sick is the main development environment for CLC-INTERCAL.
If files are specified, these will be compiled using the options in effect
at the point where they appear on the command line, and they are compiled to
objects (if they are not already object). After all the options have been
processed, the program enters interactive mode, unless otherwise
specified.
The program will be compiled using a compiler selected using
command line options; if nothing is selected, the compiler depends on the
file suffix:
- CLC-INTERCAL
program source
- These files must have suffix .i or .clci. These will be
prefixed, by default, with the compiler object sick.io.
- CLC-INTERCAL
compiler source
- These files must have suffix .iacc. These will be prefixed, by
default, with the compiler object iacc.io and produce a compiler
object (which can be executed as a program, but will do nothing - it's
only useful as a preload before compiling from source).
- C-INTERCAL program source
- These have suffix .ci and will be prefixed with the compiler object
ick.io.
- CLC-INTERCAL
assembler source
- These have suffix .iasm and will be prefixed with the compiler
object asm.io.
- Traditional
INTERCAL program source
- These will have suffix .1972 and will be prefixed with the compiler
object 1972.io
- Compiler
extensions
- Suffixes .i, .ci, .clci and .iasm can contain
a list of letters and numbers between the spot (.) and the rest of
the suffix; these select compiler extensions to be added.
- Base
- Numbers between 2 and 7 change the default base by loading
compiler objects 2.io to 7.io.
- Bitwise Divide
- Letter d in the suffix adds the compiler object
bitwise-divide.io, which changes the normal unary divide operation
to use bitwise, rather than arithmetic, shifts. It can be used with
sick or iasm but not with ick.
- COME FROM gerund
- Letter g in the suffix adds the compiler object
come-from-gerund.io, which enables the COME FROM gerund statements;
since ick does not parse such statements, this letter can only be
used with sick or iasm.
- Computed
labels
- Letter l in the suffix adds the compiler object
computed-labels.io, which adds grammar rules to parse computed
statement labels; this can be used only with sick.
- NEXT
- Letter n in the suffix adds the compiler object next.io,
which enables the NEXT statement in sick; since ick enables
this by default, this letter can only be used with sick.
- INTERcal
NETworking
- Letter r in the suffix adds the compiler object internet.io,
which adds syntax for the STEAL, SMUGGLE and CASE
statements; it can be used with ick or sick.
- System call
- Letter s in the suffix adds the compiler object syscall.io,
which hides a "PLEASE NEXT FROM (666)" in a dark corner of your
operating system.
- Threaded
program
- Letter t in the suffix selects threaded mode by loading compiler
object thick.io. This also changes the default compiler to
ick if the suffix is .i: to use sick one would use
.tclci.
- Wimp mode
- Letter w in the suffix adds the compiler object wimp.io,
which causes the program to start in wimp mode when it is executed. An
equivalent result can be obtained by passing the --wimp option to
the executable program.
The actual list of suffixes recognised can be changed by editing
the file system,sickrc or .sickrc. See the option
--rcfile for a discussion on how and where sick finds these
files, and sickrc for a description of the file format.
If a preload file is specified on the command line, the defaults
derived from the suffix are not used. It is also possible to use default
preloads from a different file suffix by explicitely saying
-suffix=S - in this case, the compiler acts as if the file had
name name.S
In addition, compiler objects are always recognised, with whatever
suffix. These bypass the first compiler pass and jump directly to the
runtime (just-too-late) compiler. However, if the optimiser has been
selected when these objects were compiled, and there are no postprocessor
statements, the just-too-late compiler will be automatically replaced by a
more traditional "compile-time" compiler. If this is confusing,
wait until you see the rest.
If a file is specified without suffix, and there is a compiler
object in the include path with the same name and suffix .io, the
suffix is automatically added, whether you wanted it or now.
As soon as each program is written into sick, a
pre-compiler will produce an internal compiler object. If sick enters
interactive mode, these objects will be available in memory for
single-stepping, running, or just ignoring completely and getting on with
the real work.
If sick loads all the required programs and objects
successfully, but does not enter interactive mode, any program source is
read back out to disk in object format, using the same file name with the
suffix replaced by .io if no output file is specified. If a backend
is specified in the command line before a program is loaded, sick
will produce an executable via that backend instead of an object.
The compiler accepts several options, some of which are documented
here. Options and files can be mixed in any order, each file is loaded and
compiled using whatever options precedes it on the command line. For
example:
sick --verbose --optimise prog1.i --quiet prog2.i --batch
will tell you everything about compiling prog1.i but not
about prog2.i. Both programs will be optimised. On the other
hand:
sick --optimise prog1.i --nooptimise prog2.i --batch
will optimise prog1.i but not prog2.i.
All options can be "undone" (sometimes it's even clear
how) except --include which applies to all objects loaded after it,
and --rcfile which applies to all objects, even the ones loaded
before it (just to be different).
- -X /
--graphic
- Enters X-based graphical user interface. Requires Perl-GTK. This is the
default if Perl-GTK is installed, the environment variable
$DISPLAY is set and the
opening of the X display succeeds.
- -c / --curses
- Enters full screen, curses-based interface. This is the default if the X
based interface cannot be started, the environment variable
$TERM is set and the terminal
name is known.
- --line
- Enters the line-mode user interface. This is the default if the X based
and the curses based interfaces do not work.
- --batch
- Avoids entering interactive mode. This is the default if the standard
input and output are not connected to a terminal and the X based interface
cannot be started.
- -itype /
--interface=type
- Selects the user interface type. Currently, only X,
Curses, Line and None are defined, but more can be
installed as compiler plug-ins. If the interface selected is None,
sick will work in batch mode. In addition, an empty string will
reinstate the default behaviour.
- -a / --ascii
- Assumes that program source is in ASCII.
- -b / --baudot
- Assumes that program source is in Baudot.
- -e / --ebcdic
- Assumes that program source is in EBCDIC.
- -h /
--hollerith
- Assumes that program source is in Hollerith.
- -g / --guess
- Does not make assumptions about the source character set. If the character
set cannot be guessed, will produce an error. This is the default.
- --charset=name
- Assumes that program source is in the given character sets. Valid values
are currently ASCII, Baudot, EBCDIC,
Hollerith; an empty name is equivalent to specifying option
--guess).
- -O /
--optimise
- Invokes the optimiser. This is a letter o, not a zero. This will cause the
extra object optimise.io to be prefixed after the last compiler and
before the real program. The program is then executed: when the optimiser
takes control, it will force compilation of the rest of the program
(thereby executing the compiler at compile-time, instead of runtime as it
normally does), and the resulting object is checkpointed, so the next time
it will automatically skip the initialisation and compilation stages. In
addition, the "optimise" register is set, instructing the
compiler to invoke the optimiser when it runs.
If you specify -O and -poptimise (see below),
you are asking for trouble, so don't do that.
- --nooptimise
- Disables automatic preloading and execution of optimise.io.
- -oname /
--output=name
- Selects a name for the output file. Some character sequences are
recognised inside name:
%p will be replaced by the
source program's basename; %s
will be replaced by the appropriate suffix for the selected backend,
%o will provide the original
file name specified on the command line, without suffix (this can differ
from %s because
%s can be prefixed with a
directory from the search path) and %% will produce a single
%.
The default is
%p.%s, which produces the
object name described at the beginning of this document. A suffix is not
automatically added if the output name does not contain
%s; this might be useful in
ocnjunction with the Perl backend to produce a file without a
suffix, for example:
sick --output=%p --backend=Perl sourcefile.i
will compile sourcefile.i and produce perl script
sourcefile.
If the output file is specified as an empty string, the code
generation step will never be done.
- -nname /
--name=name
- Sets the program's name, if the code generator requires it
(currently, no backends use a name, but some of the planned ones will).
The default is %o. The same
%-escapes as defined for the output file name are defined.
- -lname /
--backend=name
- Selects a different compiler back end. The default is Object, which
produces a compiler object (suffix .io). The distribution also
includes a Perl backend, which produces an executable Perl program
(suffix .pl). In addition, the pseudo backend Run will run
the program instead of writing any object. In this case, the output file
name is ignored. Note that the program will only run if the compiler is in
batch mode. Other back ends can be provided as compiler plug ins. The
distribution also contains a ListObject backend, which does not
produce executables but object listings. A future version might allow to
"compile" the output of the ListObject back end, but this
is currently impossible because not all the internal state of the object
is provided, only the part which is likely to be useful to a human
reader.
- --bug=number
- Selects a different probability for the compiler bug. The compiler bug is
implemented by initialising the compiler's state with the required
probability: when a statement is compiled (usually at runtime), a
"BUG" instruction is emitted with the required probability. The
default is 1%.
- --ubug=number
- Selects a probability for the unexplainable compiler bug. This is the
compiler bug which occurs when the probability of a (explainable) compiler
bug is zero. Only wimps would use this option. The default is 0.01%.
- -pname /
--preload=name
- Selects a compiler object to prefix to the program. If this option is
specified, the compiler won't automatically prefix objects as suggested by
the suffix. The program 'oo, ick' included in previous version of
CLC-INTERCAL used option -p to select a parser. Since the main use
of preloads is to select an alternative (runtime) compiler, it is felt
that it is appropriate to keep the same letter for this option.
The file name specified does not include the suffix
.io, which is always added. The file must be a compiler object,
not source code.
The special object optimise should always loaded via
-O. Using -poptimise will not necessarily put the object
in the correct place, and will not instruct the precompiler to do
whatever magic it needs to do to bootstrap the optimiser.
To completely disable preloading (this is only done when
compiling the optimiser, which is used to compile itself) use an empty
string.
- --nopreload
- Resets the default behaviour of selecting preloads based on suffixes.
- --suffix=suffix
- Specifies a suffix to use when selecting preloads. If this option is not
specified, the suffix is taken from the file name to be compiled.
- -Ipath /
--include=path
- Adds a directory before the standard search path for compiler objects and
source code. If a file is accessible from the current directory, it is
never searched in any include path.
If this option is repeated, the given paths will be searched
in the order given, followed by the standard paths.
- -rname /
--rcfile=name
- Executes commands from file name before entering interactive mode.
This option can be repeated, to execute more than one file. If it is not
specified, the standard library, the current directory, and the current
user's home directory are searched for files with name
system.sickrc or .sickrc, which are then executed. The order
for this search is: specified library (--include), system library,
home directory, current directory. This is different from the search order
used when looking for objects or source code. If a directory contains both
.sickrc and system.sickrc, the system.sickrc is
executed first, followed by .sickrc. Also note that if the current
directory or the home directory appear in the search path and contain one
of these files, they will be executed twice.
If filenames are explicitely specified, they must be fully
qualified: the search path is not used to find them.
- --nouserrc
- Prevents loading a user rcfile (.sickrc); also limits loading of
system.sickrc to the first one found. This option is normally only used
during installation, to prevent interference from previous versions of
CLC-INTERCAL.
- -v /
--verbose
- Tells everything it's doing (on Standard Error).
- --stdverb=file
- Sends verbose output to file.
- --trace
- Enables tracing; if compiling from source, the compiler is also traced; to
trace a program, compile it to an object and then run it with
--trace.
- --stdtrace=file
- Enables tracing and selects an output file for the trace information.
- --notrace
- Disables tracing; preloading trace.io has priority over this
option.
- -q / --quiet
- Stop talking to Standard Error.
- --times
- Prints a summary of the time take for each major action. This setting is
independent of --verbose.
- --notimes
- Does not print execution times: this is the default.
- --rclist
- Prints the names of all rcfiles found. It prevents starting interactive
mode. For example, the following command (which should work with
any Unix shell) opens all the system and user sickrc files in your
favourite editor:
sh -c '"${EDITOR:-vi}" "`sick --rclist`"'
This can be useful to update the defaults.