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Diff for: src/part-5-intro.md

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# From MIR to Binaries
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All of the preceding chapters of this guide have one thing in common: we never
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generated any executable machine code at all! With this chapter, all of that
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changes.
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All of the preceding chapters of this guide have one thing in common:
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we never generated any executable machine code at all!
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With this chapter, all of that changes.
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So far, we've shown how the compiler can take raw source code in text format
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and transform it into [MIR]. We have also shown how the compiler does various
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analyses on the code to detect things like type or lifetime errors. Now, we
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will finally take the MIR and produce some executable machine code.
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So far,
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we've shown how the compiler can take raw source code in text format
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and transform it into [MIR].
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We have also shown how the compiler does various
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analyses on the code to detect things like type or lifetime errors.
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Now, we will finally take the MIR and produce some executable machine code.
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[MIR]: ./mir/index.md
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> NOTE: This part of a compiler is often called the _backend_. The term is a bit
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> overloaded because in the compiler source, it usually refers to the "codegen
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> backend" (i.e. LLVM, Cranelift, or GCC). Usually, when you see the word "backend"
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> in this part, we are referring to the "codegen backend".
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> NOTE: This part of a compiler is often called the _backend_.
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> The term is a bit overloaded because in the compiler source,
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> it usually refers to the "codegen backend" (i.e. LLVM, Cranelift, or GCC).
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> Usually, when you see the word "backend" in this part,
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> we are referring to the "codegen backend".
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So what do we need to do?
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0. First, we need to collect the set of things to generate code for. In
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particular, we need to find out which concrete types to substitute for
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generic ones, since we need to generate code for the concrete types.
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Generating code for the concrete types (i.e. emitting a copy of the code for
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each concrete type) is called _monomorphization_, so the process of
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collecting all the concrete types is called _monomorphization collection_.
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0. First, we need to collect the set of things to generate code for.
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In particular,
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we need to find out which concrete types to substitute for generic ones,
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since we need to generate code for the concrete types.
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Generating code for the concrete types
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(i.e. emitting a copy of the code for each concrete type) is called _monomorphization_,
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so the process of collecting all the concrete types is called _monomorphization collection_.
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1. Next, we need to actually lower the MIR to a codegen IR
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(usually LLVM IR) for each concrete type we collected.
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2. Finally, we need to invoke the codegen backend, which runs a bunch of
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optimization passes, generates executable code, and links together an
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executable binary.
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2. Finally, we need to invoke the codegen backend,
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which runs a bunch of optimization passes,
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generates executable code,
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and links together an executable binary.
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[codegen1]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_codegen_ssa/base/fn.codegen_crate.html
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The code for codegen is actually a bit complex due to a few factors:
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- Support for multiple codegen backends (LLVM, Cranelift, and GCC). We try to share as much
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backend code between them as possible, so a lot of it is generic over the
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codegen implementation. This means that there are often a lot of layers of
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abstraction.
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- Support for multiple codegen backends (LLVM, Cranelift, and GCC).
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We try to share as much backend code between them as possible,
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so a lot of it is generic over the codegen implementation.
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This means that there are often a lot of layers of abstraction.
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- Codegen happens asynchronously in another thread for performance.
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- The actual codegen is done by a third-party library (either of the 3 backends).
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[llvm]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_codegen_llvm/index.html
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At a very high level, the entry point is
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[`rustc_codegen_ssa::base::codegen_crate`][codegen1]. This function starts the
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process discussed in the rest of this chapter.
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[`rustc_codegen_ssa::base::codegen_crate`][codegen1].
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This function starts the process discussed in the rest of this chapter.

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