Assignment 2: Boa: Adding new operators

Due: Friday 09/29 at 5:00pm

git clone

In this compiler, you’ll enhance your existing compiler with Binary Operators and Arithmetic. Click here for scary snake picture!

1 The Boa Language

1.1 Concrete Syntax

The concrete syntax of Boa is:

‹expr›: | let ‹bindings› in ‹expr› | if ‹expr› : ‹expr› else: ‹expr› | ‹binop-expr› ‹binop-expr›: | NUMBER | IDENTIFIER | add1 ( ‹expr› ) | sub1 ( ‹expr› ) | ‹expr› + ‹expr› | ‹expr› - ‹expr› | ‹expr› * ‹expr› | ( ‹expr› ) ‹bindings›: | IDENTIFIER = ‹expr› | IDENTIFIER = ‹expr› , ‹bindings›

As in Adder, a Let can have one or more bindings.

1.2 Abstract Syntax

#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
pub enum Exp<Ann> {
    Num(i64, Ann),
    Var(String, Ann),
    Prim(Prim, Vec<Exp<Ann>>, Ann),
    Let { bindings: Vec<(String, Exp<Ann>)>, // new binding declarations
          body: Box<Exp<Ann>>,  // the expression in which the new variables are bound
          ann: Ann
    },
    If { cond: Box<Exp<Ann>>,
         thn: Box<Exp<Ann>>,
         els: Box<Exp<Ann>>,
         ann: Ann
    },
}

#[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
pub enum Prim {
    Add1,
    Sub1,
    Add,
    Sub,
    Mul,
}

1.3 Semantics

In addition to the semantics of Adder, we now have infix binary operators (addition, subtraction and multiplication), that are evaluated leftmost-innermost first (i.e., the standard left-to-right order that obeys parentheses), and conditional expressions. An Exp::If expression evaluates its condition, then evaluates its then-branch if the condition is non-zero, and evaluates its else-branch if the condition was zero.

To compile these expressions, we need a few more assembly instructions:

#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
pub enum Instr {
    Mov(MovArgs),

    Add(BinArgs),
    Sub(BinArgs),
    IMul(BinArgs),
    Cmp(BinArgs),

    Label(String),

    Jmp(String),
    Je(String),
    Jne(String),
    Jl(String),
    Jle(String),
    Jg(String),
    Jge(String),
}

Additionally, we have added access to all x64 general purpose registers, as you may want to use a "scratch register" to implement certain operations. But be warned: certain registers, r12-r15, rbx, rsp and rbp are callee-save registers in the System V AMD64 calling convention that Rust uses to call into your code, so they should be restored to their original values if you overwrite them. If you want to use a scratch register, we suggest you use any of the other registers such as r8 which are caller-save, meaning the callee is free to overwrite their values.

#[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
pub enum Reg {
    Rax,
    Rbx,
    Rdx,
    Rcx,
    Rsp,
    Rbp,
    Rsi,
    Rdi,
    R8,
    R9,
    R10,
    R11,
    R12,
    R13,
    R14,
    R15,
}

The sub and imul instructions are analogous to add, that take two arguments, apply their respective operations, and place their results in RAX. Be sure to use imul (signed multiplication) rather than mul (unsigned). Labels let us name the first of a sequence of instructions, akin to how we label start_here: to begin our code1Technically, labels are not instructions, so Instr is a bit mis-named.. The cmp instruction compares its two arguments, and sets some bits of the RFLAGS to tell if the arguments were equal, less than, greater than, etc. Rather than directly manipulating this register, we test the value of these flags with the jump instructions: jne will jump control to the named label if the flags mean NOT-EQUAL, and je will jump control to the named label when the flags mean EQUAL, etc.. Finally, jmp will unconditionally jump to the named label.

2 Starter code for this assignment

You’ve been given a starter codebase that has several pieces of infrastructure, mostly the same as before. I recommend you take a look at the following:

• The extended types for the AST and the sequential expressions, as well as some helper functions, are in syntax.rs.

• asm.rs has been extended to include the new assembly features.

All of your edits — which will be to write the compiler for Boa, and test it — will happen in compile.rs and tests/examples.rs.

3 Implementing a Compiler for Boa

Again, the primary task of writing the Boa compiler is simple to state: take an instance of the Exp datatype and turn it into a list of assembly instructions. But since we now have more complicated expressions, we need to worry about simplifying the program, first.

3.1 Checking for scoping problems

3.2 Generating Unique Names

To correctly implement sequentialization and conditional expressions you will need to generate fresh names in your compiler. You can do this by threading through a mutable counter in the corresponding compiler pass, or you can separate this out in a function with a signature like tag_exp<T>(e: &Exp<T>) -> Exp<u32> which will annotate every sub-expression with a unique identifier. You may have to define a similar function for sequential expressions as well.

3.3 Converting to Sequential Form

Sequential Form asserts that throughout a program, any operator expression contains arguments that are immediate: that is, are numbers or identifiers, and therefore don’t perform any computation of their own. Additionally, we can think of the decision in an If expression to be an operation, so we also need to ensure that the condition is immediate.

When you need to generate fresh names (i.e., unique names that aren’t used anywhere in the expression), a useful strategy is to generate names of the form format!("#{}_{}", reason, tag), where reason is "prim_arg_1", "prim_arg_2", "if", etc., and tag is the annotation on the expression. So if you need to generate a variable and your input expression is Exp::Prim(op, es, 7), you can use the name "#prim_7". This is only a suggestion, you may use whatever strategy you like in your compiler.

Additional examples of sequentialize are given below.

3.4 Compilation

{

4. Adapt your compile_to_instrs function from Adder to compile the sequential expression forms in Boa. This means refactoring the similar cases as well as adding new support for If and Prim. Remember that a simple invariant is for the code outputted by compile_to_instrs to always leave its answer in rax; this invariant is not the most efficient way to compile but will make it easier to get correct code

}

The starter code includes an extended compile_to_string that you may want to use as a wrapper around your compile_to_instrs function to include the boilerplate.

4 Recommendations

Here’s an order in which you could consider tackling the implementation:

• Write some tests for the input and output of sequentialize for nested Prim expressions to understand what the sequentialization transformation looks like on those examples.

• If you choose to, implement tag_exp (and possibly tag_seqexp) as described above.

• Work through both the sequentialize implementation and the Let case of compile_to_instrs. Write tests as you go.

• Finish the If case for compile_to_instrs (with immediate conditions) so you can run simple programs with if.

• Write some tests for the input and output of performing sequentialize on if-expressions, again to get a feel for what the transformation looks like.

• Work through both the sequentialize implementation and the Prim case of compile_to_instrs. Write tests as you go.

5 Testing the Compiler

As with Adder, we will have integration tests in tests/examples.rs with example files in the examples/ directory. You can (and should!) re-use your examples from the adder homework. Over the course of the semester you should accumulate a large amount of example programs that will help greatly when we start adding more complex features and optimizations.

Additionally, you may find it beneficial to unit test your sequentialize function in the provided submodule of compile.rs.

6 Running main

Running your own programs is the same as with Adder, except by convention we’ll use the .boa file extension.

7 List of Deliverables

• your compile.rs and asm.rs

• the other src/*.rs files in the starter code

• any additional modules you saw fit to write

• the Cargo.toml

• integration tests (tests/examples.rs)

• any test input programs (examples/*.boa files)

8 Grading Standards

For this assignment, you will be graded on whether your code implements the specification (functional correctness).

For auto-grading, we include tests from past assignments as regression tests, as well as new ones for the additional features that have been added.

This assignment also features a few hidden tests that count for approximately 10% of the final score and will not be shown until after the late due date. In general the hidden tests test out combinations of features in larger programs, so be sure to test your compiler thoroughly!

9 Submission

Wait! Please read the assignment again and verify that you have not forgotten anything!

Please submit your homework on gradescope by the above deadline.

10 Additional sequential form examples

To address some recurring questions, here are some additional examples of sequentialization.

Given the boa program

let x = add1(2) in x

The most straightforward sequentialization algorithm will produce

let x = (let tmp = 2 in add1(tmp)) in x

However, notice that the original program was already in sequential form, so the temporary variable tmp is not truly necessary. So another valid sequentialization would be to return the program unchanged:

let x = add1(2) in x

Your sequentialization function can produce either one, just make sure your tests align with the strategy that you choose.

Here are some more examples.

let x1 = 1, x2 = 2 in
x1 + x2

let x1 = 1 in
let x2 = 2 in
let tmp0 = x1 in
let tmp1 = x2 in
tmp0 + tmp1

let x1 = 1 in
let x2 = 2 in
x1 + x2

Next,

(2 * 9) + (18 - 3)

let tmp0 = (let tmp1 = 2 in let tmp2 = 9 in tmp1 * tmp2) in
let tmp3 = (let tmp4 = 18 in let tmp5 = 3 in tmp4 - tmp5) in
tmp0 + tmp3

let tmp0 = 2 * 9 in
let tmp3 = 18 - 3 in
tmp0 + tmp3

Finally, an example with if:

3 + (if 5: add1(6) else: 7)

let tmp0 = 3 in
let tmp1 = (let tmp2 = 5 in
            if tmp2:
              let tmp3 = 6 in add1(tmp3)
            else:
              7) in
tmp0 + tmp1

let tmp1 = (if 5:
              add1(6)
            else:
              7) in
3 + tmp1

1Technically, labels are not instructions, so Instr is a bit mis-named.