Provided by: clc-intercal_1.0~4pre1.-94.-2-5_all 
NAME
sick - Compiler for CLC-INTERCAL
SYNOPSIS
sick [options] files...
DESCRIPTION
sick is the main development environment for CLC-INTERCAL. If files are specified, these will be compiled
using the options in effect at the point where they appear on the command line, and they are compiled to
objects (if they are not already object). After all the options have been processed, the program enters
interactive mode, unless otherwise specified.
The program will be compiled using a compiler selected using command line options; if nothing is
selected, the compiler depends on the file suffix:
CLC-INTERCAL program source
These files must have suffix .i or .clci. These will be prefixed, by default, with the compiler
object sick.io.
CLC-INTERCAL compiler source
These files must have suffix .iacc. These will be prefixed, by default, with the compiler object
iacc.io and produce a compiler object (which can be executed as a program, but will do nothing - it's
only useful as a preload before compiling from source).
C-INTERCAL program source
These have suffix .ci and will be prefixed with the compiler object ick.io.
CLC-INTERCAL assembler source
These have suffix .iasm and will be prefixed with the compiler object asm.io.
Traditional INTERCAL program source
These will have suffix .1972 and will be prefixed with the compiler object 1972.io
Compiler extensions
Suffixes .i, .ci, .clci and .iasm can contain a list of letters and numbers between the spot (.) and
the rest of the suffix; these select compiler extensions to be added.
Base Numbers between 2 and 7 change the default base by loading compiler objects 2.io to 7.io.
Bitwise Divide
Letter d in the suffix adds the compiler object bitwise-divide.io, which changes the normal
unary divide operation to use bitwise, rather than arithmetic, shifts. It can be used with
sick or iasm but not with ick.
COME FROM gerund
Letter g in the suffix adds the compiler object come-from-gerund.io, which enables the COME
FROM gerund statements; since ick does not parse such statements, this letter can only be
used with sick or iasm.
Computed labels
Letter l in the suffix adds the compiler object computed-labels.io, which adds grammar rules
to parse computed statement labels; this can be used only with sick.
NEXT Letter n in the suffix adds the compiler object next.io, which enables the NEXT statement in
sick; since ick enables this by default, this letter can only be used with sick.
INTERcal NETworking
Letter r in the suffix adds the compiler object internet.io, which adds syntax for the STEAL,
SMUGGLE and CASE statements; it can be used with ick or sick.
System call
Letter s in the suffix adds the compiler object syscall.io, which hides a "PLEASE NEXT FROM
(666)" in a dark corner of your operating system.
Threaded program
Letter t in the suffix selects threaded mode by loading compiler object thick.io. This also
changes the default compiler to ick if the suffix is .i: to use sick one would use .tclci.
Wimp mode
Letter w in the suffix adds the compiler object wimp.io, which causes the program to start in
wimp mode when it is executed. An equivalent result can be obtained by passing the --wimp
option to the executable program.
The actual list of suffixes recognised can be changed by editing the file system,sickrc or .sickrc. See
the option --rcfile for a discussion on how and where sick finds these files, and sickrc for a
description of the file format.
If a preload file is specified on the command line, the defaults derived from the suffix are not used. It
is also possible to use default preloads from a different file suffix by explicitely saying -suffix=S -
in this case, the compiler acts as if the file had name name.S
In addition, compiler objects are always recognised, with whatever suffix. These bypass the first
compiler pass and jump directly to the runtime (just-too-late) compiler. However, if the optimiser has
been selected when these objects were compiled, and there are no postprocessor statements, the just-too-
late compiler will be automatically replaced by a more traditional "compile-time" compiler. If this is
confusing, wait until you see the rest.
If a file is specified without suffix, and there is a compiler object in the include path with the same
name and suffix .io, the suffix is automatically added, whether you wanted it or now.
As soon as each program is written into sick, a pre-compiler will produce an internal compiler object. If
sick enters interactive mode, these objects will be available in memory for single-stepping, running, or
just ignoring completely and getting on with the real work.
If sick loads all the required programs and objects successfully, but does not enter interactive mode,
any program source is read back out to disk in object format, using the same file name with the suffix
replaced by .io if no output file is specified. If a backend is specified in the command line before a
program is loaded, sick will produce an executable via that backend instead of an object.
The compiler accepts several options, some of which are documented here. Options and files can be mixed
in any order, each file is loaded and compiled using whatever options precedes it on the command line.
For example:
sick --verbose --optimise prog1.i --quiet prog2.i --batch
will tell you everything about compiling prog1.i but not about prog2.i. Both programs will be optimised.
On the other hand:
sick --optimise prog1.i --nooptimise prog2.i --batch
will optimise prog1.i but not prog2.i.
All options can be "undone" (sometimes it's even clear how) except --include which applies to all objects
loaded after it, and --rcfile which applies to all objects, even the ones loaded before it (just to be
different).
User Interface Options
-X / --graphic
Enters X-based graphical user interface. Requires Perl-GTK. This is the default if Perl-GTK is
installed, the environment variable $DISPLAY is set and the opening of the X display succeeds.
-c / --curses
Enters full screen, curses-based interface. This is the default if the X based interface cannot be
started, the environment variable $TERM is set and the terminal name is known.
--line
Enters the line-mode user interface. This is the default if the X based and the curses based
interfaces do not work.
--batch
Avoids entering interactive mode. This is the default if the standard input and output are not
connected to a terminal and the X based interface cannot be started.
-itype / --interface=type
Selects the user interface type. Currently, only X, Curses, Line and None are defined, but more can
be installed as compiler plug-ins. If the interface selected is None, sick will work in batch mode.
In addition, an empty string will reinstate the default behaviour.
Source Character Set Options
-a / --ascii
Assumes that program source is in ASCII.
-b / --baudot
Assumes that program source is in Baudot.
-e / --ebcdic
Assumes that program source is in EBCDIC.
-h / --hollerith
Assumes that program source is in Hollerith.
-g / --guess
Does not make assumptions about the source character set. If the character set cannot be guessed,
will produce an error. This is the default.
--charset=name
Assumes that program source is in the given character sets. Valid values are currently ASCII, Baudot,
EBCDIC, Hollerith; an empty name is equivalent to specifying option --guess).
Code Generation Options
-O / --optimise
Invokes the optimiser. This is a letter o, not a zero. This will cause the extra object optimise.io
to be prefixed after the last compiler and before the real program. The program is then executed:
when the optimiser takes control, it will force compilation of the rest of the program (thereby
executing the compiler at compile-time, instead of runtime as it normally does), and the resulting
object is checkpointed, so the next time it will automatically skip the initialisation and
compilation stages. In addition, the "optimise" register is set, instructing the compiler to invoke
the optimiser when it runs.
If you specify -O and -poptimise (see below), you are asking for trouble, so don't do that.
--nooptimise
Disables automatic preloading and execution of optimise.io.
-oname / --output=name
Selects a name for the output file. Some character sequences are recognised inside name: %p will be
replaced by the source program's basename; %s will be replaced by the appropriate suffix for the
selected backend, %o will provide the original file name specified on the command line, without
suffix (this can differ from %s because %s can be prefixed with a directory from the search path) and
%% will produce a single %.
The default is %p.%s, which produces the object name described at the beginning of this document. A
suffix is not automatically added if the output name does not contain %s; this might be useful in
ocnjunction with the Perl backend to produce a file without a suffix, for example:
sick --output=%p --backend=Perl sourcefile.i
will compile sourcefile.i and produce perl script sourcefile.
If the output file is specified as an empty string, the code generation step will never be done.
-nname / --name=name
Sets the program's name, if the code generator requires it (currently, no backends use a name, but
some of the planned ones will). The default is %o. The same %-escapes as defined for the output file
name are defined.
-lname / --backend=name
Selects a different compiler back end. The default is Object, which produces a compiler object
(suffix .io). The distribution also includes a Perl backend, which produces an executable Perl
program (suffix .pl). In addition, the pseudo backend Run will run the program instead of writing
any object. In this case, the output file name is ignored. Note that the program will only run if the
compiler is in batch mode. Other back ends can be provided as compiler plug ins. The distribution
also contains a ListObject backend, which does not produce executables but object listings. A future
version might allow to "compile" the output of the ListObject back end, but this is currently
impossible because not all the internal state of the object is provided, only the part which is
likely to be useful to a human reader.
--bug=number
Selects a different probability for the compiler bug. The compiler bug is implemented by initialising
the compiler's state with the required probability: when a statement is compiled (usually at
runtime), a "BUG" instruction is emitted with the required probability. The default is 1%.
--ubug=number
Selects a probability for the unexplainable compiler bug. This is the compiler bug which occurs when
the probability of a (explainable) compiler bug is zero. Only wimps would use this option. The
default is 0.01%.
-pname / --preload=name
Selects a compiler object to prefix to the program. If this option is specified, the compiler won't
automatically prefix objects as suggested by the suffix. The program 'oo, ick' included in previous
version of CLC-INTERCAL used option -p to select a parser. Since the main use of preloads is to
select an alternative (runtime) compiler, it is felt that it is appropriate to keep the same letter
for this option.
The file name specified does not include the suffix .io, which is always added. The file must be a
compiler object, not source code.
The special object optimise should always loaded via -O. Using -poptimise will not necessarily put
the object in the correct place, and will not instruct the precompiler to do whatever magic it needs
to do to bootstrap the optimiser.
To completely disable preloading (this is only done when compiling the optimiser, which is used to
compile itself) use an empty string.
--nopreload
Resets the default behaviour of selecting preloads based on suffixes.
--suffix=suffix
Specifies a suffix to use when selecting preloads. If this option is not specified, the suffix is
taken from the file name to be compiled.
-Ipath / --include=path
Adds a directory before the standard search path for compiler objects and source code. If a file is
accessible from the current directory, it is never searched in any include path.
If this option is repeated, the given paths will be searched in the order given, followed by the
standard paths.
Misc Options
-rname / --rcfile=name
Executes commands from file name before entering interactive mode. This option can be repeated, to
execute more than one file. If it is not specified, the standard library, the current directory, and
the current user's home directory are searched for files with name system.sickrc or .sickrc, which
are then executed. The order for this search is: specified library (--include), system library, home
directory, current directory. This is different from the search order used when looking for objects
or source code. If a directory contains both .sickrc and system.sickrc, the system.sickrc is executed
first, followed by .sickrc. Also note that if the current directory or the home directory appear in
the search path and contain one of these files, they will be executed twice.
If filenames are explicitely specified, they must be fully qualified: the search path is not used to
find them.
--nouserrc
Prevents loading a user rcfile (.sickrc); also limits loading of system.sickrc to the first one
found. This option is normally only used during installation, to prevent interference from previous
versions of CLC-INTERCAL.
-v / --verbose
Tells everything it's doing (on Standard Error).
--stdverb=file
Sends verbose output to file.
--trace
Enables tracing; if compiling from source, the compiler is also traced; to trace a program, compile
it to an object and then run it with --trace.
--stdtrace=file
Enables tracing and selects an output file for the trace information.
--notrace
Disables tracing; preloading trace.io has priority over this option.
-q / --quiet
Stop talking to Standard Error.
--times
Prints a summary of the time take for each major action. This setting is independent of --verbose.
--notimes
Does not print execution times: this is the default.
--rclist
Prints the names of all rcfiles found. It prevents starting interactive mode. For example, the
following command (which should work with any Unix shell) opens all the system and user sickrc files
in your favourite editor:
sh -c '"${EDITOR:-vi}" "`sick --rclist`"'
This can be useful to update the defaults.
BUGS
There are more options than ls(1). This is construed to be a feature.
SEE ALSO
The INTERCAL on-line documentation, by entering sick's interactive mode and finding the "help" menu (X),
key (Curses) or command (Line).