Introducing ThothCompiler

ThothCompiler combines the strengths of the two most popular smalltalk compilers. It takes the extensibility and wealth of the AST implementation from the NewCompiler and combines it with the most important asset of the old Compiler that per default ships with Squeak: it actually works.

Installation

The installation is fantastically easy. Go to Thoth on Squeaksource and get ASTBridgeLoader.

In a workspace, then execute:

ASTBridgeLoader load


Add the method compilerClass to the CLASS side of your class to set the compiler for the class. Thoth installs itself as the default compiler of the image. If you're unhappy with that, for example because you don't like the lack of error messages when you accept uncompilable code, you can choose for each class which compiler is to be used. Behavior>compilerClasss sets the default.

How do I hack into it?

Subclass ThothCompiler and override #compile:in:classified:notifying:ifFail: and #evaluate:in:to:notifying:ifFail:logged: Transform the AST before generate is called. Perhaps I should provide some infrastructure here …

How it works

It is a really simple thing: It uses the parser of the NewCompiler, then transforms the AST into the old model, and then uses the backend of the old compiler to compile.