catala/compiler/index.mld

{0 The Catala compiler}

{1 Architecture}

The architecture of the Catala compiler is inspired by
{{: https://compcert.org/} CompCert} or the {{: https://nanopass.org/} Nanopass}
framework, and is structured around many intermediate representations connected
by successive translations passes.

Here is the recap picture of the different intermediate representations of the
Catala compiler (made with an {{: https://textik.com/#c1c1fecda5209492} ASCII diagram tool}):

{v
                                     +---------------+
                                     |               |
                                     |  Surface AST  |
                                     |               |
                                     +---------------+
                                             |
                                             |
         * Separate code from legislation    |
         * Remove syntactic sugars           |
                                             v
                                   +------------------+
                                   |                  |
                                   |  Desugared AST   |
                                   |                  |
                                   +------------------+
                                             |
                                             |
 * Build rule trees for each definition      |
 * Order variable computations inside scope  |
                                             v
                                  +--------------------+
                                  |                    |
                                  | Scope language AST |
                                  |                    |
                                  +--------------------+
                                             |
                                             |
        * Convert scopes into functions      |
        * Thunking of subscope arguments     |
                                             |
                                             v
                                 +----------------------+
                                 |                      |
                                 | Default calculus AST |
                                 |                      |
                                 +----------------------+
                                             |
                                             |
                                             |
       * Compile the default term            |
                                             |
                                             v
                                 +----------------------+
                                 |                      |
                                 | Lambda calculus AST  |
                                 |                      |
                                 +----------------------+
                                             |
                                             |
        * Turn expressions into statements   |
                                             |
                                             v
                               +--------------------------+
                               |                          |
                               |  Statement calculus AST  |
                               |                          |
                               +--------------------------+
v}

{1 List of top-level modules }

Each of those intermediate representation is bundled into its own [dune] bundle
module. Click on the items below if you want to dive straight into the signatures.

{!modules: Surface Desugared Scopelang Dcalc Lcalc Scalc }

More documentation can be found on each intermediate representations here.

{ul
{li {{: surface.html} The surface representation}}
{li {{: desugared.html} The desugared representation}}
{li {{: scopelang.html} The scope language }}
{li {{: dcalc.html} The default calculus}}
{li {{: lcalc.html} The lambda calculus}}
{li {{: scalc.html} The statement calculus}}
}

Most of these intermediate representations use a {{: shared_ast.html} shared AST libary}.
The main compilation chain is defined in:

{!modules: Driver}

Additionally, the compiler features a verification plugin that generates
verification condition for proof backends. More information can be found here:

{ul
{li {{: verification.html} Verification}}
}

Two more modules contain additional features for the compiler:

{ul
{li {{: literate.html} Literate programming}}
{li {{: catala_utils.html} Compiler utilities}}
}

The Catala runtimes documentation is available here:

{!modules: Runtime_ocaml.Runtime Runtime_jsoo.Runtime}

Last, it is possible to customize the backend to the compiler using a plugin
mechanism. The API is defined inside the following module:

{!module: Driver.Plugin}

See the examples in the [plugins/] subdirectory:

{ul
{li {{: plugins.html} Backend plugin examples}}
}