Welcome to ABC, the ANTLR-Based C front-end. ABC is a Java program for parsing and manipulating programs written in C and possibly some languages extending C, such as CIVL-C. It can be used to perform a number of tasks, including the following:

1. preprocess the source file(s)
2. parse the preprocessed source to form an Abstract Syntax Tree representation of a translation unit
3. analyze an AST to determine the type of every expression, the entity associated to every identifier, the scope of every node, and so on
4. merge multiple ASTs into one large AST
5. transform ASTs, by, for example, removing expressions with side-effects, renaming entities, pruning unreachable code, etc.

In addition, it provides a framework for developing your own analyses or transformations on ASTs.

There is a simple command-line interface for ABC (see ABC), but most users will want to use ABC through its API. To use the API, it is helpful to have some understanding of the modular structure of ABC. The ABC source code is decomposed into modules, each with a well-defined interface and set of responsibilities. Some of these modules are decomposed further into sub-modules. The top-level modules are:

1. util
   1. responsibilities: simple general-purpose utility classes that do not use other parts of ABC
   2. uses: nothing
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.util.IF
   4. entry point: none
2. config
   1. responsibilities: representation of configuration parameters for ABC
   2. uses: nothing
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.config.IF
   4. entry point: Configurations
3. token
   1. responsibilities: representing tokens; keeping track of the origin and history of each token through macro expansion and inclusion; representing characters and strings
   2. uses: util
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.token.IF
   4. entry point: Tokens
4. front
1. responsibilities: preprocessing and parsing a file to produce an ANTLR tree representation of a translation unit
2. uses: util, config, token
3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.front.IF,
4. entry point:
5. submodules
   1. preproc
      1. responsibilities: preprocessing a file to generate a post-preprocessor token stream
      2. uses: util, config, token
      3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.front.c.preproc.IF, edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.front.fortran.preproc.IF
      4. entry point: Preprocess, Preprocess
   2. parse
      1. responsibilities: parsing a token stream to produce an ANTLR tree representation of a translation unit
      2. uses: util, config, token
      3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.front.c.parse.IF, edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.front.fortran.parse.IF
      4. entry point: Parse, Parse
   3. ptree
5. ast
   1. responsibilities: representation and manipulation of an Abstract Syntax Tree and associated entities
   2. uses: util, token
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.IF
   4. entry point: ASTs
   5. submodules
      1. value
         1. responsibilities: representation of concrete value, such as characters, integers, floating point values
         2. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.value.IF
         3. entry point: Values
      2. type
         1. responsibilities: representation of types
         2. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.type.IF
         3. entry point: Types
      3. entity
         1. responsibilities: representation of abstract program entities which can be named by an identifier, including variables, functions, labels, scopes, structures, unions, enumerations, enumerators, and typedefs
         2. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.entity.IF
         3. entry point: Entities
      4. conversion
         1. responsibilities: representation of C's implicit conversions, such as the conversion of an array to a pointer to the first element of the array, and so on
         2. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.conversion.IF
         3. entry point: Conversions
      5. node
         1. responsibilities: representation of AST nodes
         2. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF
         3. entry point: Nodes
6. astgen
   1. responsibilities: translation of ANTLR tree to AST
   2. uses: util, token, front, ast
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.astgen.IF, edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.astgen.c.IF, edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.astgen.fortran.IF
   4. entry point: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.astgen.IF.ASTGenerator
7. analysis
   1. responsibilities: analyzing AST, creation of entities, resolution of all identifiers, determination of all scopes, types, and entities
   2. uses: config, token, ast
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.analysis.IF
   4. entry point: Analysis
8. transform
   1. responsibilities: transformations of an AST
   2. uses: token, ast
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.transform.IF
   4. entry point: Transform
9. program
   1. responsibilities: mutable representation of a program
   2. uses: token, ast, analysis, transform
   3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.program.IF
   4. entry point: Programs
10. main
    1. responsibilities: command line interface, Activator class for marshaling of tools in tool chain
    2. uses: util, token, front, ast, astgen, analysis, transform, program
    3. interface: edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc
    4. entry point: ABC

Packages

Package	Description
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.analysis.dataflow.IF
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.analysis.IF	The analysis module provides various algorithms which analyze an AST, leaving behind information about the AST.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.analysis.pointsTo.IF
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.conversion.IF	Submodule ast.conversion provides classes for representing to C's "implicit conversions".
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.entity.IF	Submodule ast.entity defines entities (objects of type Entity), the abstract things such as types, structures, unions, enumerations, objects (variables), functions, and so on, which can be named by identifiers in a program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.IF	Module ast defines an Abstract Syntax Tree representation of a program, the AST.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF	Submodule ast.node defines every kind of node in an AST.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.acsl
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.compound	The ast.node.compound submodule defines nodes and related classes for representing compound initializers.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.declaration	The ast.node.declaration submodule defines nodes and other object deadling with declarations in a program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.expression	The ast.node.expression submodule defines AST nodes for representing expressions in a program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.label	The ast.node.label submodule defines AST nodes for representing labels in a program, including ordinary labels, and the case and default labels used in switch statements.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.omp	The ast.node.omp submodule defines AST nodes for representing OpenMP constructs, which are specified in omp pragmas.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.statement	The ast.node.statement submodule defines AST nodes for representing statements in a program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.node.IF.type	The ast.node.type submodule defines AST nodes for representing type constructs in a program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.type.IF	The ast.type submodule defines the (abstract) types that can be specified in a program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.ast.value.IF	The ast.value submodule defines classes for representing constant values that can occur in a program, such as numeric literals, characters, strings, pointer constants, and so on.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.config.IF	Module config defines a configuration of ABC which specifies things such as the language be parsed, bounds on integer types, and so on.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.err.IF	Module err provides general exception classes that can be thrown by ABC.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.front.IF	Module parse is used to parse a token stream and produce an ANTLR tree representation of a C program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.program.IF	Module program provides a high-level, mutable, representation of a program.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.token.IF	Module token defines the various kinds of tokens and related classes used by ABC.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.transform.IF	Module transform defines various kinds of transformations of an AST.
edu.udel.cis.vsl.abc.util.IF	Module util provides various general-purpose utilities used by ABC.