ALEF(1)                                                   ALEF(1)

     NAME
          8al, kal, val - ALEF compilers

     SYNOPSIS
          8al [ option ... ] [ file ... ]
          kal [ option ... ] [ file ... ]
          val [ option ... ] [ file ... ]

     DESCRIPTION
          ALEF is a concurrent programming language with a syntax like
          C's.  Kal, val and 8al compile the named ALEF source files
          into SPARC, MIPS and Intel 386 object files.  Source files
          have the extension .l.  The ALEF source is passed through
          cpp(1) prior to compilation.  Object files have the normal
          extension for each architecture: .k for SPARC, .v for MIPS
          and .8 for 386.  Up to $NPROC files will be compiled in par-
          allel.

          The compiler options are:

          -o obj Place output in file obj (ignored if there is more
                 than one input file).  Default is to take the last
                 element of the input pathname, strip any trailing .l,
                 and append the object file suffix.

          -a     Write no object file, but produce an acid(1) program
                 on standard output, comprising a set of type declara-
                 tions and functions to print those types.

          -aa    Like -a but suppress output for types and functions
                 declared in header files.

          -w     Print warning messages for non fatal errors.

          -N     Do not run the code optimizer.

          -c     Do not compile code for check statements.

          -S     Produce assembly language instead of object code as
                 output.  By default, output goes to a file named by
                 the last element of the input pathname with .l
                 replaced by .s.

          -Dname=def
          -Dname Define the name to the preprocessor, as if by
                 `#define'.  If no definition is given, the name is
                 defined as `1'.

          -Idir  `#include' files whose names do not begin with `/'
                 are always sought first in the directory of the file

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     ALEF(1)                                                   ALEF(1)

                 argument, then in directories named in -I options,
                 then in /sys/include/alef, and finally in
                 /$objtype/include/alef.

          -dc    Produce various forms of debugging. The character c
                 is an alphabetic.

          The compiler recognizes several #pragma directives.  The
          first, #pragma lib, is the same as in 2c(1). The others have
          effect only when profiling is turned on by the -p option of
          the loader (see 2l(1)). The directive #pragma noprofile dis-
          ables the generation of profiling code for subsequently
          declared functions; #pragma profile enables it again.  The
          main use of these directives is to avoid the profiling con-
          fusion caused by functions that do not explicitly return,
          such as the task-switching functions in the run-time system.
          Nonetheless, without support for profiling multi-process
          programs, it remains difficult to profile Alef programs.

     EXAMPLE
          To compile and run on a SPARC the ALEF program in the cur-
          rent directory:

               kal -w *.l
               kl *.k
               k.out

     FILES
          /sys/include/alef   directory for #include files.
          /$objtype/lib/alef  directory for ALEF libraries

     SOURCE
          /sys/src/alef/port     machine-independent part
          /sys/src/alef/8, etc.  machine-dependent parts

     SEE ALSO
          acid(1), 2a(1), 2l(1), mk(1), nm(1), db(1)
          Phil Winterbottom, ``Alef Reference Manual'', and Bob Flan-
          drena, ``Alef User's Guide''.

     Page 2                       Plan 9            (printed 11/18/24)