Nimcc: A mini C compiler written in Nim (WIP)

Prerequisites

Either a Docker environment or a native Linux environment on x86_64.

• MacOS is quite compatible with Linux at the source level of assembly, but not fully compatible.

Setup

Docker Setup

• Setting up the Linux development environment using a Dockerfile.

  • The environment will include the following tools installed: nim, gcc, make, binutils, libc6-dev gdb sudo.

• The code below assumes that Nimcc repository is cloned directly under $HOME directory.

• To create and start the Docker container named 'nimcc' (you can change the container name as desired), execute:

  Open the directory containing the Dockerfile and type:
  
  $ docker build -t nimcc .
  $ docker run --rm -it -w /home/user/Nimcc -v $HOME/Nimcc:/home/user/Nimcc nimcc
  

Native Linux Setup (x86_64)

• Setting up the native Linux environment by directly installing the necessary development tools.

• Execute the following commands to install the required tools:

  $ sudo apt update
  $ sudo apt install -y gcc make git binutils libc6-dev
  

How to test

• Open the directory and type make in the terminal.

  In Docker
  If it says 'OK', it means that all tests have passed!
  ------------------------------------------------------
  
  $ make
    .
    .
    .
  struct t {int a; int b;} x; struct t y; sizeof(y); => 16
  struct t {int a; int b;}; struct t y; sizeof(y); => 16
  struct t {char a[2];}; { struct t {char a[4];}; } struct t y; sizeof(y); => 2
  struct t {int x;}; int t=1; struct t y; y.x=2; t+y.x; => 3
  OK
  

  • Running the make command will execute the test code for the Nimcc compiler.

  • The test code is written in C language and is in the file test.c. (It's worth noting that the test code itself is written in C language.)

  • You can also write your own C code and compile it using Nimcc.

Features

• A nimcc can execute the code written in test.c.
  • Basic arithmetic operations
  • Unary plus and unary minus
  • Comparison operations
  • Functions
  • Local variables
  • Control syntax (if, while, for)
  • Compound statement (Block)
  • Pointer
  • Primitive data eype (int)

Reference

https://www.sigbus.info/compilerbook