Command Line

Quick examples:

  # compile and run immediately (if no errors)
cobra myprog.cobra

  # get help
cobra -h

  # compile only
cobra -c myprog.cobra

  # with debug
cobra -d -c myprog.cobra

  # multiple source files
cobra -c foo.cobra bar.cobra

  # passing arguments
cobra foo.cobra bar.cobra -- arg1 arg2

  # passing reference to an assembly be it .exe or .dll
  # is done through -ref: it can take either of the two
  # a) AssemblyFileName.exe or AssemblyFileName.dll
  # b) ItsFullPath\AssemblyFileName.exe or ItsFullPath\AssemblyFileName.dll
cobra -c -ref:AnyAssembly.dll codeFile.cobra
                 or 
cobra -c -ref:AnyAssembly.exe codeFile.cobra
              with Full Paths
cobra -c -ref:ItsFullPath\AnyValidAssembly.dll codeFile.cobra
                 or 
cobra -c -ref:ItsFullPath\AnyValidAssembly.exe codeFile.cobra

  #if you are not providing paths of the referenced assemblies then you can use
  #-lib: option to provided additional paths for compiler to search for the referenced assemblies
  # this can work good for assemblies outside of the GAC i.e private assemblies
  # but suppose you want to include System.Speech which is found in both .net 3.5
  # and .net 4.0 so even if you provide additional paths through -lib: for System.Speech
  # if compiler is compiled on .net 4.0 it may default to using .net 4.0 version of System.Speech
  # so when you want to specify paths to the referenced assembly explicitly 
  # use -ref:withFullPath\To\RequiredAssembly.dll or .exe

  # disable all checks, contracts, asserts, etc.
  # maximum performance
cobra -turbo foo.cobra

Getting help:

cobra -h
cobra -help

will dump a page detailing all the command line options supported.

The compiler runs for each invocation in a particular mode of operation. These correspond to the 'commands on paths'

• -compile or -c - compile the provided files and bind into an executable
• -run-exe or -r - as for -compile but run the executable after successful compilation. This is the default mode if none other is given
• -test - as for -compile but run the executables test cases after successful execution
• -document - parse the provided files and generate documentation from the parse tree

In addition there are three standalone commands

• -help or -h - display the cobra commandline options and descriptions
• -about - display info about cobra
• -version - display the cobra executables version information

Commandline items that are not options ( begin with '-') are taken to be filenames. Cobra can take one or a list of commandline given files to compile and the files can be cobra code ( filename ends in '.cobra') or C# code ( filename ends in '.cs'). Filenames without any extension are assumed to be a cobra code file of the same name with a '.cobra' extension

i.e

cobra myProg.cobra 
cobra myProg

both do the same thing - compile a cobra code file myProg.cobra to an executable and run it (if compilation succeeds)

Options

options form : -option:value, synonyms

TODO Sections

• Files:file
• Controlling type of executable built -target/-t
• Providing references and library search path -reference/-ref -library-directory/-lib -embed-run-time/-ert
• Controlling compilation -include-{asserts, nil-checks, tests}
  • -optimize/-o -debug/-d -turbo/-t
  • -keep-intermediate-files/-kif
  • -contracts -verbosity/-v
• Specifying executable and args for it -run-args/-- and -run
• Error handling -detailed-stack-trace/dst -debugging-tips -exception-report -reveal-internal-exceptions
• Development cycle - colorize -editor
• Back end -sharp-compiler -sharp-args

Examples

Working with Multiple Files

For now, see:

•  discussion: multiple files
•  discussion: Importing Cobra Files

See also: MsxBuild, LanguageTopics, LibraryTopics