D Programming Language 2.0

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Last update Mon Apr 6 02:40:09 2009

# D Application Binary Interface

A D implementation that conforms to the D ABI (Application Binary Interface) will be able to generate libraries, DLL's, etc., that can interoperate with D binaries built by other implementations.

### C ABI

The C ABI referred to in this specification means the C Application Binary Interface of the target system. C and D code should be freely linkable together, in particular, D code shall have access to the entire C ABI runtime library.

### Endianness

The endianness (byte order) of the layout of the data will conform to the endianness of the target machine. The Intel x86 CPUs are little endian meaning that the value 0x0A0B0C0D is stored in memory as: `0D 0C 0B 0A`.

### Basic Types

bool
  8 bit byte with the values 0 for false and 1 for true
byte
  8 bit signed value
ubyte
  8 bit unsigned value
short
  16 bit signed value
ushort
  16 bit unsigned value
int
  32 bit signed value
uint
  32 bit unsigned value
long
  64 bit signed value
ulong
  64 bit unsigned value
cent
  128 bit signed value
ucent
  128 bit unsigned value
float
  32 bit IEEE 754 floating point value
double
  64 bit IEEE 754 floating point value
real
  implementation defined floating point value, for x86 it is 80 bit IEEE 754 extended real

### Delegates

Delegates are fat pointers with two parts:

Delegate Layout
offset | property | contents
--- | --- | ---
0 | `.ptr` | context pointer
ptrsize | `.funcptr` | pointer to function

The context pointer can be a class this reference, a struct this pointer, a pointer to a closure (nested functions) or a pointer to an enclosing function's stack frame (nested functions).

### Structs

Conforms to the target's C ABI struct layout.

### Classes

An object consists of:

Class Object Layout
offset | property | contents
--- | --- | ---
0 | `.__vptr` | pointer to vtable
ptrsize | `.__monitor` | monitor
ptrsize*2... | named members | non-static members

The vtable consists of:

Virtual Function Pointer Table Layout
offset | contents
--- | ---
0 | pointer to instance of ClassInfo
ptrsize... | pointers to virtual member functions

The class definition:

    class XXXX
    {
        ....
    };

Generates the following:

- An instance of Class called ClassXXXX.
- A type called StaticClassXXXX which defines all the static members.
- An instance of StaticClassXXXX called StaticXXXX for the static members.

### Interfaces

An interface is a pointer to a pointer to a vtbl[]. The vtbl[0] entry is a pointer to the corresponding instance of the object.Interface class. The rest of the vtbl[1..$] entries are pointers to the virtual functions implemented by that interface, in the order that they were declared.

A COM interface differs from a regular interface in that there is no object.Interface entry in vtbl[0]; the entries vtbl[0..$] are all the virtual function pointers, in the order that they were declared. This matches the COM object layout used by Windows.

A C++ interface differs from a regular interface in that it matches the layout of a C++ class using single inheritance on the target machine.

### Arrays

A dynamic array consists of:

Dynamic Array Layout
offset | property | contents
--- | --- | ---
0 | `.length` | array dimension
size_t | `.ptr` | pointer to array data

A dynamic array is declared as:

    type[] array;

whereas a static array is declared as:

    type[dimension] array;

Thus, a static array always has the dimension statically available as part of the type, and so it is implemented like in C. Static array's and Dynamic arrays can be easily converted back and forth to each other.

### Associative Arrays

Associative arrays consist of a pointer to an opaque, implementation defined type. The current implementation is contained in phobos/internal/aaA.d.

### Reference Types

D has reference types, but they are implicit. For example, classes are always referred to by reference; this means that class instances can never reside on the stack or be passed as function parameters.

When passing a static array to a function, the result, although declared as a static array, will actually be a reference to a static array. For example:

    int[3] abc;

Passing abc to functions results in these implicit conversions:

    void func(int[3] array); // actually <reference to><array[3] of><int>
    void func(int* p);       // abc is converted to a pointer
    			 // to the first element
    void func(int[] array);	 // abc is converted to a dynamic array

### Name Mangling

D accomplishes typesafe linking by mangling a D identifier to include scope and type information.

    MangledName:
        _D QualifiedName Type
        _D QualifiedName M Type

    QualifiedName:
        SymbolName
        SymbolName QualifiedName

    SymbolName:
        LName
        TemplateInstanceName

The M means that the symbol is a function that requires a `this` pointer.

Template Instance Names have the types and values of its parameters encoded into it:

    TemplateInstanceName:
         __T LName TemplateArgs Z

    TemplateArgs:
        TemplateArg
        TemplateArg TemplateArgs

    TemplateArg:
        T Type
        V Type Value
        S LName

    Value:
        n
        Number
        N Number
        e HexFloat
        c HexFloat c HexFloat
        A Number Value...

    HexFloat:
        NAN
        INF
        NINF
        N HexDigits P Exponent
        HexDigits P Exponent

    Exponent:
        N Number
        Number

    HexDigits:
        HexDigit
        HexDigit HexDigits

    HexDigit:
        Digit
        A
        B
        C
        D
        E
        F

n
  is for null arguments.
Number
  is for positive numeric literals (including character literals).
N Number
  is for negative numeric literals.
e HexFloat
  is for real and imaginary floating point literals.
c HexFloat c HexFloat
  is for complex floating point literals.
Width Number _ HexDigits
  Width is whether the characters are 1 byte (a), 2 bytes (w) or 4 bytes (d) in size. Number is the number of characters in the string. The HexDigits are the hex data for the string.
A Number Value...
  An array literal. Value is repeated Number times.

    Name:
        Namestart
        Namestart Namechars

    Namestart:
        _
        Alpha

    Namechar:
        Namestart
        Digit

    Namechars:
        Namechar
        Namechar Namechars

A Name is a standard D identifier.

    LName:
        Number Name

    Number:
        Digit
        Digit Number

    Digit:
        0
        1
        2
        3
        4
        5
        6
        7
        8
        9

An LName is a name preceded by a Number giving the number of characters in the Name.

### Type Mangling

Types are mangled using a simple linear scheme:

    Type:
        Shared
        Const
        Invariant
        TypeArray
        TypeSarray
        TypeAarray
        TypePointer
        TypeFunction
        TypeIdent
        TypeClass
        TypeStruct
        TypeEnum
        TypeTypedef
        TypeDelegate
        TypeNone
        TypeVoid
        TypeByte
        TypeUbyte
        TypeShort
        TypeUshort
        TypeInt
        TypeUint
        TypeLong
        TypeUlong
        TypeFloat
        TypeDouble
        TypeReal
        TypeIfloat
        TypeIdouble
        TypeIreal
        TypeCfloat
        TypeCdouble
        TypeCreal
        TypeBool
        TypeChar
        TypeWchar
        TypeDchar
        TypeTuple

    Shared:
        O Type

    Const:
        x Type

    Invariant:
        y Type

    TypeArray:
        A Type

    TypeSarray:
        G Number Type

    TypeAarray:
        H Type Type

    TypePointer:
        P Type

    TypeFunction:
        CallConvention FuncAttrs Arguments ArgClose Type

    CallConvention:
        F       // D
        U       // C
        W       // Windows
        V       // Pascal
        R       // C++

    FuncAttrs:
        FuncAttr
        FuncAttr FuncAttrs

    FuncAttr:
        empty
        FuncAttrPure
        FuncAttrNothrow
        FuncAttrRef

    FuncAttrPure:
        Na

    FuncAttrNothrow:
        Nb

    FuncAttrRef:
        Nc

    Arguments:
        Argument
        Argument Arguments

    Argument:
        Argument2
        M Argument2     // scope

    Argument2:
        Type
        J Type     // out
        K Type     // ref
        L Type     // lazy

    ArgClose
        X     // variadic T t,...) style
        Y     // variadic T t...) style
        Z     // not variadic

    TypeIdent:
        I LName

    TypeClass:
        C LName

    TypeStruct:
        S LName

    TypeEnum:
        E LName

    TypeTypedef:
        T LName

    TypeDelegate:
        D TypeFunction

    TypeNone:
        n

    TypeVoid:
        v

    TypeByte:
        g

    TypeUbyte:
        h

    TypeShort:
        s

    TypeUshort:
        t

    TypeInt:
        i

    TypeUint:
        k

    TypeLong:
        l

    TypeUlong:
        m

    TypeFloat:
        f

    TypeDouble:
        d

    TypeReal:
        e

    TypeIfloat:
        o

    TypeIdouble:
        p

    TypeIreal:
        j

    TypeCfloat:
        q

    TypeCdouble:
        r

    TypeCreal:
        c

    TypeBool:
        b

    TypeChar:
        a

    TypeWchar:
        u

    TypeDchar:
        w

    TypeTuple:
        B Number Arguments

### Function Calling Conventions

The extern (C) calling convention matches the C calling convention used by the supported C compiler on the host system. The extern (D) calling convention for x86 is described here.

#### Register Conventions

- EAX, ECX, EDX are scratch registers and can be destroyed by a function.
- EBX, ESI, EDI, EBP must be preserved across function calls.
- EFLAGS is assumed destroyed across function calls, except for the direction flag which must be forward.
- The FPU stack must be empty when calling a function.
- The FPU control word must be preserved across function calls.
- Floating point return values are returned on the FPU stack. These must be cleaned off by the caller, even if they are not used.

#### Return Value

- The types bool, byte, ubyte, short, ushort, int, uint, pointer, Object, and interfaces are returned in EAX.
- long and ulong are returned in EDX,EAX, where EDX gets the most significant half.
- float, double, real, ifloat, idouble, ireal are returned in ST0.
- cfloat, cdouble, creal are returned in ST1,ST0 where ST1 is the real part and ST0 is the imaginary part.
- Dynamic arrays are returned with the pointer in EDX and the length in EAX.
- Associative arrays are returned in EAX with garbage returned in EDX. The EDX value will probably be removed in the future; it's there for backwards compatibility with an earlier implementation of AA's.
- Delegates are returned with the pointer to the function in EDX and the context pointer in EAX.
- For Windows, 1, 2 and 4 byte structs are returned in EAX.
- For Windows, 8 byte structs are returned in EDX,EAX, where EDX gets the most significant half.
- For other struct sizes, the return value is stored through a hidden pointer passed as an argument to the function.
- Constructors return the this pointer in EAX.

#### Parameters

The parameters to the non-variadic function:

    	foo(a1, a2, ..., an);

are passed as follows:

a1
a2
...
an
hidden
this

where hidden is present if needed to return a struct value, and this is present if needed as the this pointer for a member function or the context pointer for a nested function.

The last parameter is passed in EAX rather than being pushed on the stack if the following conditions are met:

- It fits in EAX.
- It is not a 3 byte struct.
- It is not a floating point type.

Parameters are always pushed as multiples of 4 bytes, rounding upwards, so the stack is always aligned on 4 byte boundaries. They are pushed most significant first. out and ref are passed as pointers. Static arrays are passed as pointers to their first element. On Windows, a real is pushed as a 10 byte quantity, a creal is pushed as a 20 byte quantity. On Linux, a real is pushed as a 12 byte quantity, a creal is pushed as two 12 byte quantities. The extra two bytes of pad occupy the 'most significant' position.

The callee cleans the stack.

The parameters to the variadic function:

    	void foo(int p1, int p2, int[] p3...)
    	foo(a1, a2, ..., an);

are passed as follows:

p1
p2
a3
hidden
this

The variadic part is converted to a dynamic array and the rest is the same as for non-variadic functions.

The parameters to the variadic function:

    	void foo(int p1, int p2, ...)
    	foo(a1, a2, a3, ..., an);

are passed as follows:

an
...
a3
a2
a1
_arguments
hidden
this

The caller is expected to clean the stack. _argptr is not passed, it is computed by the callee.

#### Function Attributes

Na
  pure
Nb
  nothrow

### Exception Handling

#### Windows

Conforms to the Microsoft Windows Structured Exception Handling conventions.

#### Linux and OSX

Uses static address range/handler tables. It is not compatible with the ELF exception handling tables. The stack is walked assuming it uses the EBP stack frame convention. The EBP convention must be used for every function that has an associated EH table.

For each function that has exception handlers, an EH table entry is generated.

EH Table Entry
field | description
--- | ---
void* | pointer to start of function
DHandlerTable* | pointer to corresponding EH data
uint | size in bytes of the function

The EH table entries are placed into the following special segments, which are concatenated by the linker.

EH Table Segment
Operating System | Segment Name
--- | ---
Windows | FI
Linux | .deh_eh
OSX | __deh_eh, __DATA

The rest of the EH data can be placed anywhere, it is immutable.

DHandlerTable
field | description
--- | ---
void* | pointer to start of function
uint | offset of ESP from EBP
uint | offset from start of function to return code
uint | number of entries in DHandlerInfo[]
DHandlerInfo[] | array of handler information

DHandlerInfo
field | description
--- | ---
uint | offset from function address to start of guarded section
uint | offset of end of guarded section
int | previous table index
uint | if != 0 offset to DCatchInfo data from start of table
void* | if not null, pointer to finally code to execute

DCatchInfo
field | description
--- | ---
uint | number of entries in DCatchBlock[]
DCatchBlock[] | array of catch information

DCatchBlock
field | description
--- | ---
ClassInfo | catch type
uint | offset from EBP to catch variable
void* | catch handler code

### Garbage Collection

The interface to this is found in `phobos/internal/gc`.

### Runtime Helper Functions

These are found in `phobos/internal`.

### Module Initialization and Termination

All the static constructors for a module are aggregated into a single function, and a pointer to that function is inserted into the ctor member of the ModuleInfo instance for that module.

All the static denstructors for a module are aggregated into a single function, and a pointer to that function is inserted into the dtor member of the ModuleInfo instance for that module.

### Unit Testing

All the unit tests for a module are aggregated into a single function, and a pointer to that function is inserted into the unitTest member of the ModuleInfo instance for that module.

## Symbolic Debugging

D has types that are not represented in existing C or C++ debuggers. These are dynamic arrays, associative arrays, and delegates. Representing these types as structs causes problems because function calling conventions for structs are often different than that for these types, which causes C/C++ debuggers to misrepresent things. For these debuggers, they are represented as a C type which does match the calling conventions for the type. The dmd compiler will generate only C symbolic type info with the -gc compiler switch.

Types for C Debuggers
D type | C representation
--- | ---
dynamic array | unsigned long long
associative array | void*
delegate | long long
dchar | unsigned long

For debuggers that can be modified to accept new types, the following extensions help them fully support the types.

### Codeview Debugger Extensions

The D dchar type is represented by the special primitive type 0x78.

D makes use of the Codeview OEM generic type record indicated by LF_OEM (0x0015). The format is:

Codeview OEM Extensions for D
field size | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2
D Type | Leaf Index | OEM Identifier | recOEM | num indices | type index | type index
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
dynamic array | LF_OEM | OEM | 1 | 2 | @index | @element
associative array | LF_OEM | OEM | 2 | 2 | @key | @element
delegate | LF_OEM | OEM | 3 | 2 | @this | @function

OEM | 0x42
index | type index of array index
key | type index of key
element | type index of array element
this | type index of context pointer
function | type index of function

These extensions can be pretty-printed by obj2asm.

The Ddbg debugger supports them.

### Dwarf Debugger Extensions

The following leaf types are added:

Dwarf Extensions for D
D type | Identifier | Value | Format
--- | --- | --- | ---
dynamic array | DW_TAG_darray_type | 0x41 | DW_AT_type is element type
associative array | DW_TAG_aarray_type | 0x42 | DW_AT_type, is element type, DW_AT_containing_type key type
delegate | DW_TAG_delegate_type | 0x43 | DW_AT_type, is function type, DW_AT_containing_type is 'this' type

These extensions can be pretty-printed by dumpobj.

The ZeroBUGS debugger supports them.

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