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108 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
Executable file
108 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
Executable file
Title: Navigation page for Inter
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Author: Graham Nelson
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@ Inter is Stages 6 and 7 of the core Inform compiler, but can also be run as a
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stand-alone tool. See //structure// for the bigger picture: Inter handles
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only these parts of the compilation flow --
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= (hyperlinked text as BoxArt)
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kit sources
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(in Inform 6 code)
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| INTER
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\|/
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precompiled
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Inter trees
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.
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.
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. . . . . . . precompiled Inter tree
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Inter trees from inform7
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\ /
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\ / INFORM7 Stage 6 or INTER
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\|/ \|/
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single linked Inter tree
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/ | \
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/ | \ INFORM7 Stage 7 or INTER
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\|/ \|/ \|/
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Inform 6 code C code index mini-website
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=
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Used as a stand-alone tool at the command line, however, Inter is more
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flexible and interesting. See the //inter: Manual// and //inter: Reference Card//.
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(*) The contents page for the Inter web is here: //inter//.
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(*) The command-line interface for Inter as a stand-alone tool is implemented
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at //inter: Main//.
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(*) The //inter: Manual// contains a full description of the intermediate format
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"Inter", regarded as a language in its own right.
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@ The //bytecode// module provides a low-level API for creating Inter code in
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memory, including definitions of every Inter construct, together with reading
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and writing Inter to either binary or text files. This is also where references
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between one tree and another ("plugs" and "sockets") are managed, and where
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"transmigration", moving code from one Inter tree to another, is done.
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(*) Contents page of web: //bytecode//.
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(*) Detailed overview: //bytecode: What This Module Does//.
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(*) For details of how binary Inter files are currently formatted, see
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//bytecode: Inter in Binary Files//.
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@ The //building// module sits on top of //bytecode// and provides much more
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powerful facilities for constructing Inter in memory: in particular allowing
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for out-of-sequence construction which follows hierarchical location maps
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made in advance. The central stages of the Inform 7 compiler generate Inter
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using the //building// API, and not by calling //bytecode// directly.
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//building// also contains what amounts to a pocket-sized Inform 6 compiler
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of its own. It can read code in the Inform 6 programming language's syntax
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and turn that into an |inter_schema| -- in effect, an AST for Inform 6, which
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is a language so different from Inform 7 that they cannot sensibly have the
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same AST format. But they can indeed share Inter as an intermediate representation
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or IR, and they do. //building// contains the code which converts |inter_schema|
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trees to Inter, a process called "assimilation", and this is the main step in
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building a kit like //BasicInformKit// from its source.
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(*) Contents page of web: //building//.
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(*) Detailed overview: //building: What This Module Does//.
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@ The //pipeline// module provides a flexible processing pipeline for performing
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transformations on trees of Inter code. Steps in such pipelines may include
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linking trees together, or transmigrating material between them, or performing
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peephole optimisation, and so on. The design here is intended to make it easy
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for people to tinker, and to add new, experimental processing steps as Inform
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develops.
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(*) Contents page of web: //pipeline//.
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(*) Detailed overview: //pipeline: What This Module Does//.
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(*) For documentation of the mini-language used to specify new pipelines, see
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the Inter manual at //inter: Pipelines and Stages//.
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@ The //final// module provides for what is usually the final step of a pipeline:
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the last step of code-generation, when the final output of Inform is written to
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some text file. For example, it might output a C or Inform 6 program. //final//
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is designed to allow for new output formats to be added as Inform develops; in
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particular it contains a "vanilla" algorithm for code-generating Inter trees
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to vaguely C-like, procedural languages, and this is used both for C and for
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Inform 6.
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(*) Contents page of web: //final//.
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(*) Detailed overview: //final: What This Module Does//.
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@ The //index// module generates the mini-website called the Index for an Inform 7
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project, familiar to all users of the Inform app. Note that this is done from the
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Inter tree alone; all information about the program which is needed to draw up
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the Index is present in the Inter tree in the form of metadata constants.
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(*) Contents page of web: //index//.
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(*) Detailed overview: //index: What This Module Does//.
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@ Inter also contains the basic //foundation// library and some //services//
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modules: specifically, //words//, //html// and //arch//.
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