Vesta SDL Programmer's Reference

Introduction

The Vesta System Description Language is a functional programming language used to define the instructions for the automated processing of source files through a series of tools (i.e. building a program from source code).  Evaluating a Vesta SDL program can be thought of as analogous to running make (although SDL is much more powerful than make's description language).

This document is a tutorial and reference for the Vesta SDL.  It's intended to make it a little easier for people new to the languag to get started than the documentation provided in the language specification.

Sections

• About the Guide - A little history, and a few caveats. (It's short, and you should really read it.)
• Explanatory Dialogues - These sections will take you through certain aspects of the language and how it is used.
• Walkthrough - Probably the best place to start.  Gets your feet wet with a few Vesta evaluator models.
• Bridge Dissection - Look inside a simple bridge.  Both its structure and how it works are described in detail.
• Reference - These sections describe the language in detail.
• Syntax - The basic syntax of the Vesta SDL: Comments, identifiers, white-space, statement blocks, etc.
• Data Types - The fundamental data types supported by the language and how to express more complex aggregate types
• Expressions and Operators - The basic expressions and operators
• Primitive Functions - The built-in primitive functions
• Statements - The different types of statements
• Models - How to write complete models, including the files and imports clauses
• Advanced Material - Once you've got the basics down, these will help you improve your skills.
• Controlling Cache Behavior - How to make your models use the cache server appropriately.  Anyone writing bridges should probably read this.
• Gotchas - If you find yourself scratching your head, look here.  In fact, look here to prevent unnecessary head scratching.

References

• Run the model evaluator: vesta(1)
• Determine which other models are imported by a model: vimports(1)
• Update model imports to their latest versions: vupdate(1)

• Writing standard user models: vmodels(5)
• Organization of libraries in Vesta: vlibraries(5)
• Building with overrides: voverrides(5)
• Standard types: vtypes(5)