jsturtevant/compilers-course/validation-scripts

Skill: Validation Scripts

Confidence: high Domain: compiler phases, testing, CI

Pattern

Every compiler phase MUST have a corresponding validation script in scripts/ that:

1. Runs the phase against ALL sample files in cool-support/examples/
2. Requires any external validation tools (exits with error if missing)
3. Reports pass/fail counts with colored output
4. Exits with non-zero status if any sample fails

Script Naming Convention

scripts/run-{phase}-all.sh

Examples:

• scripts/run-lexer-all.sh
• scripts/run-parser-all.sh
• scripts/run-semant-all.sh
• scripts/run-codegen-all.sh

Required Script Structure

#!/bin/bash
set -e
 
# Colors
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
RED='\033[0;31m'
NC='\033[0m'
 
# Require external tools (fail fast, don't warn)
if ! command -v {tool} &> /dev/null; then
    echo -e "${RED}Error: {tool} not found. Install with: {install_cmd}${NC}"
    exit 1
fi
 
# Build first
cargo build -p {crate} --quiet
 
# Run against all samples
PASSED=0
FAILED=0
 
for cl_file in cool-support/examples/*.cl; do
    # ... run phase and validate ...
    if [ success ]; then
        echo -e "${GREEN}✓${NC} $filename"
        PASSED=$((PASSED + 1))
    else
        echo -e "${RED}✗${NC} $filename"
        FAILED=$((FAILED + 1))
    fi
done
 
echo "Results: $PASSED passed, $FAILED failed"
 
if [ $FAILED -gt 0 ]; then
    exit 1
fi

When to Create

Create a validation script when:

• Implementing a new compiler phase
• Adding a new crate that processes COOL source files
• Before marking a phase as "complete"

When to Run

• After implementing changes to a phase
• Before committing code
• In CI pipelines

Current Scripts