rdmd --main

[spir]

On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:28:51 -0600
Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:

> On 11/22/10 12:53 PM, spir wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> >
> > The rdmd option --main is really helpful to test modules independently (it adds an empty main() to prevent the linker from crying). An issue is that each time we switch between .d files that have no main() (modules in tended for export) and app files that have one, this option must be set or removed (else the linker complains for having 2 main()).
> > This is not very practicle for rapid edit-test cycles -- for "exploratory" programming in general. Would it be difficult for rdmd to detect whether a main is already present? It is not a big issue anyway -- just in case would be easy.
> 
> That feature could be added in several ways.
> 
> 1. Cooperate with the compiler - have the compiler detect whether or not 
> main() exists.
> 
> 2. Write a tokenizer (parser is not really needed) and have it identify 
> the occurrence of main with one of the appropriate signatures at top level.
> 
> 3. Use compiler's json output.
> 
> 4. Use a low-tech search such as sed to find main.
> 
> I fear that 2-4 would slow things down and add complexity. Probably 1 
> would be the best choice. I'll ask Walter.

Thank you for taking this into account. Indeed, asking the compiler is the best solution, but may require some work and testing, I guess. For a non-perfect solution (because would not work in 100% cases), just detecting "\nint main" or "\nvoid main" in file would nearly always work, don't you think? (Possibly adding some opt whitespace in the pattern to catch even more cases.) Or are there issues I'm not aware of. (Else, I would be happy with this, but it's only me.)

Denis
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