// Hypothetical, fully ledged version of Cm, at compile time, using a superset of the runtime language // with macros, and an escape hatch into native code (C or whatever) // Language structurally, a bit like Nim: // - the scripting language itself // - macros, which are functions from language itself operating on special AST values at compile time // - (NEW) native escape hatch, kind of literate programming style, expanding into native program source code at compile time // So the compile procedure is as follows: // - build interpreter (native source code) from source // - init interpreter // - load program source code, evaluate to produce // - an environment image (bytecode of scripting constructs), and // - native program source (text of things produced by native escape hatch, plus interpreter source code itself, plus auto generated bindings) // - build native program // And run procedure is: // - init interpreter (<- the PE/mach-o/ELF entrypoint here) // - init native program parts (<- i.e. the escape hatches don't generate an actual main() func, instead a customly named init() func that gets called by the generated machinery) // - load bindings // - load environment image // - run native program entrypoint // The order of native program entrypoint vs. environment loading might be reversed. Depending on how it makes sense. // Or maybe there will be 2 parts, the native program *init* and *start*. Former would be like the _mainCRTStartup() that initializes global variables, etc. // REQUIREMENT FOR NATIVE PROGRAM SOURCE: // Must be nicely readable. // We plan on completely reusing the traditional native program debuggers, e.g. GDB for debugging // The interpreter can then have its own debugging system // Problem: How to do mixed language debugging? like stepping into a native function, this is a lot of work/hacks to wrap on top of e.g. GDB // SIDE THOUGHT: // should bindings be baked into the environment image (i.e. design the bytecode format to include this? however it should be done; can't really imagine it now?) // or should they be generated e.g. `bind_function("func_name", &func_written_in_C);`? // REUSING EXSITING SCRIPTING LANGUAGE // We don't want to reimplement a language from scratch // Hacking e.g. PUC-Lua's parser? Kind of like Terra // terminology akin to Janet (from _Janet for Mortals_): // compile: evaluating the program sources to produce an environment // runtime: evaluating the environment