Tenshi (Basic Compiler)

Tenshi is a Basic-like language inspired by Dark Basic. Features have been added, some syntax has been changed, but the spirit behind it is generally the same.

What does the language look like?

Let's jump right in with a "Hello, world!" sample.

hello.te:

// Let's greet the world.
"Hello, world!"

That looks awfully bare. This is simply a string literal, just text, how does that do anything? The compiler treats string literals and string expressions as something called "autoprint statements." No explicit function invocation is necessary. This can be useful for dialogue heavy programs, such as an RPG or visual novel.

Let's try something else. How about listing the files in a directory?

list-files.te:

"Files in current directory:"
find first
repeat
        "  " + getFileTypeName$() + " <" + get filename$() + "> - " + get file date$() + " " + get file time$()
until not find next()

fn getfiletypename$()
        local n = get file type()
        if n = 0 then return "[Reg]"
        if n = 1 then return "[Dir]"
endfn "[???]"

Well, that's a bit further expanded from the previous code listing. Important features to note:

• Functions don't need to be declared prior to their uses, however the compiler still validates their uses. (The function needs to be defined in the file, but that's it.)
• The language is case insensitive. getfiletypename$() and getFileTypeName$() refer to the same function.
• Spaces can exist in key commands, allowing for a bit more readability.
• This is very obviously a variant of BASIC. (Syntax derived from Dark Basic.)

There's probably a lot more to say, but this is an old project and I don't remember very much. If this interests you, why not look through the code and through the various documentation directories?

Building

How to build on Windows:

• Install the 64-bit version of msys2.
• In msys2, run pacman -S cmake then pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-llvm.
• Use CMake to generate a makefile or ninja build script, then issue cmake --build.

How to build on macOS:

• Install Mac Ports.
• In the Terminal, run sudo port install cmake llvm-3.9 ninja
• Create a build directory, next to your clone of this repository and cd into it. e.g., mkdir build-Tenshi && cd build-Tenshi
• Use CMake to generate a ninja build script, but also specify the LLVM path: LLVM_DIR=/opt/local/libexec/llvm-3.9 cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -G Ninja ../Tenshi
• If all went well, then build by issuing the command cmake --build

That should be it!

It should be possible to build everything with Visual Studio as well, however that is not tested.