The parser

│ English (en) │ français (fr) │

back to contents FPC internals

The parser

(last updated for fpc version 1.0.x)

The task of the parser is to read the token fed by the scanner, and make sure that the pascal syntax is respected. It also populates the symbol table, and creates the intermediate nodes (the tree) which will be used by the code generator.

An overview of the parsing process, as well as its relationship with the tree the type checker and the code generator is shown in the following diagram:

http://www.pjh2.de/fpc/CompilerInternalsFigure08.png

Module information

(last updated for fpc version 1.0.x)

Each module being compiled, be it a library , unit or main program has some information which is required. This is stored in the tmodule object in memory. To avoid recompilation of already compiled module, the dependencies of the modules is stored in a PPU file, which makes it easier to determine which modules to recompile.

type
  PModule = ^TModule;
  TModule = object(TLinkedList_Item)
    PPUFile: PPPUFile;                        // Pointer to PPU file object (unit file)
    Crc: Longint;                             // CRC-32 bit of the whole PPU file
    Interface_CRC: Longint;                   // CRC-32 bit of the interface part of
                                              // the PPU file
    Flags: Longint;                           // Unit file flags
    Compiled: Boolean;                        // TRUE if module is already compiled
    Do_Reload: Boolean;                       // TRUE if the PPU file must be reloaded
    Do_Assemble: Boolean;                     // Only assemble, don’t recompile unit
    Sources_Avail: Boolean;                   // TRUE if all sources of module are available
    Sources_Checked: Boolean;                 // TRUE if the sources has already been checked
    Is_Unit: Boolean;                         // TRUE if this is a unit (otherwise a library 
                                              // or a main program)
    In_Compile: Boolean;                      // module is currently being recompiled
    In_Second_Compile: Boolean;               // module is being compiled for second time
    In_Second_Load: Boolean;                  // module is being reloaded a second time
    In_Implementation: Boolean;               // currently compiling implementation part 
                                              // (units only)
    In_Global: Boolean;                       // currently compiling implementation part
                                              // (units only)
    Recompile_Reason: TRecompile_Reason;      // Reason why module should be recompiled
    Islibrary: Boolean;                       // TRUE if this module is a shared library
    Map: PUnitMap;                            // Map of all used units for this unit
    Unitcount: Word;                          // Internal identifier of unit (for GDB support)
    Unit_index: Word;
    Globalsymtable: Pointer;                  // Symbol table for this module of externally
                                              // visible symbols
    Localsymtable: Pointer;                   // Symbol table for this module of locally
                                              // visible symbols
    Scanner: Pointer;                         // Scanner object pointer
    Loaded_From: PModule;                     // Module which referred to this module
    Uses_Imports: Boolean;                    // TRUE if this module imports symbols
                                              // from a shared library
    Imports: PLinkedList;                     // Linked list of imported symbols
    _Exports: PLinkedList;                    // Linked list of exported symbols (libraries only)
    SourceFiles: PFileManager;                // List of all source files for this module
    ResourceFiles: TStringContainer;          // List of all resource files for this module
    Used_Units: TLinkedList;                  // Information on units used by this module 
                                              // (pused_unit)
    Dependent_Units: TLinkedList;
    LocalUnitSearchPath,                      // Search path for obtaining module source code
    LocalObjectSearchPath,
    LocalIncludeSearchPath,                   // Search path for includes for this module
    LocalLibrarySearchPath: TSearchPathList;
    Path: PString;                            // Path were module is located or created
    OutputPath: PString;                      // Path where object files (unit), 
                                              // executable (program) or 
                                              // shared library (library) is created
    ModuleName: PString;                      // Name of the module in uppercase
    ObjFileName: PString;                     // Full name of object file or executable file
    AsmFileName: PString;                     // Full name of the assembler file
    PPUFileName: PString;                     // Full name of the PPU file
    StaticLibFilename: PString;               // Full name of the static library name
                                              // (used when smart linking is used)
    SharedLibFilename: PString;               // Filename of the output shared library
                                              // (in the case of a library)
    ExeFileName: PString;                     // Filename of the output executable
                                              // (in the case of a program)
    AsmPrefix: PString;                       // Filename prefix of output assembler
                                              // files when using smartlinking
    MainSource: PString;                      // Name of the main source file
  end;

Parse types

(last updated for fpc version 1.0.x)

Parser interface

(last updated for fpc version 1.0.x)

variables

AktProcSym

Declaration:	var AktProcSym: PProcSym;
Description:	Pointer to the symbol information for the routine currently being parsed.

LexLevel

Declaration:	var LexLevel: Longint;
Description:	Level of code currently being parsed and compiled 0 = for main program 1 = for subroutine 2 = for local / nested subroutines.

Current_Module

Declaration:	var Current_Module: PModule;
Description:	Information on the current module (program, library or unit) being compiled.

The following variables are default type definitions which are created each time compilation begins (default system-unit definitions), these definitions should always be valid:

VoidDef

Declaration:	var VoidDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Pointer to nothing type
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

cCharDef

Declaration:	var cCharDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for a character (char)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

cWideCharDef

Declaration:	var cWideCharDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for a unicode character (WideChar)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

BoolDef

Declaration:	var BoolDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for a boolean value (boolean)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

u8BitDef

Declaration:	var u8BitDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for an 8-nit unsigned value (byte)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

u16BitDef

Declaration:	var u16BitDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for an unsigned 16-bit value (word)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

u32BitDef

Declaration:	var u32BitDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for an unsigned 32-bit value (cardinal)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

s32BitDef

Declaration:	var s32BitDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for a signed 32-bit value (Longint)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

cu64BitDef

Declaration:	var cu64BitDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for an unsigned 64-bit value (QWord)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

cs64BitDef

Declaration:	var cs64BitDef: POrdDef;
Description:	Type definition for a signed 64-bit value (Int64)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

The following variables are default type definitions which are created each time compilation begins (default system-unit definitions), these definitions should always be valid:

s64FloatDef

Declaration:	var s64FloatDef: PFloatDef;
Description:	Type definition for a 64-bit IEEE floating point type (double)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler. This might not actually really point to the double type if the cpu does not support it.

s32FloatDef

Declaration:	var s32FloatDef: PFloatDef;
Description:	Type definition for a 32-bit IEEE floating point type (single)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler. This might not actually really point to the single type if the cpu does not support it.

s80FloatDef

Declaration:	var s80FloatDef : PFloatDef;
Description:	Type definition for an extended floating point type (extended)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler. This might not actually really point to the extended type if the cpu does not support it.

s32FixedDef

Declaration:	var s32FixedDef: PFloatDef;
Description:	Type definition for a fixed point 32-bit value (fixed)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler. This is not supported officially in FPC 1.0

The following variables are default type definitions which are created each time compilation begins (default system-unit definitions), these definitions should always be valid:

cShortStringDef

Declaration:	var cShortStringDef: PStringDef;
Description:	Type definition for a short string type (ShortString)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler.

cLongStringDef

Declaration:	var cLongStringDef: PStringDef;
Description:	Type definition for a long string type (LongString)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler.

cAnsiStringDef

Declaration:	var cAnsiStringDef: PStringDef;
Description:	Type definition for an ansistring type (AnsiString)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler.

cWideStringDef

Declaration:	var cWideStringDef: PStringDef;
Description:	Type definition for an wide string type (WideString)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler.

OpenShortStringDef

Declaration:	var OpenShortStringDef: PStringDef;
Description:	Type definition for an open string type (OpenString)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler.

OpenCharArrayDef

Declaration:	var OpenCharArrayDef: PArrayDef;
Description:	Type definition for an open char array type(OpenCharArray)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler.

The following variables are default type definitions which are created each time compilation begins (default system-unit definitions), these definitions should always be valid:

VoidPointerDef

Declaration:	var VoidPointerDef: PPointerDef;
Description:	Type definition for a pointer which can point to anything (Pointer)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

CharPointerDef

Declaration:	var CharPointerDef: PPointerDef;
Description:	Type definition for a pointer which can point to characters (PChar)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

VoidFarPointerDef

Declaration:	var VoidFarPointerDef: PPointerDef;
Description:	Type definition for a pointer which can point to anything (intra-segment) (far Pointer)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

cFormalDef

Declaration:	var cFormalDef: PFormalDef;
Description:
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

cfFileDef

Declaration:	var cfFileDef: PFileDef;
Description:	This is the default file type (file)
Notes:	This is loaded as a default supported type for the compiler

Next chapter: The inline assembler parser