1 | cfa-cc: Cforall to C Trans-compiler |
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2 | ====================================== |
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3 | |
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4 | This is a PRE-RELEASE version of cfa-cc. It exists solely for the purpose of |
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5 | private experimentation and scholarly research. The authors disclaim all |
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6 | responsibility for the consequences of any malfunction of the software, |
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7 | including the malfunction of any programs compiled using the software. |
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8 | |
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9 | |
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10 | What is Cforall? |
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11 | ---------------- |
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12 | Cforall is a language design extending ISO C. The purpose of the project is to |
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13 | engineer modern language features into C in an evolutionary rather than |
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14 | revolutionary way. Java is an example of the revolutionary approach of |
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15 | modernizing C/C++, resulting in a new language rather than an extension of its |
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16 | descendents. C++, Fortran 95 and Cobol 9X are examples of the evolutionary |
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17 | approach where modern language features are added and problems fixed within the |
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18 | framework of an existing language. |
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19 | |
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20 | The goal of this project is to produce a largely backwards compatible version |
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21 | of C containing many modern language features and fixing some of the well known |
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22 | C problems. Without continued development of the language, C will be unable to |
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23 | cope with the needs of modern programming problems and programmers; as a |
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24 | result, it will fade into disuse. Considering the large body of existing C |
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25 | code and programmers, there is a significant impetus to ensure C is transformed |
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26 | into a modern programming language. |
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27 | |
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28 | |
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29 | What is cfa-cc? |
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30 | --------------- |
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31 | cfa-cc is a collection of programs centred around a translator (trans-compiler) |
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32 | that takes Cforall code as input and outputs augmented C code that implements |
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33 | new features. The translator is complemented by a compiler driver in the style |
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34 | of "gcc", which handles preprocessing (including cfa-cc after cpp), compiling, |
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35 | assembling, and linking. |
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36 | |
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37 | cfa-cc is currently written in C++, but will be eventually rewritten in Cforall. |
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38 | |
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39 | |
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40 | How to download and build cfa-cc? |
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41 | ---------------------------------------- |
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42 | Download cfa-cc using |
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43 | |
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44 | $ git clone https://github.com/cforall/cforall.git |
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45 | |
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46 | Read the ./INSTALL file for build instructions. |
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47 | |
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48 | |
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49 | How to use cfa-cc? |
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50 | ------------------- |
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51 | The compiler driver "cfa" accepts all of the arguments for gcc, and is used in |
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52 | the same way. For example: |
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53 | |
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54 | cfa -c test.c |
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55 | cfa test.o |
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56 | |
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57 | Cforall source files may end with '.c' or '.cfa' in order to be compiled by the |
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58 | compiler driver. In addition, the flag "-CFA" causes cfa to invoke the C |
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59 | preprocessor and Cforall translator and write the translator output to standard |
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60 | output. |
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61 | |
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62 | |
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63 | How to use C code with cfa-cc? |
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64 | ----------------------------------- |
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65 | cfa-cc should be able to compile and link most ANSI C programs with associated |
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66 | C standard libraries. |
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67 | |
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68 | Like C++, Cforall supports overloading, resulting in duplicate names that are |
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69 | disambiguated using name mangling in the translated C code. To prevent |
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70 | mangling of C names, it is necessary to wrap C declarations in an extern "C" |
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71 | block, as for C++. For example: |
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72 | |
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73 | extern "C" { |
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74 | #include <curses.h> |
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75 | #include <getopt.h> |
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76 | } |
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77 | |
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78 | The extern "C" turns off name mangling for functions and objects declared |
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79 | within the block. All C standard headers are pre-wrapped, so most wrapping is |
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80 | unnecessary. |
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81 | |
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82 | |
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83 | What's wrong with cfa-cc? |
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84 | ------------------------- |
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85 | |
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86 | The authors consider cfa-cc to be in a semi-stable state. It is possible for |
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87 | reasonable Cforall programs to fail compilation. A list of bugs and fixes is |
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88 | available here: https://cforall.uwaterloo.ca/trac. We encourage users to |
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89 | report their experiences to cforall@plg.uwaterloo.ca, but we can make no |
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90 | promises regarding support. |
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91 | |
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92 | Also, the Cforall features web-page https://cforall.uwaterloo.ca/features lists |
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93 | small syntactic and semantic differences with standard C. |
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94 | |
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95 | |
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96 | Who is responsible for cfa-cc? |
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97 | ------------------------------ |
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98 | Cforall was designed and implemented by Andrew Beach, Richard Bilson, Michael |
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99 | Brooks, Peter A. Buhr, Thierry Delisle Glen Ditchfield, Rodolfo G. Esteves, |
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100 | Aaron Moss, Colby Parsons, Rob Schluntz, Fangren Yu, Mubeen Zulfiqar, and others. |
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101 | |
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102 | Check the Cforall web site https://cforall.uwaterloo.ca for news and updates. |
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