hakorune/docs/guides/build/aot-compilation.md

🚀 AOT (Ahead-of-Time) Compilation Guide

Transform your Nyash programs into standalone native executables!

📌 What is AOT?

AOT compilation converts Nyash programs directly to native machine code, producing standalone executables that:

• Run without the Nyash runtime
• Start instantly (no JIT compilation)
• Achieve maximum performance
• Can be distributed as single files

🔧 Prerequisites

• Nyash built with Cranelift support: --features cranelift-jit
• C compiler (gcc/clang) for linking
• nyrt runtime library (automatically built)

🏗️ Building AOT Support

# Enable Cranelift JIT (required for AOT)
cargo build --release --features cranelift-jit

# Build the runtime library
cd crates/nyrt
cargo build --release

📦 Creating Native Executables

Linux/WSL

Use the provided build script:

# Basic usage
./tools/build_aot.sh program.nyash -o myapp

# Run the native executable
./myapp

What happens behind the scenes:

1. Nyash compiles your program to object file (.o)
2. Links with libnyrt.a (runtime support)
3. Produces standalone executable

Windows

From PowerShell:

# Build native executable
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File tools\build_aot.ps1 -Input program.nyash -Out myapp.exe

# Run it
.\myapp.exe

From WSL (cross-compile):

# Use the bash script even for Windows targets
NYASH_TARGET=windows ./tools/build_aot.sh program.nyash -o myapp.exe

🎯 AOT Compilation Pipeline

program.nyash
    ↓
[Nyash Parser]
    ↓
   AST
    ↓
[MIR Builder]
    ↓
   MIR
    ↓
[JIT Compiler - Strict Mode]
    ↓
  main.o (Object File)
    ↓
[C Linker + libnyrt.a]
    ↓
Native Executable

⚡ Supported Features

Currently Supported (Phase 10.10)

• ✅ Basic arithmetic operations
• ✅ Function calls (limited)
• ✅ Integer operations
• ✅ String operations (read-only)
• ✅ Control flow (if/else, loops)

Not Yet Supported

• ❌ Full plugin system
• ❌ Dynamic code loading
• ❌ Some built-in Box methods
• ❌ Async/await
• ❌ Exception handling

📝 Writing AOT-Compatible Code

Example: Simple Calculation

// aot_example.nyash
static box Main {
    main() {
        local x = 10
        local y = 20
        local result = x + y
        return result  // Exit code: 30
    }
}

Example: String Length (Plugin-Based)

// Requires NYASH_USE_PLUGIN_BUILTINS=1
static box Main {
    main() {
        local s = "Hello"
        return s.length()  // Exit code: 5
    }
}

🔍 Debugging AOT Compilation

Enable Verbose Output

# See what's happening
NYASH_CLI_VERBOSE=1 ./tools/build_aot.sh program.nyash

Check JIT Coverage

# See which operations are supported
NYASH_JIT_DUMP=1 ./target/release/nyash --backend vm program.nyash

Common Issues

"Object not generated"

error: object not generated: target/aot_objects/main.o
hint: Strict mode forbids fallback. Ensure main() is lowerable under current JIT coverage.

Solution: Simplify your program or wait for more JIT coverage.

"Unsupported lowering ops"

[JIT][strict] unsupported lowering ops for main: 3 — failing compile

Solution: Check which operations are causing issues:

• Complex Box method calls
• Dynamic features
• Plugin-dependent code

🏃 Performance Considerations

Benchmark Results

Execution Mode	Time (ny_bench.nyash)	Relative
Interpreter	110.10ms	1.0x
VM	8.14ms	13.5x
VM + JIT	5.8ms	19.0x
AOT Native	~4ms	~27x

Optimization Flags

# Maximum performance
RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native" cargo build --release --features cranelift-jit

# Then compile your program
./tools/build_aot.sh program.nyash -o optimized_app

🔌 Plugin Support in AOT

Static Linking (Future)

The goal is to statically link plugins:

# Future syntax (not yet implemented)
./tools/build_aot.sh program.nyash \
    --static-plugins filebox,stringbox \
    -o standalone_app

Dynamic Plugins (Current)

AOT executables can load plugins if:

• nyash.toml is present
• Plugin .so/.dll files are available
• Paths are correctly configured

🛠️ Advanced Usage

Custom Linker Flags

# Modify build_aot.sh or use directly:
cc main.o \
   -L crates/nyrt/target/release \
   -Wl,--whole-archive -lnyrt -Wl,--no-whole-archive \
   -lpthread -ldl -lm \
   -O3 -flto \  # Extra optimizations
   -o myapp

Embedding Resources

Future feature to embed files in the executable:

// Future syntax
#[embed("data.json")]
static DATA: &str

static box Main {
    main() {
        local config = JSON.parse(DATA)
        // ...
    }
}

📊 AOT vs Other Modes

Feature	Interpreter	VM	JIT	AOT
Startup Time	Fast	Fast	Medium	Instant
Peak Performance	Slow	Good	Better	Best
Memory Usage	Low	Medium	High	Lowest
Distribution	Needs Nyash	Needs Nyash	Needs Nyash	Standalone
Plugin Support	Full	Full	Full	Limited
Debug Info	Full	Good	Limited	Minimal

🎯 When to Use AOT

Use AOT when:

• Distributing standalone applications
• Maximum performance is critical
• Startup time matters
• Deployment simplicity is important

Avoid AOT when:

• Using dynamic features heavily
• Requiring full plugin ecosystem
• Rapid development/debugging
• Code uses unsupported operations

🔮 Future Roadmap

Phase 10.11+ Plans

• Full plugin static linking
• Complete Box method coverage
• Cross-compilation support
• Size optimization options
• Debug symbol control

📚 See Also

• Build Overview
• JIT Architecture
• Performance Guide