A Nice Intermediate Language(ANIL)

ANIL is a statically typed programming language, inspired by Python and C++, that can be embedded within C source files.

Fig: ANIL functions written in C and ANIL respectively. The first function written in C is the general implementation for the __contains__ method whereas the second function written in ANIL is template specialization for String class.

ANIL generates appropriate C code, which is then compiled using a C compiler.

Fig: The generated C code from the second __contains__ method in the first screenshot.

Requirements:

• C compiler.
• Python.
• clang-format(Recommended).

Usage

1. Open preprocess_2.py.
2. Uncomment one of the source_file = "FILE_NAME*.c" line.
3. Run

python preprocess_2.py

Alternatively, you can specify the filename directly by running:

python preprocess_2.py --filename examples\FILE_NAME*.c

4. This will generate a FILE_NAME*_generated.c file. Compile the generated c file using a C compiler and execute the generated executable.

Features:

• Classes: Example 1 Example 2
• Templates & Function Overloading: Example
• Macros: Example
• Compile-Time Reflection: Example 1
• Annotations: Example 1 WebSever Example @static Annotation for static functions
• Standard Library: See Lib/. Shows mixing of C code and ANIL.
• Windows UI FrameWork: See Todo App Example
• Windows UI App using JSX like syntax: See Todo App JSX like Syntax Example
• Windows Web Server: See Todo App Web Server Example
• Function Pointers: See Example
• Threads & Channel: See Example
• Dunder methods:
  • __init__ : To implement constructors.
  • __del__ : To implement destructors. For automatic destructor call for a struct member(if it has a destructor), use the ~ operator. Lookup _call_destructor_for_element() in Vector
  • __str__: To print a given object with print(). It should return str(char*).
  • __getitem__ : To get an item at a specified index (e.g. obj[index]).
  • __setitem__ : To set an item at a specified index (e.g. obj[index] = value).
  • __reassign__ : To implement reassignment (e.g. obj = value).
  • __add__ : To implement addition.
  • __contains__ : To implement in operator (e.g value in list).
  • len : To get total number of items. It is used along with __getitem__ to implement iterators.

The examples in examples/ and Lib/ folder shows all different features of ANIL. Right now, these examples serve as documentation for the language.

Project Structure

Directories

• Bootstrap: Implementation of the compiler in ANIL itself. Files in this directory uses all (advanced) features available in the language.

• examples: Demonstrations of various language features and usage of the standard library.

• Lib: Standard Library.

Individual Files

• preprocess_2.py: The actual compiler and code generator.

• batch_compile.py: Compiles all the ANIL files one by one. Used to verify if the changes made to the compiler doesn't break existing functionality.

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[!NOTE]
This is my first ever compiler project.
I created this compiler for the following reasons:

1. To learn about compiler development.
2. To build a self-compiling compiler.
3. To implement features I find interesting and cool.