RIF Documentation

Version: 1.0.0 Runtime: Python 3.10+ with Gram

RIF is a retargetable instruction format and compilation framework. A RIF definition describes how an external MIR program is recognized, how values are looked up, and how the final pure binary is emitted.

RIF uses Gram for lexical analysis and syntax parsing. The RIF frontend turns a .rif definition into compiled Rules; the MIR runtime then executes those Rules against an external source program.

See the RIF changelog for versioned release notes.

Documentation Index

01. Introduction

Concepts, installation, project layout, and the complete RIF pipeline.

• 01. What is RIF?
• 02. Installation
• 03. Architecture

02. Language

The .rif language: declarations, configuration, tables, Rules, values, and external loads.

• 01. Source Structure
• 02. Configuration and Linker
• 03. Tables and Loads
• 04. Rules and Values

03. Compilation

How RIF compiles target definitions, processes external MIR, creates .pack files, and calls Python extension functions.

• 01. External MIR
• 02. RIF Packages
• 03. Python Functions

04. Execution

Runtime state, bit emission, physical and virtual memory, datastack usage, variants, and diagnostics.

• 01. Bit Memory
• 02. Datastack
• 03. Variants
• 04. Diagnostics and Testing
• 05. Binary Artifacts

Quick Start

main.rif + program.asm -> program.bin

Compile directly from a RIF definition:

rif main.rif program.asm

Create a precompiled package and use it as the target definition:

rif --pack main.rif
rif main.pack program.asm

The output is a pure binary file. Its default name is derived from the MIR input, so program.asm produces program.bin unless -o is supplied.