-- This is the READ_ME.txt file of SmartEiffel --
- - What is SmartEiffel ? -
SmartEiffel is an Eiffel compiler for the Eiffel language defined by Bertrand Meyer. SmartEiffel is the GNU Eiffel Compiler. SmartEiffel also features many Eiffel tools and a very large library of classes: collections, dictionaries, linked lists, sets and many other data structures, portable input output facilities, iterators, number computation, sorting, etc. Tools of SmartEiffel (i.e. compile, short, pretty, compile_to_c, finder, compile_to_jvm, print_jvm_class and install) are free software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) as published by the Free Software Foundation. General interest classes of the library (i.e. all classes of directory "SmartEiffel/lib") are not under GPL but under the MIT/X-11 licence. You can do what you want with them. As an example, you can sell any executable software produced with the SmartEiffel compiler if this software does not use classes of directory "SmartEiffel/tools". For more information about commercial applications written in SmartEiffel, please read the file SmartEiffelFAQ included in the man directory of this distribution.
You can download the latest official version of SmartEiffel at:
2. - Brief Description of SmartEiffel -
It is intended to be a complete, though small and very fast, free Eiffel compiler. It is available for a very wide range of platforms: GNU/Linux, GNU/Hurd, FreeBSD, BSD/OS, NetBSD, OpenBSD, HP-UX, IRIX, XENIX, Solaris, DOS, OS2, WINDOWS NT/95/2000, Macintosh, NeXT, Amiga, AmigaDE/Elate, BeOS, QNX, VMS, etc. Actually, SmartEiffel should run on any platform for which an ANSI C compiler exists.
The current distribution includes an Eiffel to C compiler, an Eiffel to Java bytecode compiler, a debugger, a documentation tool, a pretty printer and various other tools.
SmartEiffel is the result of a research project of the LORIA, a joint computer science research center in Nancy, France. It has been developed by Dominique Colnet and the SmartEiffel group.
This project began in 1994, and since the very first public release in September 1995, SmartEiffel has been used worldwide by increasingly numerous individuals and Universities.
3. - Contents of the SmartEiffel directory -
3.1. - man directory -
Miscellaneous help files. If you don't have outside connection to our WEB site at http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr, you can browse the man directory using the index.html file of this man directory. Actually, this directory also contains generated simple text files (i.e. *.txt files). There is a SmartEiffelFAQ and documentation for all commands of SmartEiffel. Do not forget to read the "support.txt" file too. (If you don't have enough money to support the SmartEiffel project, please, just send me a postcard. It is really important for us to receive this kind of feedback).
3.2. - bin directory -
The place where executable files will be put by the installation process.
3.3. - tutorial directory -
Some demonstrations and examples in Eiffel.
3.4. - lib directory and sub-directories -
The lib directory contains general interest classes which are not under GPL. This directory contains files under the MIT/X-11 licence. You are free to do what you want with those files, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You can modify it as you want, provided the header and footer are kept unaltered when some source file is provided. You are allowed to redistribute it and sell it, alone or as a part of another product or executable.
*** The following tour of the library is somewhat dated. Please refer
*** to the online documentation at the following address for a more
*** up-to-date description:
***
*** http://smarteiffel.loria.fr/libraries/index.html
3.4.1. - lib/kernel directory -
The kernel classes set of class includes very low level classes like string.e, integer.e, character.e, real.e, boolean.e and double.e for example. Because class array.e is closely linked with the Eiffel definition, this class as well as collection.e and native_array.e are also in this kernel directory.
3.4.2. - lib/base directory -
Various kinds of collections (fixed_array.e, linked_list.e, two_way_linked_list.e). Hash table (dictionary.e). Sets (set.e).
3.4.3. - lib/io directory -
Input output facilities to manipulate file as well as directories.
3.4.4. - lib/iterator directory -
Most collection-like classes can be traversed using the iterator.e abstract class. All implementations of our iterator.e class are stored in this directory. Also have a look in the SmartEiffel/tutorial directory for examples.
3.4.5. - lib/random directory -
Random numbers generation. See also the SmartEiffel/tutorial directory for examples.
3.4.6. - lib/number directory -
The arbitrary precision NUMBER library. This library is useful for handling very large numbers (i.e. greater than the one of the architecture). See also the SmartEiffel/tutorial directory for examples.
3.4.7. - lib/time directory -
Classes to manipulate date and time in various language (french, english, german, italian, etc.).
3.4.8. - lib/sorting directory -
Classes to sort collections.
3.5. - tools directory -
The Eiffel source code of all SmartEiffel tools (commands 'compile', 'compile_to_c', 'pretty', 'short', 'compile_to_jvm', 'print_jvm_class', `ace_check' ...). All files of this directory are closely related to our Eiffel compilation tools. Please note that all files of this "tools" are under GPL license.
3.6. - bin_c directory -
The generated C code of command compile_to_c in -boost mode without GC support. Those generated C files are used during the installation process to bootstrap the compiler and tools.
3.7. - short directory -
This directory contains various available output format descriptions for the `short' command. See also the short command documentation in the man directory.
3.8. - sys directory -
System information. This directory also contains hand written C code to customize the runtime. (See also file system.txt of the man directory for more information about this sys directory.)
3.9. - misc directory -
Miscellaneous files. Information about the history of the project is in file HISTORY.txt. Credits are in file THANKS.txt. Also have a look at the WeNeedFeedBack.txt file.
3.10. - contrib directory -
Useful software not written by the SmartEiffel team.
4. - Installation -
4.1. - General information -
In the following sections, there are instructions to install the SmartEiffel distribution on various common platforms. For convenience, we keep the old name "se.tgz". This name must be replaced by the name of the file you downloaded (SmartEiffel-x.y.tgz where x.y is the release number).
4.2. - Installation on GNU/Linux -
Choose some place on the disk to unpack the se.tgz archive:
cd InstallationDirectory; tar xzvf se.tgz
Update your .bashrc file (or equivalent) with the following line:
export PATH=your/installation/directory/SmartEiffel/bin:$PATH
Then, in a freshly created shell window, just type:
cd your/installation/directory; cd SmartEiffel; make all
4.3. - Installation on UNIX platforms -
Choose some place on the disk to unpack the se.tgz archive:
cd InstallationDirectory; gunzip se.tgz ; tar xvf se.tar
Update your .cshrc (or equivalent) file with the following line:
setenv PATH your/installation/directory/SmartEiffel/bin:$PATH
Alternatively, update your .bashrc file (or equivalent) with the following line:
export PATH=your/installation/directory/SmartEiffel/bin:$PATH
Alternatively, if you use ksh or some other shell, take the appropriate steps to modify your configuration file to take into account the path to the SmartEiffel binaries.
Then, in a new shell, just type:
cd your/installation/directory; cd SmartEiffel; make interactive
Actually, the Makefile which is in the SmartEiffel directory automatically compiles and launches the install command in -interactive mode. Thus, you will be asked for the C compiler you prefer to use.
4.4. - Installation on Windows98/NT/2000 -
If you are using a Windows system, a precompiled install.exe is available too in the SmartEiffel directory, you just have to run it.
Or you can download the prepackage version of SmartEiffel and directly install it.
4.5. - Installation on Amiga VP on Elate -
Thanks to Joe Kiniry <kiniry@acm.org> and Rudi Chiarito <rudi@amiga.com>, SmartEiffel also work on the Amiga VP on the Elate platform from Tao Group. If you have problems or questions about SmartEiffel on Amiga VP/Elate, please contact Joe Kiniry <kiniry@acm.org> first.
IMPORTANT: The AmigaDE/Elate 1.3 release has some bugs in the vpcc compiler, particularly in the optimizer. This release builds properly with any optimization you like, but when building Eiffel programs in general you'll have to try different optimization flags to see what works for your particular situation. In general, you can compile programs with any optimization you like if you use -boost (that is, if you do not want to have any checks enabled). If you need to run with checks, or run in the debugger, compile with -O0 only. The default configuration (compiler.se in the pre-build Elate binary of SmartEiffel 1.1) ships with -O0 as the default.
4.5.1. - How do I install the pre-built SmartEiffel from the
AmigaDev.net, KindSoftware.com, or SmartEiffel web sites? -
Change directory to the root of your Amiga file-system and unpack the full gzipped tar file. E.g.
cd /; tar xzf SmartEiffel-1.1-Elate-1.3.tgz
You can set a shell variable called "SmartEiffel" to location of "system.se" file in the install (default location for Elate system is /lang/eiffel/.serc). Thus, typically, the following line goes in your shell startup file (/etc/shell.rc):
set SmartEiffel /lang/SmartEiffel-1.1/sys/system.se
If you are going to leave the Eiffel executables where they sit after the build, you should add /lang/SmartEiffel-1.1/bin to shell.path in your shell startup. E.g.: New contents for /etc/shell.rc:
# Pathnames
set shell.path $shell.path /lang/SmartEiffel-1.1/bin
# SmartEiffel
set SmartEiffel /lang/SmartEiffel-1.1/sys/system.se
Otherwise, consider using the "cpt" tool to move all binaries in /lang/SmartEiffel-1.1/bin to /app/stdio or /lang/eiffel.
The new naming convention for the install has been chosen so that multiple version of the SmartEiffel compiler can be easily supported.
4.5.2. - What do you need to know to build SmartEiffel on Amiga VP on Elate? -
If you are building your own release (i.e. you downloaded the source from the Loria web site), you install SmartEiffel on AmigaDE/Elate just like on all other systems; follow the install directions that come with the package, using AmigaDE/Elate conventions, and you are all set.
You must have the cpt ("copy tool") tool installed to build SmartEiffel. The build process initially writes executables in the bin_c directory. They are then moved later in the build process to the bin directory.
The cpt tool can currently be obtained from the Amiga Support Network <http://www.amigadev.net/>. The cpt tool was written by Jesse McClusky.
As usual, you must have the aforementioned shell variable "SmartEiffel" set correctly before building. To build from scratch, just type "make elate".
4.5.3. - What is known to work and not work on Amiga VP Elate? -
All the compiler tools work correctly, including compiling to JVM code.
The Elate garbage collector is robust but does not properly compile and link with all optimizer switches. As mentioned above, there are several known bugs in vpcc on AmigaDE/Elate. Follow the directions above and you should be able to get garbage collection working with any Eiffel program on AmigaDE/Elate.
I have tested all inter-language feature call variants (Eiffel code to C and C++, C and C++ from Eiffel, Java to and from Eiffel) and all of these work great under the AmigaDE/Elate! Problems? Questions? Drop me a line. Joseph Kiniry <kiniry@acm.org> http://www.kindsoftware.com/
4.6. - Installation on other systems -
The "install" command is the installation program for SmartEiffel The GNU Eiffel Compiler. This command (class install.e) is entirely written in Eiffel and is the recommended way to install SmartEiffel The GNU Eiffel Compiler.
The install.e source code is in SmartEiffel/tools directory, the generated C code install.c is in the SmartEiffel directory. Other pre-compiled files are in SmartEiffel/install/germ, they are provided to have a first eiffel compiler. This compiler will be used to compile the eiffel compiler from eiffel source code. Then all other tools can be compiled.
The very first step in installing SmartEiffel is to unpack the SmartEiffel directory somewhere on disk. The next step is to compile the install.c file, then to run it from the SmartEiffel directory. The install command will do the rest of the work and will try to report possible problems.
5. - Bug Reports -
Thank in advance for bug reports. Don't forget to have a look first in the misc/NOT_YET_IMPLEMENTED.txt file. Please, try to isolate the bug as much as possible. The best is to be able to create a single file, as small a possible (which includes the bug). Please report the bug in our mailing list or in our bug tracking system. For more information about bug reporting: http://SmartEiffel.loria.fr/support/bug_report.html
6 Juny 2003. D.Colnet - SmartEiffel@loria.fr