Like most compilers, gelbc processes your programs in several stages, with sub-stages for specific tasks. While it is not necessary to understand in-depth the internals of the compiler in order to write GeLB programs, it does help to have at least a rough overview of what is going on internally, so that you can understand better the compiler error-messages and warnings.

An overview of gelbc

Syntax analysis

The first concern ...

Semantic analysis

After gelbc concluded that your programs conforms to the syntax rules of the GeLB language, it needs to do some more validation, to make sure that the program actually makes sense. Many small things are checked here, for example ...

Symbol resolution & AST expansion

TODO ...

AST optimization passes

TODO ...

Code-generation

The final stage of the compiler generates code for your target language ... TODO ... it depends on the chosen backend (there are several!)

Types of compiler messages

Throughout your work with gelb...TODO

Error messages

TODO ... pay attention to whether they are syntax or semantic errors

Warning messages

TODO ...

Info messages

TODO ... mostly when verbose is on (for debugging)