DESIGN.md

Internal design

This document details the internal design of the compiler and virtual machine. It is not required understanding to use the zc and zvm programs.

The zerp utilities are split into two parts: the compiler (zc), which takes the high-level language Z and compiles it into a binary format, and the virtual machine (zvm), which takes this binary format and executes it.

zc: the compiler

The Z compiler is a multi-pass compiler that takes the high-level Z code and generates a binary format ready to be executed by the virtual machine. It builds an abstract syntax tree representing the program.

Phase 1: lexical analysis

Phase 2: parsing and AST generation

Phase 3: reference evaluation

Phase 4: semantic analysis

Phase 5: code generation

zvm: the virtual machine