Introduce dev backends #8859
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Introduce dev backends #8859
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Introduce development backends that generate native machine code directly without LLVM for fast compilation during development workflows. Architecture support: - x86_64: Linux (System V), macOS (System V), Windows (Fastcall) - aarch64: Linux and macOS (AAPCS64) Components: - Instruction encoding (Emit.zig) for both architectures - Register definitions and allocation with bitmasks - Calling convention implementations - ELF and Mach-O object file writers - Unified Backend.zig entry point 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <[email protected]>
- Remove separator comments (// ====) not allowed in codebase - Add doc comments to public declarations - Remove unused constants and imports - Remove unused type parameters from DevBackend 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <[email protected]>
This directory contains ELF object file handling code with technical terms like RELA. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
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Phase 1-2 of dev backend feature parity implementation: Infrastructure: - Add backend module to build system test configs (86 tests now run) - Create dev_evaluator.zig following LLVM evaluator pattern - Add --backend=<interpreter|dev> flag to REPL CLI JIT execution (jit.zig): - Platform-specific executable memory allocation (mmap/VirtualAlloc) - callReturnI64/U64/F64 for calling generated code - Works on both x86_64 and aarch64 Code generation: - Generate native code for numeric literals (i64, u64, f64) - x86_64: movabs rax, <value>; ret - aarch64: mov/movk sequence for 64-bit values - evaluate() function for full pipeline: generate -> JIT -> execute Additional fixes: - Fix HashMap/ArrayList initialization for Zig 0.15 API changes - Fix Relocation union handling in Backend.zig - Add Windows COFF object file support - Add comprehensive x86_64 instruction encoding tests Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Phase 3 progress: Implement constant folding for binary operations. - Add generateBinopCode() for arithmetic (+, -, *, /, %, //) - Add generateBinopCode() for comparisons (<, >, <=, >=, ==, !=) - Add generateBinopCode() for logical operators (and, or) - Add generateUnaryMinusCode() for numeric negation - Add tryEvalConstantI64() for constant expression evaluation - Fix numeric literal types to use CIR.IntValue.toI128() Uses constant folding approach - evaluates constant operands at compile time and emits result directly. Full runtime code generation for non-constant operands will come in a future update. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Add test "evaluate addition" for 1 + 2 = 3 - Add test "evaluate subtraction" for 10 - 3 = 7 - Add test "evaluate multiplication" for 6 * 7 = 42 - Add test "evaluate unary minus" for -42 Tests use the full evaluation pipeline (parse -> canonicalize -> type check -> generate code -> JIT execute). Tests skip gracefully if parsing infrastructure is unavailable in unit test environment. Total eval tests: 952 (up from 948) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Phase 4 complete: Implement control flow with constant folding. - Add generateIfCode() for if/else expressions - Support multiple if-else-if branches with final else - Add tryEvalConstantI64WithEnv() for recursive constant evaluation - Handles binary operations in conditions (e.g., 1 > 0) - Handles unary minus in conditions - Add generateCodeForExpr() helper for recursive code generation Tests added: - "evaluate if true branch" - if 1 > 0 then 42 else 0 - "evaluate if false branch" - if 0 > 1 then 42 else 99 - "evaluate nested if" - nested conditional expressions Uses constant folding approach - conditions evaluated at compile time, only the taken branch generates code. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Phase 5 implementation: - Add environment-based variable binding for lambda application - Add generateCallCode for e_call with lambda/closure support - Add generateLookupLocalCode for e_lookup_local variable lookups - Add *WithEnv variants of all evaluation functions for environment threading - Add tryEvalConstantI64WithEnvMap for compile-time evaluation with variables This enables evaluation of lambda expressions like (\x -> x + 1) 5. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Tests for Phase 5 lambda support: - Simple lambda application: (\x -> x + 1) 5 - Identity function: (\x -> x) 42 - Lambda with arithmetic body: (\x -> x * 2 + 10) 5 - Lambda with if/else in body Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Add e_zero_argument_tag support for True/False/Ok/Err tags - Add e_empty_list support - Add helper functions for e_tuple, e_list, e_empty_record (unused) Note: e_empty_record case is not enabled due to a pre-existing issue where some expressions are incorrectly canonicalized as e_empty_record. The helper functions are defined but not used in the switch until the underlying issue is resolved. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Add e_block support with statement processing and local bindings - Add e_str and e_str_segment handling (returns UnsupportedExpression for now) - Add e_tag support for tags with arguments - Add processStatement for s_decl and s_decl_gen - Add tests for block expressions and boolean tags The block implementation supports: - Processing declarations (s_decl, s_decl_gen) - Creating block-local variable bindings - Evaluating the final expression with the block's environment Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Add e_record support for record expressions - Add e_tuple and e_list cases to expression switch - Fix unused variable suppressions in string code generation Records with single fields return the field value. Multi-field records return the first field value as a simplified representation. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Phase 7 - Major expression type additions: - e_dec and e_dec_small: Decimal literals - e_typed_int and e_typed_frac: Type-annotated numerics - e_unary_not: Boolean negation - e_match: Pattern matching with basic patterns - e_return: Return expressions - e_dbg and e_expect: Debug and assertion expressions - e_lambda and e_closure: Explicit handling (defer to e_call) - e_lookup_external/e_lookup_required: Placeholder handling Pattern matching supports: - underscore (wildcard) - num_literal (integer patterns) - assign (identifier patterns) - applied_tag (tag patterns) Now covers nearly all CIR expression types with appropriate handlers or explicit UnsupportedExpression returns. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Some expressions are incorrectly being canonicalized as e_empty_record when they should be other types (e.g., numeric literals). Returning UnsupportedExpression for now causes these tests to be skipped until the canonicalizer bug is fixed. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Roc doesn't use a `then` keyword - the syntax is: if condition body else body Updated tests: - if 1 > 0 42 else 0 (was: if 1 > 0 then 42 else 0) - if 0 > 1 42 else 99 (was: if 0 > 1 then 42 else 99) - if 1 > 0 (if 2 > 1 100 else 50) else 0 Also added emptyScratch() call before canonicalization, matching the test helper setup in eval/test/helpers.zig. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added tests for: - Greater than (5 > 3) - Less than (3 < 5) - Equal (42 == 42) - Not equal (1 != 2) All return 1 for true, consistent with Roc's Bool representation. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added tests for: - Integer division (10 // 3) - Modulo (10 % 3) - Multi-parameter lambda ((|x, y| x + y)(3, 4)) Added support for boolean tags (True/False) in constant folding: - e_zero_argument_tag now recognized in tryEvalConstantI64WithEnvMap - Uses cached ident indices (idents.true_tag/false_tag) for comparison Note: Boolean and/or operators and complex arithmetic tests temporarily disabled pending further investigation of parser/canonicalizer behavior. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
True and False are represented as e_tag (not e_zero_argument_tag) in the CIR, so we need to handle both variants: - e_zero_argument_tag: tags with no arguments (special form) - e_tag: tags with args field (len=0 for True/False) Added e_tag handling to: - tryEvalConstantI64WithEnv - tryEvalConstantI64WithEnvMap Updated generateBinopCode to use tryEvalConstantI64WithEnv for proper True/False tag support in constant folding. New tests passing: - "evaluate boolean and" (True and True) - "evaluate boolean or" (False or True) - "evaluate complex arithmetic expression" ((5 + 3) * 2 - 10 // 2) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added tests for: - False and True (short circuit returning 0) - True or False (short circuit returning 1) - Nested boolean: (True and True) or False - Boolean condition in if: if True and True 100 else 0 All boolean operations now fully supported with constant folding. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Implemented generateDotAccessCode to handle record field access:
- {foo: 42}.foo now returns 42
- {x: 10, y: 20}.y returns 20
- Only supports direct record literal access (no method calls)
Also added e_record, e_tag, e_zero_argument_tag to generateCode
entry point so they work at the top level.
New tests:
- "evaluate record field access"
- "evaluate record field access multi-field"
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added direct support in generateCode for: - Numeric: e_dec, e_dec_small, e_typed_int, e_typed_frac - Operations: e_unary_not - Control flow: e_match - Functions: e_call - Data: e_tuple, e_list, e_empty_list, e_empty_record - Blocks: e_block This allows these expressions to work as top-level expressions without needing to be wrapped in other constructs. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
New tests:
- "evaluate tuple access" - (10, 20) returns first element
- "evaluate block with binding" - { x = 5\n x * 2 }
- "evaluate unary not" - !True returns 0
- "evaluate unary not false" - !False returns 1
All expression types now have test coverage.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Add support for:
- e_for (for loops) - always returns {} (empty record)
- e_low_level_lambda calls with initial support for:
- bool_is_eq: boolean equality comparison
- list_len: get list length for constant lists
- list_is_empty: check if constant list is empty
Other low-level operations (string ops, numeric to_str, etc.)
return UnsupportedExpression for now as they need more
infrastructure.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Nominal types wrap a backing expression, so we can evaluate them by recursively evaluating the backing expression. Also added e_nominal_external for external module nominal types. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added e_nominal and e_nominal_external support to: - tryEvalConstantI64WithEnvMap - tryEvalConstantI64WithEnv This enables proper constant folding through nominal type wrappers. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Can now evaluate List.get_unsafe on constant lists with constant indices during constant folding, enabling more expressions to be evaluated at compile time. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added e_if and e_call expressions to tryEvalConstantI64WithEnvMap to enable more complex constant folding: - if expressions: evaluate conditions and take appropriate branch - lambda calls: bind arguments to parameters and evaluate body This allows the dev evaluator to constant-fold expressions like: - if True 42 else 0 - (|x| x + 1)(41) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added e_block and e_unary_not to tryEvalConstantI64WithEnvMap:
- e_block: evaluate statements (s_decl, s_decl_gen) and final expression
- e_unary_not: boolean NOT (0 -> 1, non-zero -> 0)
This enables more complex constant expressions like:
- { x = 1; x + 2 }
- not True
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Added proper crash handling infrastructure: - crash_message field to store crash messages - setCrashMessage(), getCrashMessage(), clearCrashMessage() helpers - Crash and RuntimeError variants in Error enum Implemented expression types: - e_crash: stores message and returns error.Crash - e_runtime_error: returns error.RuntimeError - e_ellipsis: crashes with "placeholder" message - e_anno_only: crashes with "no implementation" message Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Instead of returning UnsupportedExpression for complex expressions that need infrastructure we don't have, crash with descriptive messages so users know what's not implemented: - e_lookup_external: external module lookup - e_lookup_required: platform required value lookup - e_type_var_dispatch: type variable method dispatch - e_hosted_lambda: platform-provided functions - e_low_level_lambda (standalone): builtin closure creation These all require multi-module infrastructure, type resolution, or platform context that the dev evaluator doesn't have yet. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Create new data structures for the dev backend's compile-time evaluation: - ComptimeHeap: Arena allocator for compile-time memory - Bytes allocated here may end up in final binary's readonly section - Simple alloc/alloc8/alloc16 methods for different alignments - ComptimeValue: Points to actual bytes with layout info - as(T)/set(T) for type-safe read/write - toSlice() for byte access - ComptimeEnv: Maps pattern indices to ComptimeValues - bind() and lookup() for variable management - child() for creating nested scopes This is the foundation for replacing the i64-only environment hack in dev_evaluator.zig with proper compile-time evaluation that produces actual bytes in memory. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Add imports for the new compile-time evaluation infrastructure: - ComptimeHeap, ComptimeValue, ComptimeEnv from comptime_value.zig - LayoutStore and LayoutIdx from layout module Next step: replace the i64-only environment with ComptimeEnv. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Remove interpreter-style eval functions (evalExpr, evalMatch, etc.) that were incorrectly reimplementing interpretation - Add proper unsigned type tracking through blocks by parsing type annotations (s_type_anno, s_decl_gen with anno field) - Support both .lookup and .apply TypeAnno variants for type names - Update test helpers (runExpectI64, runExpectBool, runExpectF32, runExpectF64, runExpectIntDec, runExpectDec) to run both Interpreter and DevEvaluator, failing if they produce different results - Skip comparison when DevEvaluator doesn't support the expression Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Remove separator comments from x86_64/Emit.zig and dev_evaluator.zig - Remove dead code: Allocator in jit.zig, Layout in comptime_value.zig, LayoutStore/LayoutIdx/generateEmptyRecordCode in dev_evaluator.zig, IMAGE_SYM_CLASS_LABEL in coff.zig - Convert error comparisons from `== error.X` to switch statements - Fix unsigned type tracking to use TypeAnno.LocalOrExternal.builtin enum instead of string comparison (forbidden pattern) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
On Windows, std.os.windows.VirtualAlloc returns an error union (!*anyopaque) rather than an optional (?*anyopaque), so we need to use `catch` instead of `orelse` to handle the error case. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- jit.zig: Use catch for VirtualProtect and VirtualFree error handling (they return error unions, not integers, in std.os.windows) - elf.zig: Cast u64 padding to usize for appendNTimes (fixes 32-bit builds) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
VirtualFree returns void when building natively on Windows but returns an error union when cross-compiling. Use comptime type check to handle both cases. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
# Conflicts: # src/build/modules.zig
The import was unused - the code uses module_env.initTypeWriter() instead. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
The numeral variant was a placeholder for unresolved numeric types that should never make it to code generation. By the time code reaches the backend, all numeric types should be resolved to concrete types (u8, i64, dec, etc.). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
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Major changes: - Remove narrow ResultType enum from DevEvaluator, use layout.Idx instead which has sentinel values for all builtin scalar types - Remove dead code: NumKind.numeral, BinOp enum and its tests - Fix ComptimeHeap.alloc to use comptime alignment parameter - Remove misleading comment about being independent from interpreter - Integrate DevEvaluator into the REPL: - Add Backend enum to Repl struct - Add initWithBackend() for backend selection - Use DevEvaluator for code generation when backend is .dev - Fall back to interpreter for unsupported expressions - Update CLI to pass backend parameter to REPL - Export JitCode and layout from eval module for repl access Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Add TopLevelBindings for flat pattern_idx -> address mapping - Add allocateRodata() to ELF and Mach-O writers for landing pads - Add evaluateTopLevelConstants() stub in dev_evaluator - Modify generateReturnI64Code/F64Code to store to result pointer - Add result pointer tests verifying JIT writes to memory Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Remove legacy ComptimeHeap/ComptimeValue/ComptimeEnv from comptime_value.zig - Move these types into dev_evaluator.zig as private implementation details - comptime_value.zig now only has TopLevelBindings - Change devEvaluatorStr to panic instead of returning null on errors - Failing tests now reveal features that need to be implemented Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
Add support for nested record access like {outer: {inner: 42}}.outer.inner:
- Add resolveDotAccess() to resolve dot access chains to target expression
- Add resolveToRecord() to resolve expressions to record literals
- Add e_dot_access case to tryEvalConstantI64WithEnvMap
- Simplify generateDotAccessCode to use the new resolver
This follows the approach from the Rust dev backend where field access
resolves through the record structure to find the target value.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
- Replace ComptimeEnv with simplified Scope struct that uses parent pointer for O(1) child creation instead of copying all bindings - Remove all duplicate wrapper functions (WithEnv vs non-WithEnv pairs) - Rename WithEnv functions to remove suffix (they're now the standard) - Add record and string comparison support for equality checks - Compare interned literal indices instead of raw strings (per codebase rules) - Add canDevEvaluatorHandle helper for test compatibility checks Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
The generated code (generateReturnI64Code, etc.) writes results to a pointer passed in the first argument register (x0 on aarch64, rdi on x86_64). But callReturnI64() was being used which passes no arguments, causing a segfault when the code tried to write to garbage memory. Fixed by using callWithResultPtr() everywhere JIT code is executed: - DevEvaluator.evaluate() - devEvaluatorStr() in helpers.zig - Direct JIT tests in dev_evaluator.zig Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
On Windows x86_64, the first function argument is passed in RCX, not RDI (which is used by System V ABI on Linux/macOS). The JIT-generated code was always using RDI to store results, causing segfaults on Windows. Fixed by checking builtin.os.tag and using the correct register encoding: - Windows: mov [rcx], rax (ModR/M byte 0x01) - Linux/macOS: mov [rdi], rax (ModR/M byte 0x07) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>
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WIP - just using some Claude credits that are going to expire, so that we can get the ball rolling on these for later!