history

A simple C compiler source code.

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL HISTORY FILE, MY CHANGES ARE AT THE END OF THIS
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Startpoint: Small C v2.2 rev 117.

15/Apr/98 [All files]
 Started to port Small C to NT.  First step was to make it compileable by
 Visual C++ which required come changes in Small C's own <stdio.h> as
 well as calls to  'poll ()', 'iscons ()', 'getarg ()'.
 Changed trailer etc in CC4.C to give code for 386 and flat memory model.
 Made makefile and a new directory structure to separate source from make and
 executable.
 (And yes, VisualC 5.0 compiles it to an executable, but the resulting
 assembler is not valid code for the flat memory model)

16/Apr/98
  Added CC5.C to print out debug info for the pcode in asm-listing.  Fix in
  CC2.C to also insert source-code in asm-listing.  Purified and fixed some
  uninitilized reads.  Still many assumptions that 'int' is 16bit.
  Must(?) make a 16bit version also, so I can compare.

17/Apr/98
  Fixed a bug regarding uninitialized variables that gave illegal code, added 
  function null_is in CC3.C.

19/Apr/98
  Revised index-operations in asm to 32 bits, added <o> in outcode() and added
  function offset() in CC4.C.  Can now assemble and link a 32bit application although
  it crashes when run.  Cannot have it all ...

20/Apr/98
  Changed primary and secondary register to work on 32 bits.  Pointer is also
  32 bit.  Leaved support for a 16bit short.  Now generates code that works
  if the C-code is 'nice'.  As I am now using Microsofts asm, linker and library
  I cannot call library-functions such as 'printf' since Smallc 'reverses' the 
  order of arguments in function calls.

22/Apr/98
  Changed calls to abort() into exit(). Decided not to reverse parameter order,
  instead will try to make an own CLIB.  Still problem when calling MSVC lib's
  like fprintf calls fputc.  Added complexity that stdout now is _iob[1].

23/Apr/98
  Changed fetch and store to work on 32bit if INT32 is #defined.
  No sign extension on word fetches though and also more serious
  bugs ...

27/Apr/98
  So bug-free that a printf should be handy to debug the rest. // (C++) comments
  added (always enabled, no switch)

28/Apr/98
  Beginning with libraries, eliminating implicit 'int = 16 bits' assumptions
  in the frontend.

...
05/May/98
  Numerous bugs in compiler and libraries...  Problem with INT 21H in libraries.

06/May/98
  Gave up trying to use MSDOS-personality under NT (as well as POSIX).  Have done
  some dirty coding to use MS's own clib instead.  Got fputc to work.  Next
  problem is to get correct alignment on data.

08/May/98
  Added -Ddefine to command-line args.  Problem with fetching parameters in
  fprintf, 'stacklepra'.

10/May/98
  puts and fputs working

25/May/98
  Lots of things, but now it can compile itself.

10/Nov/98
  Nobody seems to be using/having Microsoft MASM assembler, so let us give
  NASM a try.  NASM v0.98 should have been out by now but v0.97 will do.

16/Nov/98
  NASM-port can now compile itself, changed version to v3.1.
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September 2003
  Began Linux port
    * Use GCC to compile, so alter the cc.h file to match the compiler
      defines. Fake _MSC_VER for now.
    * GCC choked on the inline() function; name changed to zinline()
    * Commented out call to dump_debug() in cc4.c
    * Newlines stripped out
    * .ASM extension is now lowercase .asm
    * Names are not preceeded by an _ anymore (for GCC compatibility)
    * Some library functions still need to be fixed

   I now have a 'link' script to take care of making the ELF object
   file. You need to have a C library and 'ld', but the rest of the
   files needed are in the lib/ subdirectory. I have no source code for
   them, they are taken from GCC.

   For now you can compile simple things by doing:

   bash# scp hello.c
   bash# nasm -f elf hello.asm
   bash# ./link hello
   bash# ./hello
   Hello, World!
   bash#

September 22, 2003
   Released 0.1.0 of Simple C compiler today. Since then I made these
   changes:

   Reformatted as K&R style source. This can be changed if anyone wants
   a different formatting.

   New script: cc
               Compiles source code
               Assembles resulting code
               Links automatically
               Removes intermediate files

   I'm beginning some work to clean up the source code. It's not
   massivly flawed, but I want to fix some pointer issues and make it
   easier to extend later on.

   I also plan to work on a linker so I won't have to use 'ld' or any of
   these irritating .o files from GCC. It's time to remove its last
   dependencies from GCC when compiling.

   INT is always 32 bit now; you can't select a 16 bit int size
   anymore. This *shouldn't* break anything since INT's were defined
   that way before. It just cleans up several functions.

September 23, 2003

   No longer needs the crt??.o files from GCC to work. There is a
   smaller, simpler replacement (init.o) now. This appears to generate
   smaller applications as well. I still need to port init.o to NASM. It
   currently uses 'as'

   Renamed scripts, reorganized directory tree, install script.
   Now do a './build; ./install' to compile and install it. Then you can
   use 'sc' to build a program. Don't include an extension!

   I'm beginning a fork of LIBC from the asmutils. This will be
   reimplemented in C whenever feasible, but should allow Simple C to
   compile more programs.

   Found a bug with local labels (number:  -- should be _number:)

September 24, 2003

   Fixed handling of labels, conditionals, and more. Cleanups to the
   default stdio.h as well. It can now compile itself, though some
   problems remain. As soon as I can get it to compile itself properly,
   I'll release it as 0.2.0

   0.1.5 will be released today or tomorrow.

   The Simple LIBC (forked from asmutils) is being cleaned up. We can
   already link with it and have working applications. Besides, it's
   just the basics in 15k, nothing fancy like GLIBC or even Dietlibc.
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   Release Plans:
           0.1.x   Initial releases, source cleanups
           0.2.x   Capable of self compilation, bug fixes
           0.3.x   Beta quality, begin work on optomizations
           0.4.x   Beta quality, working optomizations
           0.5.x   Any remaing downward compatibility changes
                   Feature freeze
           0.6.x   Bugfixes
           0.7.x   Prepare for stable release
           0.8.x   Finish documentation, licensing issues, etc
           0.9.x   Release candidates, final bugfixes
           1.0.0   Stable release

    Expect the linker to make it into the 0.2.x releases, but not to be
    fully functional until the 0.5.x releases. A simplified version of
    NASM (or a compatible assembler) may be included later as well.