I’m working on a program that renders iterated fractal systems. I wanted to add the functionality where someone could define their own iteration process, and compile that code so that it would run efficiently.
I currently don’t know how to do this and would like tips on what to read to learn how to do this.
The main program is written in C++ and I’m familiar with C++. In fact given most of the scenarios I know how to convert it to assembly code that would accomplish the goal, but I don’t know how to take the extra step to convert it to machine code. If possible I’d like to dynamically compile the code like how I believe many game system emulators work.
If it is unclear what I’m asking, tell me so I can clarify.
Thanks!
Some CPU emulators treat the machine code as if it was byte code and they do a JIT compile, almost as if it was Java. This is very efficient, but it means that the developers need to write a version of the compiler for each CPU their emulator runs on and for each CPU emulated.
That usually means it only works on x86 and is annoying to anyone who would like to use something different.
They could also translate it to LLVM or Java byte code or .Net CIL and then compile it, which would also work.
In your case I am not sure that sort of thing is the best way to go. I think that I would do this by using dynamic libraries. Make a directory that is supposed to contain “plugins” and let the user compile their own. Make your program scan the directory and load each DLL or .so it finds.
Doing it this way means you spend less time writing code compilers and more time actually getting stuff done.