TITLE
Parrot
The Parrot Bytecode Interpreter
Parrot is a common bytecode format and interpreter for dynamic languages; it is designed to run Perl 6 code efficiently, but is also intended to be language-agnostic.
Documentation
The Parrot documentation is spread across a wide range of files. Good starting points are:
- intro.pod
-
An introductory article on what Parrot is and how to do some interesting things with it.
(Note that this was originally written around the time of Parrot v0.0.2, and is in need of some updating).
- overview.pod
-
An overview of the Parrot architecture and design.
- running.pod
-
Brief descriptions of the different executables and how to run them.
- faq.pod
-
The Parrot FAQ.
- glossary.pod
-
A guide to some of the jargon that crops up repeatedly in Parrot development (and in the documentation...)
More detailed information on the design and implementation of Parrot can be found in:
- pdds/
-
This subdirectory contains all of the current Parrot Design Documents (PDDs). These are intended to be detailed guides to the design of the various Parrot subsystems; for instance, pdd03_calling_conventions.pod specifies Parrot's inter-routine calling conventions.
- ops/
-
This subdirectory contains documentation files that are created from the corresponding opcode files at build time. These files describe what each opcode does and specify what arguments they take.
- pmc/
-
This subdirectory contains documentation on several of the PMC types available to Parrot. Currently only a few of the available PMCs have been documented. (Patches welcome!)
- dev/
-
This subdirectory contains a number of files discussing various implementation decisions made during the course of the development of Parrot. The intent is to keep discussion of implementation-specific issues separate from the basic design issues discussed in the PDDs.
- parrot_assembly.pod
-
The master list of Parrot assembly operations; not all of these have been implemented, so you should stick to those listed in the documentation in ops/ when writing Parrot assembly.
There is significant overlap between this file and pdds/pdd06_pasm.pod; they may well be merged at some point in the future
- vtables.pod
-
A brief introduction to the vtable at the heart of all PMCs, and how to implement your own PMC type.
- embed.pod
-
Describes the embedding subsystem in excruciating detail.
- jit.pod
-
A brief description of Parrot's Just-In-Time compiler.
- memory_internals.pod
-
An introduction to the Parrot GC subsystem
- parrotbyte.pod
-
The Parrot bytecode format.
- packfile-perl.pod, packfile-c.pod
-
The APIs for accessing packed bytecode files (packfiles) from Perl and C.
- strings.pod
-
A description of the string implementation.
- tests.pod
-
Hints on writing tests for the Parrot interpreter.
- debug.pod
-
A beginner's guide to debugging the Parrot executable.
- debugger.pod
-
Documentation for
pdb, the Parrot debugger.
Supported Platforms
Parrot compiles and runs on a large number of platforms, including all common ones. The Parrot team is committed to supporting the following combinations as "core platforms": Linux (x86), CygWin, Win32, Tru64, OpenVMS (Alpha), Solaris (Sparc), FreeBSD (x86).
Authors
Parrot is developed and maintained by the members of the perl6-internals@perl.org mailing list. The list is archived at: http://nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl6.internals
Dan Sugalski (
dan@sidhe.org) is the chief architect.Simon Cozens (
simon@netthink.co.uk) was the release manager for releases 0.0.1 through 0.0.4.Jeff Goff (
drforr@hargray.com) was the release manager for releases 0.0.5 through 0.0.8.Steve Fink (
steve@fink.com) is the current release manager.
Web pages
See:
for more information.