ssc/readme.md

# ssc

## Summary

_ssc_ is a basic, work-in-progress compiler for SunScript. It supports all of the byte-code functionality of Super Mario Sunshine's SPC interpreter.
The compiler compiles to the SPC binary format (.sb files) used by Super Mario Sunshine.

This program utilizes the [Grammatica](http://grammatica.percederberg.net/) library to generate an LL(k) parser using a grammar syntax file.

## Usage

To use _ssc_, create an instance of the `sunCompiler` class.
Use the `sunCompiler.Compile` method or any of its overloads to compile a script:

|Parameter|Description|
|---------|-----------|
|`name`|The name of the main script to compile. This is passed to the import resolver.|
|`output`|The output stream into which the compiled binary file will be written.|
|`resolver`|An instance of the import resolver to use. If not specified, `sunImportResolver.Default` will be used.|

_ssc_ by default resolves imports by loading files on disk (see [language.md](language.md) for more information).
To use a custom import resolver, create a new class inheriting from `sunImportResolver` and pass an instance of it to the `sunCompiler.Compile` method.

The result of compilation will be returned in a `sunCompilerResults` instance.
Use the various properties on this type to gather the information of the compilation:

|Property|Description|
|--------|-----------|
|`Success`|Whether the script was compiled successfully. If not, the `Error` property will be non-`null`.|
|`Error`|The fatal error which occured during compilation. If compilation was successful, this will be `null`.|
|`CompileTime`|The time it took to compile, measured as a `TimeSpan` instance.|
|`DataCount`|The total number of data-table entries created.|
|`SymbolCount`|The total number of symbols (builtins, functions, and variables) created.|
|`BuiltinCount`|The total number of builtin symbols created.|
|`FunctionCount`|The total number of function symbols created.|
|`VariableCount`|The total number of global-scope variable symbols created.|

If the error is of the type `sunSourceException`, you can cast and retrieve the script name, line, and column of the error.

## Compiling

This repository contains a [premake5](https://premake.github.io/) [configuration file](premake5.lua).
The script generates a solution with the following projects:

 - **ssc**, the base _ssc_ API library
 - **frontend**, the basic command-line frontend

Simply run the script through premake5 and build the resulting solution.
There are also several compile-time options which are able to be configured via the premake5 command line:

|Option|Description|
|------|-----------|
|var-alloc|Affects how variables are allocated slices. Available values are _pack_ and _inc_.|

_**Note:** A Java runtime compatible with JDK 1.5 is required for generating the Grammatica parser classes during compilation.
For more information, see Grammatica's official [installation documentation](http://grammatica.percederberg.net/doc/release/install.html)._

## Language

For more information on the SunScript language and its syntax, see [language.md](language.md).