blob: 1a13640f9d58de09e5ec8bb5686c7d296405d5f0 [file] [log] [blame]
// Copyright 2013 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
// Package ssa defines a representation of the elements of Go programs
// (packages, types, functions, variables and constants) using a
// static single-assignment (SSA) form intermediate representation
// (IR) for the bodies of functions.
//
// THIS INTERFACE IS EXPERIMENTAL AND IS LIKELY TO CHANGE.
//
// For an introduction to SSA form, see
// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_single_assignment_form.
// This page provides a broader reading list:
// http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~jsinger/ssa.html.
//
// The level of abstraction of the SSA form is intentionally close to
// the source language to facilitate construction of source analysis
// tools. It is not intended for machine code generation.
//
// All looping, branching and switching constructs are replaced with
// unstructured control flow. Higher-level control flow constructs
// such as multi-way branch can be reconstructed as needed; see
// ssautil.Switches() for an example.
//
// The simplest way to create the SSA representation of a package is
// to load typed syntax trees using golang.org/x/tools/go/packages, then
// invoke the ssautil.Packages helper function. See ExampleLoadPackages
// and ExampleWholeProgram for examples.
// The resulting ssa.Program contains all the packages and their
// members, but SSA code is not created for function bodies until a
// subsequent call to (*Package).Build or (*Program).Build.
//
// The builder initially builds a naive SSA form in which all local
// variables are addresses of stack locations with explicit loads and
// stores. Registerisation of eligible locals and φ-node insertion
// using dominance and dataflow are then performed as a second pass
// called "lifting" to improve the accuracy and performance of
// subsequent analyses; this pass can be skipped by setting the
// NaiveForm builder flag.
//
// The primary interfaces of this package are:
//
// - Member: a named member of a Go package.
// - Value: an expression that yields a value.
// - Instruction: a statement that consumes values and performs computation.
// - Node: a Value or Instruction (emphasizing its membership in the SSA value graph)
//
// A computation that yields a result implements both the Value and
// Instruction interfaces. The following table shows for each
// concrete type which of these interfaces it implements.
//
// Value? Instruction? Member?
// *Alloc ✔ ✔
// *BinOp ✔ ✔
// *Builtin ✔
// *Call ✔ ✔
// *ChangeInterface ✔ ✔
// *ChangeType ✔ ✔
// *Const ✔
// *Convert ✔ ✔
// *DebugRef ✔
// *Defer ✔
// *Extract ✔ ✔
// *Field ✔ ✔
// *FieldAddr ✔ ✔
// *FreeVar ✔
// *Function ✔ ✔ (func)
// *Global ✔ ✔ (var)
// *Go ✔
// *If ✔
// *Index ✔ ✔
// *IndexAddr ✔ ✔
// *Jump ✔
// *Lookup ✔ ✔
// *MakeChan ✔ ✔
// *MakeClosure ✔ ✔
// *MakeInterface ✔ ✔
// *MakeMap ✔ ✔
// *MakeSlice ✔ ✔
// *MapUpdate ✔
// *NamedConst ✔ (const)
// *Next ✔ ✔
// *Panic ✔
// *Parameter ✔
// *Phi ✔ ✔
// *Range ✔ ✔
// *Return ✔
// *RunDefers ✔
// *Select ✔ ✔
// *Send ✔
// *Slice ✔ ✔
// *Store ✔
// *Type ✔ (type)
// *TypeAssert ✔ ✔
// *UnOp ✔ ✔
//
// Other key types in this package include: Program, Package, Function
// and BasicBlock.
//
// The program representation constructed by this package is fully
// resolved internally, i.e. it does not rely on the names of Values,
// Packages, Functions, Types or BasicBlocks for the correct
// interpretation of the program. Only the identities of objects and
// the topology of the SSA and type graphs are semantically
// significant. (There is one exception: Ids, used to identify field
// and method names, contain strings.) Avoidance of name-based
// operations simplifies the implementation of subsequent passes and
// can make them very efficient. Many objects are nonetheless named
// to aid in debugging, but it is not essential that the names be
// either accurate or unambiguous. The public API exposes a number of
// name-based maps for client convenience.
//
// The ssa/ssautil package provides various utilities that depend only
// on the public API of this package.
//
// TODO(adonovan): Consider the exceptional control-flow implications
// of defer and recover().
//
// TODO(adonovan): write a how-to document for all the various cases
// of trying to determine corresponding elements across the four
// domains of source locations, ast.Nodes, types.Objects,
// ssa.Values/Instructions.
//
package ssa // import "golang.org/x/tools/go/ssa"