C--

Compiler for C-- (formerly TempleLang), a small systems language that compiles to x64 via NASM. Targets Linux and Windows.

Usage

To get the CLI, download a release or build from source.

TempleLang.CLI 1.0.0

  -f, --file        Required. Source files to compile. First file determines output path.
                    Pass multiple files space-separated: -f main.tl stdlib/linux.tl

  -t, --target      Path to place the output executable in.

  -r, --run         Run the generated executable upon successful compilation.

  -i, --printIL     Output the intermediate language to the target directory.

  -a, --printASM    Output the assembler to the target directory.

  -p, --platform    Target platform: 'windows' or 'linux'. Defaults to current OS.

  --help            Display this help screen.

  --version         Display version information.

Prerequisites

All platforms: NASM must be installed and on PATH.

Linux: gcc must be on PATH (used as a linker driver for libc).

Windows: link.exe (MSVC linker) must be on PATH. It ships with the MSVC Build Tools, available via the Visual Studio installer. Run the compiler from a Developer Command Prompt or after calling vcvarsall.bat, which sets the LIB environment variable so link.exe can find the Windows SDK libraries automatically. If neither LIB nor WindowsSdkDir/WindowsSdkVersion are set, the compiler falls back to the default Windows 10 SDK path (C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.18362.0\um\x64 (HACK)).

Standard library

The stdlib/ directory provides platform bindings and utilities:

File	Contents
stdlib/linux.tl	malloc, free, print, printDigit via libc
stdlib/windows.tl	malloc, free, print, printDigit via kernel32
stdlib/strings.tl	printNum, printNumAny (platform-agnostic)

Source files can import other files with import "relative/path.tl";. Imports are resolved relative to the importing file, deduplicated, and cycle-safe.

Example

See QuickSort for an example.

QuickSort.tl unconditionally imports stdlib/strings.tl for number formatting. The user supplies the OS binding at compile time:

# Linux
./TempleLang.CLI -f QuickSort/QuickSort.tl stdlib/linux.tl -r

# Windows (from Developer Command Prompt)
./TempleLang.CLI -f QuickSort/QuickSort.tl stdlib/windows.tl -r

# Cross-compile (run on Linux, target Windows)
./TempleLang.CLI -f QuickSort/QuickSort.tl stdlib/windows.tl --platform windows