grammar updates

[mono.git] / web / c-sharp

diff --git a/web/c-sharp b/web/c-sharp
index c11225d07e9129597848f351efaa9d20d1d823ab..ddf6844701f73790dda4c60efec685c56f340860 100644 (file)
--- a/web/c-sharp
+++ b/web/c-sharp
@@ -1,15 +1,51 @@
 * MCS: The Ximian C# compiler
 
 * MCS: The Ximian C# compiler
 

-       MCS began as an experiment to learn the features of C# by
-       writing a large C# program.  MCS is currently able to parse C#
-       programs and create an internal tree representation of the
-       program.  MCS can parse itself.  
+       The Mono C# compiler is considered feature complete at this
+       point and relatively mature.  MCS is able to compile itself
+       and many more C# programs (there is a test suite included that
+       you can use).  It is routinely used to compile Mono, roughly
+       half a million lines of C# code.

 
 

-       Work is progressing quickly on various fronts in the C#
-       compiler.  Recently I started using the System.Reflection API
-       to load system type definitions and avoid self-population of
-       types in the compiler and dropped my internal Type
-       representation in favor of using the CLI's System.Type.  
+* Pending tasks
+
+       There are a few known bugs in the Mono C# compiler, but
+       they are very very few at this point,
+       you can also browse the MCS <a href="http://bugzilla.ximian.com/buglist.cgi?product=Mono%2FMCS&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&email1=&emailtype1=substring&emailassigned_to1=1&email2=&emailtype2=substring&emailreporter2=1&changedin=&chfieldfrom=&chfieldto=Now&chfieldvalue=&short_desc=&short_desc_type=substring&long_desc=&long_desc_type=substring&bug_file_loc=&bug_file_loc_type=substring&keywords=&keywords_type=anywords&op_sys_details=&op_sys_details_type=substring&version_details=&version_details_type=substring&cmdtype=doit&newqueryname=&order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time&form_name=query">bugs</a> from Bugzilla.
+
+       A test suite is maintained to track the progress of
+       the compiler and various programs are routinely compiled and
+       ran.
+
+** Slides
+
+       Slides for the Mono C# Compiler presentation at .NET ONE are
+       available <a
+       href="http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/slides-europe-nov-2002/Mono_C_Sharp_Overview_1007.sxi">here</a>
+       in StarOffice format.
+
+** Obtaining MCS
+
+       The Mono C# compiler is part of the `mcs' module in the Mono CVS
+       you can get it from our <a href="anoncvs.html">Anonymous CVS</a> server,
+       or you can get nightly <a href="download.html">download page</a>.
+
+** Running MCS
+
+       MCS is written in C# and uses heavily the .NET APIs.  MCS runs
+       on Linux with the Mono runtime and on Windows with both the
+       .NET runtime and the Mono runtime.
+
+** Reporting Bugs in MCS
+
+       When you report a bug, try to provide a small test case that would
+       show the error so we can include this as part of the Mono C# regression
+       test suite.
+
+       If the bug is an error or a warning that we do not flag, write
+       a sample program called `csXXXX.cs' where XXXX is the code number
+       that is used by the Microsoft C# compiler that illustrates the 
+       problem.  That way we can also do regression tests on the invalid
+       input.  

 
 ** Phases of the compiler
 
 
 ** Phases of the compiler
 


@@ -42,60 +78,44 @@
                  have to postpone this decision until the above steps
                  are finished.
 
                  have to postpone this decision until the above steps
                  are finished.
 

-               * Code generation: nothing done so far, but I do not
-                 expect this to be hard, as I will just use
-                 System.Reflection.Emit to generate the code. 
-       
-       </ul>
-
-<a name="tasks">
-** Current pending tasks
-
-       Simple tasks:
-
-       <ul>
-               * Array declarations are currently being ignored, 
-
-               * PInvoke declarations are not supported.
-
-               * Pre-processing is not supported.
-
-               * Attribute declarations and passing currently ignored.
-
-               * Compiler does not pass around line/col information from tokenizer for error reporting.
-
-               * Jay does not work correctly with `error'
-                 productions, making parser errors hard to point.  It
-                 would be best to port the Bison-To-Java compiler to
-                 become Bison-to-C# compiler (bjepson@oreilly.com
-                 might have more information)
+               * Code generation: The code generation is done through
+                 the System.Reflection.Emit API.

        </ul>
 
        </ul>
 

-       Interesting and Fun hacks to the compiler:
+** CIL Optimizations.

 
 

-       <ul>
-               * Finishing the JB port from Java to C#.  If you are
-                 interested in working on this, please contact Brian
-                 Jepson (bjepson at oreilly d-o-t com).
+       The compiler performs a number of simple optimizations on its input:
+       constant folding (this is required by the C# language spec) and 
+       can perform dead code elimination.

 
 

-                 More on JB at: <a href="http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~dennis/software/jb.html">
-                 http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~dennis/software/jb.html</a>
+       Other more interesting optimizations like hoisting are not possible
+       at this point since the compiler output at this point does not
+       generate an intermediate representation that is suitable to
+       perform basic block computation.  

 
 

-                 JB will allow us to move from the Berkeley Yacc
-                 based Jay to a Bison-based compiler (better error
-                 reporting and recovery).
+       Adding an intermediate layer to enable the basic block
+       computation to the compiler should be a simple task, but we
+       are considering having a generic CIL optimizer.  Since all the
+       information that is required to perform basic block-based
+       optimizations is available at the CIL level, we might just skip
+       this step altogether and have just a generic IL optimizer that
+       would perform hoisting on arbitrary CIL programs, not only
+       those produced by MCS.  

 
 

-               * Semantic Analysis: Return path coverage and
-                 initialization before use coverage are two great
-                 features of C# that help reduce the number of bugs
-                 in applications.  It is one interesting hack.
+       If this tool is further expanded to perform constant folding
+       (not needed for our C# compiler, as it is already in there)
+       and dead code elimination, other compiler authors might be
+       able to use this generic CIL optimizer in their projects
+       reducing their time to develop a production compiler. 

 
 

-               * TypeRefManager.  This exists currently in its infancy only. 
+** History

 
 

-               * Enum resolutions: it is another fun hack, as enums can be defined 
-                 in terms of themselves (<tt>enum X { a = b + 1, b = 5 }</tt>). 
+       MCS was able to parse itself on April 2001, MCS compiled itself
+       for the first time on December 28 2001.  MCS became self hosting
+       on January 3rd, 2002. 

 
 

-       </ul>
+       The Mono Runtime and the Mono execution engine were able to make
+       our compiler self hosting on March 12, 2002.

 
 ** Questions and Answers
 
 
 ** Questions and Answers
 


@@ -123,6 +143,10 @@ Q: If your C# compiler is written in C#, how do you plan on getting
    We will do this through an implementation of the CLI Virtual
    Execution System for Unix (our JIT engine). 
 
    We will do this through an implementation of the CLI Virtual
    Execution System for Unix (our JIT engine). 
 

+   Our JIT engine is working for the purposes of using the compiler.
+   The supporting class libraries are being worked on to fully support
+   the compiler.
+

 Q: Do you use Bison?
 
 A: No, currently I am using Jay which is a port of Berkeley Yacc to
 Q: Do you use Bison?
 
 A: No, currently I am using Jay which is a port of Berkeley Yacc to


@@ -181,6 +205,5 @@ Q: Why are you writing a JIT engine instead of a front-end to GCC?
 A: The JIT engine and runtime engine will be able to execute CIL
    executables generated on Windows.
 
 A: The JIT engine and runtime engine will be able to execute CIL
    executables generated on Windows.
 

-

 You might also want to look at the <a href="faq.html#gcc">GCC</a>
 section on the main FAQ
 You might also want to look at the <a href="faq.html#gcc">GCC</a>
 section on the main FAQ