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 $NPROC files will be compiled in par-
allel.
The compiler options are:
-o obj Place output in file obj (ignored if there is more
than one input file). Default is to take the last
element of the input pathname, strip any trailing .l,
and append the object file suffix.
-a Write no object file, but produce an acid(1) program
on standard output, comprising a set of type declara-
tions and functions to print those types.
-aa Like -a but suppress output for types and functions
declared in header files.
-w Print warning messages for non fatal errors.
-N Do not run the code optimizer.
-c Do not compile code for check statements.
-S Produce assembly language instead of object code as
output. By default, output goes to a file named by
the last element of the input pathname with .l
replaced by .s.
-Dname=def
-Dname Define the name to the preprocessor, as if by
`#define'. If no definition is given, the name is
defined as `1'.
-Idir `#include' files whose names do not begin with `/'
are always sought first in the directory of the file
Page 1 Plan 9 (printed 12/21/24)
ALEF(1) ALEF(1)
argument, then in directories named in -I options,
then in /sys/include/alef, and finally in
/$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 12/21/24)