changelog shortlog graph tags branches changeset files revisions annotate raw help

Mercurial > org > docs / core/lib/skel.org

changeset 11: d0a90a87b824
child: bc53e27c0163
author: ellis <ellis@rwest.io>
date: Sat, 09 Dec 2023 20:50:45 -0500
permissions: -rw-r--r--
description: populate 
     1 {{{header(skel,Richard Westhaver,ellis@rwest.io)}}}
     2 
     3 =skel= is /a hacker's project compiler and build tool/. It is an
     4 extensible software library designed for managing /projects/.
     5 
     6 The [[https://compiler.company/docs/core/app/skel.html][cli]] is the main entry point for typical users. This documentation
     7 is for library developers and internal use.
     8 
     9 * Overview
    10 This library started as a Rust crate but was re-written in Lisp as the
    11 purpose of the library grew from managing a small collection of
    12 user-space libraries (also written in Rust) to managing large
    13 collections in many different langs.
    14 
    15 It is obvious in hindsight, that this project needs Lisp. Today we are
    16 built on CLOS with classes and methods exposing the library API.
    17 
    18 * Design
    19 The library core is built on CLOS. Most important data structures are
    20 represented with classes, slots, and methods such as the ~sk-project~
    21 class which has a slot named ~:components~ and a method specialized on
    22 it called ~load-ast~.
    23 
    24 We make use of mixins defined within the library like ~sk-meta~ as
    25 well as classes defined downstream - the ~sxp~ class for example
    26 provides a default method for AST functions (~load-ast~ ~build-ast~)
    27 and is defined in the ~std/sxp~ package.
    28 
    29 On top of the core we build our compilers or 'translators' which
    30 convert core objects to a corresponding external representation. For
    31 example the ~makefile~ and ~mk-*~ classes defined in ~skel/comp/make~
    32 can be built from a ~sk-project~ and ~sk-*~ instances. Once built, the
    33 ~sk-compile~ method can be used to actually generate the GNU Make
    34 output as a stream of bytes.
    35 
    36 The remainder of the ~skel~ system is dedicated to extensions. These
    37 are all optional. There are built-in extension called ~tools~ which
    38 run within the ~skel~ system and external extensions (~ext~) which
    39 integrate with a particular external system.
    40 
    41 The ~tools~ we provide are similar to Cargo's [[https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch14-05-extending-cargo.html][custom commands]], but
    42 they don't need to be a separate binary - they can be compiled into
    43 the core image. The downside is that this requires re-compiling ~skel~
    44 every time you want to add a new tool. However since this is Lisp not
    45 Rust, we can compile anywhere - including from within ~skel~
    46 itself.
    47 
    48 ~ext~ contains extensions for external systems. These modules are the
    49 'edges' of the system and provide support to programs which need to be
    50 able to access ~skel~ data at runtime. These modules always compiled
    51 separately and aren't built into the default core image.