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Getting started

Installation and setup

The compiler has been tested on Linux and Mac OS.

Important notice

The Coal compiler is still a work in progress. There are many important features missing. See the roadmap to keep track of current progress. Also consider contributing to the project.

Prerequisites

Haskell/GHC

A recent version of GHC is needed. It is recommended to install Haskell, GHC and Stack using the GHCup tool.

LLVM

An LLVM toolchain that provides llc (the LLVM static compiler) is also required.

Linux
  • Debian/Ubuntu (or derivatives):
sudo apt update
sudo apt install llvm clang
  • Fedora, RHEL, or CentOS:
sudo dnf install llvm clang
  • Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S llvm
Mac OS

See Getting Started with the LLVM System, or install using Homebrew:

brew install llvm

Note: If you use Homebrew to install LLVM, you may need to add the binaries to your PATH manually.

Additional dependencies

Linux
  • Debian/Ubuntu (or derivatives):
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libgc-dev libgmp-dev build-essential
  • Fedora, RHEL, or CentOS:
sudo dnf install gc-devel gmp-devel gcc make
  • Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S gc gmp base-devel
Mac OS
brew install bdw-gc gmp

Building the compiler

Clone the repository:

git clone ssh://git@codeberg.org/laserpants/coal.git

cd coal && stack install

Restart or refresh your shell, using e.g., exec $SHELL -l. To verify that the executable is installed, run:

coal --help

Hello, world!

module Main {

  fun main() = trace_string("Hello, world!")

}

Save this program as "Main.coal". Compile the program with the command:

coal Main.coal -o dist