This pass is performed at the end of semantic analysis
because it needs mode and determinism information. In this pass,
pred_ids and proc_ids are assigned to the methods for each instance. In
addition, while checking that the superclasses of a class are satisfied
by the instance declaration, a set of constraint_proofs are built up
for the superclass constraints. These are used by polymorphism.m when
generating the base_typeclass_info for the instance.
<dt> simplification (simplify.m)
<dd>
simplify.m finds and exploits opportunities for simplifying the
internal form of the program, both to optimize the code and to
massage the code into a form the code generator will accept.
It also warns the programmer about any constructs that are so simple
that they should not have been included in the program in the first
place. (That's why this pass needs to be part of semantic analysis:
because it can report warnings.)
simplify.m calls common.m which looks for (a) construction unifications
that construct a term that is the same as one that already exists,
or (b) repeated calls to a predicate with the same inputs, and replaces
them with assignment unifications.
simplify.m also attempts to partially evaluate calls to builtin
procedures if the inputs are all constants (see const_prop.m).
</dl>
<h3> 3. High-level transformations </h3>
<p>
The first pass of this stage does tabling transformations (table_gen.m).
This involves the insertion of several calls to tabling predicates
defined in mercury_builtin.m and the addition of some scaffolding structure.
<p>
The next two passes of this stage are code simplifications.
<ul>
<li> introduction of type_info arguments for polymorphic predicates,
introduction of typeclass_info arguments for typeclass-constrained predicates
and transformation of complicated unifications into predicate calls
(polymorphism.m)
<li> removal of lambda expressions (lambda.m) <br>
<p>
lambda.m converts lambda expressions into higher-order predicate
terms referring to freshly introduced separate predicates.
This pass needs to come after unique_modes.m to ensure that
the modes we give to the introduced predicates are correct.
It also needs to come after polymorphism.m since polymorphism.m
doesn't handle higher-order predicate constants.
</ul>
<p>
To improve efficiency, the above two passes are actually combined into
one - polymorphism.m calls calls lambda__transform_lambda directly.
<p>
The next pass is termination analysis. The various modules involved are:
<ul>
<li>
termination.m is the control module. It sets the argument size and
termination properties of builtin and compiler generated procedures,
invokes term_pass1.m and term_pass2.m
and writes .trans_opt files and error messages as appropriate.
<li>
term_pass1.m analyzes the argument size properties of user-defined procedures,
<li>
term_pass2.m analyzes the termination properties of user-defined procedures.
<li>
term_traversal.m contains code common to the two passes.
<li>
term_errors.m defines the various kinds of termination errors
and prints the messages appropriate for each.
<li>
term_util.m defines the main types used in termination analysis
and contains utility predicates.
</ul>
<p>
Most of the remaining HLDS-to-HLDS transformations are optimizations:
<ul>
<li> specialization of higher-order and polymorphic predicates where the
value of the higher-order/type_info/typeclass_info arguments are known
(higher_order.m)
<li> inlining (i.e. unfolding) of simple procedures (inlining.m)
<li> pushing constraints as far left as possible (constraint.m);
this does not yet work.
<li> deforestation and partial evaluation (deforest.m). This optimizes
multiple traversals of data structures within a conjunction, and
avoids creating intermediate data structures. It also performs
loop unrolling where the clause used is known at compile time.
deforest.m makes use of the following sub-modules
(`pd_' stands for "partial deduction"):
<ul>
<li>
pd_cost.m contains some predicates to estimate the improvement
caused by deforest.m.
<li>
pd_debug.m produces debugging output.
<li>
pd_info.m contains a state type for deforestation.
<li>
pd_term.m contains predicates to check that the deforestation algorithm
terminates.
<li>
pd_util.m contains various utility predicates.
</ul>
<li> issue warnings about unused arguments from predicates, and create
specialized versions without them (unused_args.m); type_infos are
often unused
<li> elimination of dead procedures (dead_proc_elim.m). Inlining, higher-order
specialization and the elimination of unused args can make procedures dead
even the user doesn't, and automatically constructed unification and
comparison predicates are often dead as well.
<li> elimination of useless assignments, assignments that merely introduce
another name for an already existing variable (excess.m).
<li> reducing the number of variables that have to be saved across
procedure calls (saved_vars.m). We do this by putting the code that
generates the value of a variable just before the use of that variable,
duplicating the variable and the code that produces it if necessary,
provided the cost of doing so is smaller than the cost of saving and
restoring the variable would be.
</ul>
<p>
The module transform.m contains stuff that is supposed to be useful
for high-level optimizations (but which is not yet used).
<p>
Eventually we plan to make Mercury the programming language of the Aditi
deductive database system. When this happens, we will need to be able to
apply the magic set transformation, which is defined for predicates
whose definitions are disjunctive normal form. The module dnf.m translates
definitions into DNF, introducing auxiliary predicates as necessary.
<p>
<h3> 4. Code generation </h3>
<p>
<dl>
<dt> pre-passes to annotate the HLDS
<dd>
Before code generation there are a few more passes which
annotate the HLDS with information used for code generation:
<dl>
<dt> choosing registers for procedure arguments (arg_info.m)
<dd>
Currently uses one of two simple algorithms, but
we may add other algorithms later.
<dt> annotation of goals with liveness information (liveness.m)
<dd>
This records the birth and death of each variable
in the HLDS goal_info.
<dt> allocation of stack slots
<dd>
This is done by live_vars.m, which works
out which variables need to be saved on the
stack when, and then uses graph_colour.m to determine
a good allocation of variables to stack slots.
<dt> migration of builtins following branched structures
<dd>
This transformation, which is performed by
follow_code.m, improves the results of follow_vars.
<dt> allocating the follow vars (follow_vars.m)
<dd>
Traverses backwards over the HLDS, annotating some
goals with information about what locations variables
will be needed in next. This allows us to generate
more efficient code by putting variables in the right
spot directly. This module is not called from
mercury_compile.m; it is called from store_alloc.m.
<dt> allocating the store map (store_alloc.m)
<dd>
Annotates each branched goal with variable location
information so that we can generate correct code
by putting variables in the same spot at the end
of each branch.
</dl>
<dt> code generation
<dd>
For code generation itself, the main module is code_gen.m.
It handles conjunctions and negations, but calls sub-modules
to do most of the other work:
<ul>
<li> ite_gen.m (if-then-elses)
<li> call_gen.m (predicate calls and also calls to
out-of-line unification procedures)
<li> disj_gen.m (disjunctions)
<li> unify_gen.m (unifications)
<li> switch_gen.m (switches), which has sub-modules
<ul>
<li> dense_switch.m
<li> lookup_switch.m
<li> string_switch.m
<li> tag_switch.m
</ul>
<li> pragma_c_gen.m (embedded C code)
</ul>
<p>
It also calls middle_rec.m to do middle recursion optimization.
<p>
The code generation modules make use of
<dl>
<dt> code_info.m
<dd>
The main data structure for the code generator
<dt> code_exprn.m
<dd>
This defines the exprn_info type, which is
a sub-component of the code_info data structure
which holds the information about
the contents of registers and
the values/locations of variables.
<dt> exprn_aux.m
<dd>
Various preds which use exprn_info
<dt> code_util.m
<dd>
Some miscellaneous preds used for code generation
<dt> code_aux.m
<dd>
Some miscellaneous preds which, unlike those in
code_util, use code_info
<dt> continuation_info.m
<dd>
For accurate garbage collection, collects
information about each live value after calls,
and saves information about procedures.
</dl>
<dt> code generation for `pragma export' declarations (export.m)
<dd> This is handled seperately from the other parts of code generation.
mercury_compile.m calls the procedures `export__produce_header_file'
and `export__get_pragma_exported_procs' to produce C code fragments
which declare/define the C functions which are the interface stubs
for procedures exported to C.
</dl>
<p>
The result of code generation is the Low Level Data Structure (llds.m).
The code for each procedure is generated as a tree of code fragments
which is then flattened (tree.m).
<p>
<h3> 5. Low-level optimization </h3>
<p>
The various LLDS-to-LLDS optimizations are invoked from optimize.m.
They are:
<ul>
<li> optimization of jumps to jumps (jumpopt.m)
<li> elimination of duplicate code sequences (dupelim.m)
<li> optimization of stack frame allocation/deallocation (frameopt.m)
<li> filling branch delay slots (delay_slot.m)
<li> dead code and dead label removal (labelopt.m)
<li> peephole optimization (peephole.m)
<li> value numbering <br>
This is done by value_number.m, which has the following sub-modules:
<dl>
<dt> vn_block.m
<dd>
Traverse an extended basic block, building up tables showing
the actions that must be taken, and the current and desired
contents of locations.
<dt> vn_cost.m
<dd>
Computes the cost of instruction sequences.
Value numbering should never replace an instruction
sequence with a more expensive sequence. Unfortunately,
computing costs accurately is very difficult.
<dt> vn_debug.m
<dd>
Predicates to dump data structures used in value
numbering.
<dt> vn_filter.m
<dd>
Module to eliminate useless temporaries introduced by
value numbering. Not generating them in the first place
would be better, but would be quite difficult.
<dt> vn_flush.m
<dd>
Given the tables built up by vn_block and a list of nodes
computed by vn_order, generate code to assign the required
values to each temporary and live location in what is
hopefully the fastest and most compact way.
<dt> vn_order.m
<dd>
Given tables built up by vn_block showing the actions that
must be taken, and the current and desired contents of
locations, find out which shared subexpressions should
have temporaries allocated to them and in what order these
temporaries and the live locations should be assigned to.
This module uses the module atsort.m to perform an approximate
topological sort on the nodes of the location dependency
graph it operations on (since the graph may have cycles,
a precise topological sort may not exist).
<dt> vn_table.m
<dd>
Abstract data type showing the current and desired
contents of locations.
<dt> vn_temploc.m
<dd>
Abstract data type to keep track of the availability
of registers and temporaries.
<dt> vn_type.m
<dd>
This module defines the types used by the other
modules of the value numbering optimization.
<dt> vn_util.m
<dd>
Utility predicates.
<dt> vn_verify.m
<dd>
Sanity checks to make sure that (a) the optimized code
computes the same values as the original code, and (b)
the optimized code does not dereference tagged pointers
until the tag is known. (Violations of (b) usually cause
unaligned accesses, which cause bus errors on many machines.)
</dl>
Several of these modules (and also frameopt, above) use livemap.m,
which finds the set of locations live at each label.
</ul>
<p>
Depending on which optimization flags are enabled,
optimize.m may invoke many of these passes multiple times.
<p>
Some of the low-level optimization passes use basic_block.m,
which defines predicates for converting sequences of instructions to
basic block format and back, as well as opt_util.m, which contains
miscellaneous predicates for LLDS-to-LLDS optimization.
<p>
<h3> 6. Output C code </h3>
<ul>
<li> base_type_info.m generates the base_type_info structures that list the
unification, index and compare predicates associated with each declared
type constructor. These are added to the LLDS.
<li> base_type_layout.m generates the base_type_layout structures that give
information on how to interpret values of a given type. It also
creates base_type_functors structures that give information on
the functors of a given type. The base_type_layout and base_type_functors
structures of each declared type constructor are added to the LLDS.
<li> base_typeclass_info.m generates the base_typeclass_info structures that
list the methods of a class for each instance declaration. These are added to
the LLDS.
<li> stack_layout.m generates the stack_layout structures for
accurate garbage collection. Tables are created from the data
collected in continuation_info.m.
<li> llds_common.m extracts static terms from the main body of the LLDS, and
puts them at the front. If a static term originally appeared several times,
it will now appear as a single static term with multiple references to it.
<li> Final generation of C code is done in llds_out.m.
</ul>
<hr>
<!-------------------------->
<p>
<h2> BYTECODE </h2>
<p>
The Mercury compiler can translate Mercury programs into bytecode for
interpretation by the Mercury debugger currently under development.
The generation of bytecode happens after semantic checks have been
completed.
<ul>
<li> bytecode.m defines the internal representation of bytecodes, and contains
the predicates to emit them in two forms. The raw bytecode form is emitted
into &lt;filename&gt;.bytecode for interpretation, while a human-readable form
is emitted into &lt;filename&gt;.bytedebug for visual inspection.
<li> bytecode_gen.m contains the predicates that translate HLDS into bytecode.
</ul>
<hr>
<!-------------------------->
<h2> MISCELLANEOUS </h2>
<dl>
<dt> det_util:
<dd>
This module contains utility predicates needed by the parts
of the semantic analyzer and optimizer concerned with
determinism.
<dt> special_pred.m, unify_proc.m:
<dd>
These modules contain stuff for handling the special
compiler-generated predicates which are generated for
each type: unify/2, compare/3, and index/1 (used in the
implementation of compare/3).
<dt> dependency_graph.m:
<dd>
This contains predicates to compute the call graph for a
module, and to print it out to a file.
(The call graph file is used by the profiler.)
The call graph may eventually also be used by det_analysis.m,
inlining.m, and other parts of the compiler which could benefit
from traversing the predicates in a module in a bottom-up or
top-down fashion with respect to the call graph.
<dt> passes_aux.m
<dd>
Contains code to write progress messages, and higher-order
code to traverse all the predicates defined in the current
module and do something with each one.
<dt> opt_debug.m:
<dd>
Utility routines for debugging the LLDS-to-LLDS optimizations.
<dt> error_util.m:
<dd>
Utility routines for printing nicely formatted error messages.
</dl>
<hr>
<!-------------------------->
<p>
<h2> CURRENTLY USELESS </h2>
<p>
The following modules do not serve any function at the moment.
Some of them are obsolete; other are work-in-progress.
(For some of them its hard to say which!)
<dl>
<dt> lco.m:
<dd>
This finds predicates whose implementations would benefit
from last call optimization modulo constructor application.
It does not apply the optimization and will not until the
mode system is capable of expressing definite aliasing.
<dt> mercury_to_goedel.m:
<dd>
This converts from item_list to Goedel source code.
It works for simple programs, but doesn't handle
various Mercury constructs such as lambda expressions,
higher-order predicates, and functor overloading.
<dt> mercury_to_c.m:
<dd>
The very incomplete beginnings of an alternate
code generator. When finished, it will convert HLDS
to high-level C code (without going via LLDS).
</dl>
<hr>
<!-------------------------->
Last update was $Date: 1998-09-10 06:52:46 $ by $Author: stayl $@cs.mu.oz.au. <br>
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