Mini Ada is a minimalistic, standalone, portable, libre and open source REPL, interpreter, JIT, and compiler for the Ada programming language.
This spec is not complete. Nor does it discuss algorithms and data structures used. For those, see the technical spec.
Tim is a university student. He has to learn and use Ada for a unit on parallel computation, but doesn't have much programming experience. He uses the Mini Ada REPL to get quick feedback, experiment with the language and test what he's written so far. Then he uses the Mini Ada Compiler to compile his assignments.
James is an Ada developer who wants to write some software for an architecture that doesn't have an Ada compiler targeting it yet. He downloads and uses the Mini Ada Interpreter as a stopgap measure, making use of it being written in Forth, which is an extremely simple language that has been ported everywhere.
David is a sysadmin. He wants a scripting language that minimises errors. He uses the Mini Ada JIT to take advantage of just-in-time compilation speedups and the design of the Ada language. He's satisfied that the small size of Mini Ada makes it as easy to deploy as any shell interpreter.
The following features will never be supported:
The following will not be supported in version 1:
What linking is required for FFI and interfacing with already-compiled units?
Command line options recognised by all four utilities:
| Short | Long | Argument | Arg Type | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --version | none | N/A | N/A | Displays the relevant version message then terminates. Any additional options will be ignored. | |
| -h | --help | none | N/A | N/A | Displays the relevant help message then terminates. Any additional options will be ignored. |
| -x | none | N/A | N/A | Ignores the first line of file input. Doesn't take effect if input is from standard input. | |
| -I | required | string | any valid path | Specify source files search path. | |
| -L | required | string | any valid path | Specify library files search path. | |
| - | -- | none | N/A | N/A | Terminates the option list and forces all further command line items to be evaluated as arguments. |
This is a read-eval-print-loop interpreter for the Ada programming language. Minor changes have been made to the accepted grammar to accommodate bare declarations, statements, and expressions, similar to how REPL interpreters for other languages operate. However the grammar should still accept standard Ada input. This program can also be used to create informal Ada scripts.
The REPL executable is:
marepl
Additional command line options are:
| Short | Long | Argument | Arg Type | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -i | --interactive | none | N/A | N/A | Forces interactive mode after interpreting an input file. |
The version message is:
Mini Ada REPL [version number]
The help message is:
Usage: marepl [options] [arguments]
The first argument specifies a file to interpret and terminates the option list. All additional
arguments are passed to the interpreted file as command line arguments.
Options:
--version displays the REPL version number
-h --help displays this help message
-x ignores the first line of file input
-Idir specifies source files search path
-Ldir specifies library files search path
- -- terminates option list
-i --interactive forces interactive mode after interpreting a file
The first non-option command line item specifies a file to interpret and terminates the option list. Any further command line items are passed to the interpreted file as command line arguments. If no file is supplied to interpret, input is obtained from standard input.
If no file to interpret is supplied, the following message is displayed:
Mini Ada REPL [version number] Ada [standard in use] mode, [annexes available]
Followed by the prompt for input, which is:
>
A valid input is a repl_unit, described by the following BNF grammar:
repl_unit ::= { context_item | library_item | subunit
| declarative_item | statement | label | expression }
If a line of input is the beginning part of a valid input, then further prompts for input will be supplied until either a syntax error is encountered or a complete valid input is received. The complete input is then interpreted and evaluated.
The result of a bare expression is displayed after it is evaluated, similar to other REPLs.
If evaluation is successful, the following message is displayed:
ok
Otherwise, an appropriate error message is displayed.
If an input file has been supplied to interpret, processing of the file proceeds as above, except without any messages or prompts aside from those produced by the interpretation and evaluation of the contents of the file.
Interpretation is ended and control returned to the operating system when the REPL encounters the EOF character.
The interpreter executable is:
mai
Additional command line options are:
| Short | Long | Argument | Arg Type | Values | Description |
|---|
The first non-option command line item specifies a file to interpret and terminates the option list. Any further command line items are passed to the interpreted file as command line arguments.
The version message is:
Mini Ada Interpreter [version number]
The help message is:
This program expects as file input a valid compilation_unit (RM 10.1.1). The input is interpreted and evaluated, then (should the input terminate) control is returned to the operating system. At no point is any platform-specific code generated, except as required by the Ada standard itself.
The JIT executable will be
majit
Additional command line options, version message, and help message are all identical to that of the Interpreter, with the word "JIT" substituted for "Interpreter".
The compiler executable will be
mac