Eclisp

Rationale

C is the best language out there. C has the best compilers. C is only lacking a good preprocessor.

Eclisp is a transpiler from C as s-expressions to regular C, while taking some idea from common-lisp such as the possiblity to attach documentation to symbols. The advantages of s-expressions is among others, the fact that code can be easily crafted at compile time through macros acting directly on the AST, since the code is the AST and vice-versa. On the other hand, Prefix notation allows to consider any binary operators as a n-ary operator.

The syntax is still highly experimental as I try to find what works the best while allowing a 1-1 mapping between C programs and Eclisp programs. The fact that invalid programs C can be created from Eclisp is intentional. Eclisp only translate mindlessly "C as s-exp" to traditional C.

Currently, the code is pretty much hot garbage and I know it. I'll keep it this way until the syntax has stabilized, at this point I'll do a complete rewrite, add macros (and gensym).

How to install

eclisp depends on sbcl as well as the asdf and ppcre libraries. If you wish to run the testsuite as well, you will also need the fiveam library.

It should work with other Common Lisp implementation but you are on you own.

On a typical Debian install, install the dependencies:

$ sudo apt install sbcl cl-asdf cl-ppcre

You should then be able to build eclisp.

$ make

How to run the tests

Make sure you have the fiveam library installed.

$ sudo apt install cl-fiveam

You can run the testsuite using make.

$ make check

How to use

The eclisp executable reads its input from stdin and outputs its result to stdout.

You can also pass the input file name as an argument.

$ eclisp file.eclisp