duktape/website/api/duk_compile.yaml

name: duk_compile

proto: |
    void duk_compile(duk_context *ctx, duk_uint_t flags);

stack: |
    [ ... source! filename! ] -> [ ... function! ]

summary: |
  <p>Compile Ecmascript source code and replace it with a compiled function
  object (the code is not executed).  The <code>filename</code> argument is stored
  as the <code>fileName</code> property of the resulting function, and is the name
  used in e.g. tracebacks to identify the function.  May throw a <code>SyntaxError</code>
  for any compile-time errors (in addition to the usual internal errors like out-of-memory,
  internal limit errors, etc).</p>

  <p>The following flags may be given:</p>
  <ul>
  <li><code>DUK_COMPILE_EVAL</code>: compile the input as eval code instead of
      as an Ecmascript program</li>
  <li><code>DUK_COMPILE_FUNCTION</code>: compile the input as a function instead
      of as an Ecmascript program</li>
  <li><code>DUK_COMPILE_STRICT</code>: force the input to be compiled in strict
      mode</li>
  </ul>

  <p>The source code being compiled may be:</p>

  <ul>
  <li>Global code: compiles into a function with zero arguments, which
      executes like a top level Ecmascript program (default)</li>
  <li>Eval code: compiles into a function with zero arguments, which
      executes like an Ecmascript <code>eval</code> call
      (flag <code>DUK_COMPILE_EVAL</code>)</li>
  <li>Function code: compiles into a function with zero or more arguments
      (flag <code>DUK_COMPILE_FUNCTION</code>)</li>
  </ul>

  <p>All of these have slightly different semantics in Ecmascript.  See
  <a href="http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/#sec-10.4">Establishing an Execution Context</a>
  for a detailed discussion.
  One major difference is that global and eval contexts have an implicit
  return value: the last <i>non-empty</i> statement value is an automatic
  return value for the program or eval code, whereas functions don't have
  an automatic return value.
  </p>

  <p>Global and eval code don't have an explicit <code>function</code> syntax.
  For instance, the following can be compiled both as a global and as an
  eval expression:</p>
  <pre class="ecmascript-code">
  print("Hello world!");
  123;  // implicit return value
  </pre>

  <p>Function code follows the Ecmascript <code>function</code> syntax
  (the function name is optional):</p>
  <pre class="ecmascript-code">
  function adder(x,y) {
      return x+y;
  }
  </pre>

  <p>Compiling a function is equivalent to compiling eval code which contains
  a function expression.  Note that the outermost parentheses are required,
  otherwise the eval code will register a global function named "adder" instead
  of returning a plain function value:</p>
  <pre class="ecmascript-code">
  (function adder(x,y) {
      return x+y;
  })
  </pre>

  <p>The bytecode generated for global and eval code is currently slower
  than that generated for functions: a "slow path" is used for all variable
  accesses in program and eval code, and the implicit return value handling
  of program and eval code generates some unnecessary bytecode.  From a
  performance point of view (both memory and execution performance) it is
  thus preferable to have as much code inside functions as possible.</p>

  <p>When compiling eval and global expressions, be careful to avoid the
  usual Ecmascript gotchas, such as:</p>
  <pre class="ecmascript-code">
  /* Function at top level is a function declaration which registers a global
   * function, and is different from a function expression.  Use parentheses
   * around the top level expression.
   */

  eval("function adder(x,y) { return x+y; }");   /* registers 'adder' to global */
  eval("function (x,y) { return x+y; }");        /* not allowed */
  eval("(function (x,y) { return x+y; })");      /* function expression (anonymous) */
  eval("(function adder(x,y) { return x+y; })"); /* function expression (named) */

  /* Opening curly brace at top level is interpreted as start of a block
   * expression, not an object literal.  Use parentheses around the top
   * level expression.
   */

  eval("{ myfunc: 1 }");   /* block with -label- "myfunc" and statement "1" (!) */
  eval("({ myfunc: 1 })";  /* object literal { myfunc: 1 } */
  </pre>  

example: |
  /* Global code.  Note that the hello() function is a function
   * declaration which gets registered into the global object when
   * executed.  Implicit return value is 123.
   */

  duk_push_string(ctx, "print('global');\n"
                       "function hello() { print('Hello world!'); }\n"
                       "123;");
  duk_push_string(ctx, "hello");
  duk_compile(ctx, 0);   /* [ source filename ] -> [ func ] */
  duk_call(ctx, 0);      /* [ func ] -> [ result ] */
  printf("program result: %lf\n", (double) duk_get_number(ctx, -1));
  duk_pop(ctx);

  /* Eval code */

  duk_push_string(ctx, "2+3");
  duk_push_string(ctx, "eval");
  duk_compile(ctx, DUK_COMPILE_EVAL);
  duk_call(ctx, 0);      /* [ func ] -> [ result ] */
  printf("eval result: %lf\n", (double) duk_get_number(ctx, -1));
  duk_pop(ctx);

  /* Function code */

  duk_push_string(ctx, "function (x,y) { return x+y; }");
  duk_push_string(ctx, "function");
  duk_compile(ctx, DUK_COMPILE_FUNCTION);
  duk_push_int(ctx, 5);
  duk_push_int(ctx, 6);
  duk_call(ctx, 2);      /* [ func 5 6 ] -> [ result ] */
  printf("function result: %lf\n", (double) duk_get_number(ctx, -1));
  duk_pop(ctx);  

tags:
  - compile

seealso:
  - duk_pcompile
  - duk_compile_string
  - duk_compile_string_filename
  - duk_compile_lstring
  - duk_compile_lstring_filename
  - duk_compile_file

introduced: 1.0.0