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## 16.7 )compile

ugSysCmdcompile

compile

User Level Required: compiler

Command Syntax:

)compile
)compile fileName
)compile fileName.as
)compile directory/fileName.as
)compile fileName.ao
)compile directory/fileName.ao
)compile fileName.al
)compile directory/fileName.al
)compile fileName.lsp
)compile directory/fileName.lsp
)compile fileName.spad
)compile directory/fileName.spad
)compile fileName )new
)compile fileName )old
)compile fileName )translate
)compile fileName )quiet
)compile fileName )noquiet
)compile fileName )moreargs
)compile fileName )onlyargs
)compile fileName )break
)compile fileName )nobreak
)compile fileName )library
)compile fileName )nolibrary
)compile fileName )vartrace
)compile fileName )constructor nameOrAbbrev

Command Description:

You use this command to invoke the new Axiom library compiler or the old Axiom system compiler. The )compile system command is actually a combination of Axiom processing and a call to the Aldor compiler. It is performing double-duty, acting as a front-end to both the Aldor compiler and the old Axiom system compiler. (The old Axiom system compiler was written in Lisp and was an integral part of the Axiom environment. The Aldor compiler is written in C and executed by the operating system when called from within Axiom.)

The command compiles files with file extensions .as, .ao and .al with the Aldor compiler and files with file extension .spad with the old Axiom system compiler. It also can compile files with file extension .lsp. These are assumed to be Lisp files genererated by the Aldor compiler. If you omit the file extension, the command looks to see if you have specified the )new or )old option. If you have given one of these options, the corresponding compiler is used. Otherwise, the command first looks in the standard system directories for files with extension .as, .ao and .al and then files with extension .spad. The first file found has the appropriate compiler invoked on it. If the command cannot find a matching file, an error message is displayed and the command terminates.

The )translate option is used to invoke a special version of the old system compiler that will translate a .spad file to a .as file. That is, the .spad file will be parsed and analyzed and a file using the new syntax will be created. By default, the .as file is created in the same directory as the .spad file. If that directory is not writable, the current directory is used. If the current directory is not writable, an error message is given and the command terminates. Note that )translate implies the )old option so the file extension can safely be omitted. If )translate is given, all other options are ignored. Please be aware that the translation is not necessarily one hundred percent complete or correct. You should attempt to compile the output with the Aldor compiler and make any necessary corrections.

We now describe the options for the new Aldor compiler.

The first thing )compile does is look for a source code filename among its arguments. Thus

)compile mycode.as
)compile /u/jones/as/mycode.as
)compile mycode

all invoke )compiler on the file /u/jones/as/mycode.as if the current Axiom working directory is /u/jones/as. (Recall that you can set the working directory via the )cd command. If you don't set it explicitly, it is the directory from which you started Axiom.)

This is frequently all you need to compile your file. This simple command:

1. Invokes the Aldor compiler and produces Lisp output.
2. Calls the Lisp compiler if the Aldor compilation was successful.
3. Uses the )library command to tell Axiom about the contents of your compiled file and arrange to have those contents loaded on demand.

Should you not want the )library command automatically invoked, call )compile with the )nolibrary option. For example,

)compile mycode.as )nolibrary

The general description of Aldor command line arguments is in the Aldor documentation. The default options used by the )compile command can be viewed and set using the )set compiler args Axiom system command. The current defaults are

-O -Fasy -Fao -Flsp -laxiom -Mno-AXL_W_WillObsolete -DAxiom

These options mean:

- -O: perform all optimizations,
- -Fasy: generate a .asy file,
- -Fao: generate a .ao file,
- -Flsp: generate a .lsp (Lisp) file, Lisp:code generation
- -laxiom: use the axiom library libaxiom.al,
- -Mno-AXL_W_WillObsolete: do not display messages about older generated files becoming obsolete, and
- -DAxiom: define the global assertion Axiom so that the Aldor libraries for generating stand-alone code are not accidentally used with Axiom.

To supplement these default arguments, use the )moreargs option on )compile. For example,

)compile mycode.as )moreargs "-v"

uses the default arguments and appends the -v (verbose) argument flag. The additional argument specification must be enclosed in double quotes.

To completely replace these default arguments for a particular use of )compile, use the )onlyargs option. For example,

)compile mycode.as )onlyargs "-v -O"

only uses the -v (verbose) and -O (optimize) arguments. The argument specification must be enclosed in double quotes. In this example, Lisp code is not produced and so the compilation output will not be available to Axiom.

To completely replace the default arguments for all calls to )compile within your Axiom session, use )set compiler args. For example, to use the above arguments for all compilations, issue

)set compiler args "-v -O"

Make sure you include the necessary -l and -Y arguments along with those needed for Lisp file creation. As above, the argument specification must be enclosed in double quotes.

By default, the )library system command exposes all domains and categories it processes. This means that the Axiom intepreter will consider those domains and categories when it is trying to resolve a reference to a function. Sometimes domains and categories should not be exposed. For example, a domain may just be used privately by another domain and may not be meant for top-level use. The )library command should still be used, though, so that the code will be loaded on demand. In this case, you should use the )nolibrary option on )compile and the )noexpose option in the )library command. For example,

)compile mycode.as )nolibrary
)library mycode )noexpose

Once you have established your own collection of compiled code, you may find it handy to use the )dir option on the )library command. This causes )library to process all compiled code in the specified directory. For example,

)library )dir /u/jones/as/quantum

You must give an explicit directory after )dir, even if you want all compiled code in the current working directory processed, e.g.

)library )dir .

The )compile command works with several file extensions. We saw above what happens when it is invoked on a file with extension .as. A .ao file is a portable binary compiled version of a .as file, and )compile simply passes the .ao file onto Aldor. The generated Lisp file is compiled and )library is automatically called, just as if you had specified a .as file.

A .al file is an archive file containing .ao files. The archive is created (on Unix systems) with the ar program. When )compile is given a .al file, it creates a directory whose name is based on that of the archive. For example, if you issue

)compile mylib.al

the directory mylib.axldir is created. All members of the archive are unarchived into the directory and )compile is called on each .ao file found. It is your responsibility to remove the directory and its contents, if you choose to do so.

A .lsp file is a Lisp source file, presumably, in our context, generated by Aldor when called with the -Flsp option. When )compile is used with a .lsp file, the Lisp file is compiled and )library is called. You must also have present a .asy generated from the same source file.

The following are descriptions of options for the old system compiler.

You can compile category, domain, and package constructors contained in files with file extension .spad. You can compile individual constructors or every constructor in a file.

The full filename is remembered between invocations of this command and )edit commands. The sequence of commands

)compile matrix.spad
)edit
)compile

will call the compiler, edit, and then call the compiler again on the file matrix.spad. If you do not specify a directory, the working current directory (see ugSysCmdcd ) is searched for the file. If the file is not found, the standard system directories are searched.

If you do not give any options, all constructors within a file are compiled. Each constructor should have an )abbreviation command in the file in which it is defined. We suggest that you place the )abbreviation commands at the top of the file in the order in which the constructors are defined. The list of commands serves as a table of contents for the file. abbreviation

The )library option causes directories containing the compiled code for each constructor to be created in the working current directory. The name of such a directory consists of the constructor abbreviation and the .NRLIB file extension. For example, the directory containing the compiled code for the MATRIX constructor is called MATRIX.NRLIB. The )nolibrary option says that such files should not be created. The default is )library. Note that the semantics of )library and )nolibrary for the new Aldor compiler and for the old system compiler are completely different.

The )vartrace option causes the compiler to generate extra code for the constructor to support conditional tracing of variable assignments. (see ugSysCmdtrace ). Without this option, this code is suppressed and one cannot use the )vars option for the trace command.

The )constructor option is used to specify a particular constructor to compile. All other constructors in the file are ignored. The constructor name or abbreviation follows )constructor. Thus either

)compile matrix.spad )constructor RectangularMatrix

or

)compile matrix.spad )constructor RMATRIX

compiles the RectangularMatrix constructor defined in matrix.spad.

The )break and )nobreak options determine what the old system compiler does when it encounters an error. )break is the default and it indicates that processing should stop at the first error. The value of the )set break variable then controls what happens.

Also See: )abbreviation ugSysCmdabbreviation, )edit ugSysCmdedit, and )library ugSysCmdlibrary.

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