How Arduino IDE pre-processing work?

Using Arduino Programming Questions
1

Hi! I was reading some topics and I found this:

The main sketch is C++, however the IDE does do a certain amount of pre-processing (in particular, generating function prototypes for you) before submitting the code to the main C++ compiler.

Could be found here.

Someone know how this "pre-processing" works? The code is converted to some low level programming language before load the microcontroller with my program? How?

2

The code is converted to some low level programming language before load the microcontroller with my program?

No, the code is kept as (moderately) high-level C++, but function prototypes are generated, before compilation using avr-gcc.

3

And a few other things are doe for you such as adding the correct main() ans the standard #include's

Mark

4

The preprocessor is a "textual" pass through the source code. For example, you've seen something like:

#define MAXARRAYSIZE  100

If you have an expression in your code that reads:

for (i = 0; i < MAXARRAYSIZE; i++) {

when the preprocessor finishes, it's as though you wrote:

for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) {

The advantage, of course, is that you only need to change the #define to everywhere change the affected value in the source code. The preprocessor also reads function prototypes, like:

int myFunction(int val, char *buff);

and constructs an attribute list much like a symbol table that allows it to check all subsequent uses of that function for the correct argument list (i.e., an int and a pointer) and that the return value is used as an int. If also expands any macros you may have written, like:

#define ARRAYSIZE(x)   (sizeof(x) / sizeof(x[0]))

so when you write:

for (i = 0; i <  ARRAYSIZE(buff) ; i++) {

the preprocessor expands it to:

for (i = 0; i <   (sizeof(buff) / sizeof(buff[0])) ; i++) {

I think it helps to simply think of the preprocessor as performing textual replacements, macro expansions, and type checking via prototypes.

5

The preprocessor is a "textual" pass through the source code.

Which has nothing to do with what the IDE does in terms of processing before it invokes the compiler.

6

PaulS: I thought OP understood that the IDE and compiler are separate entities. Rereading his post, perhaps not.

7

econjack:
PaulS: I thought OP understood that the IDE and compiler are separate entities. Rereading his post, perhaps not.

From the original post I got the impression that the OP understood the distinction correctly - the issue is the misguided and poorly implemented mucking about that the IDE does to your code before invoking the compiler, and nothing to do with the C++ compiler / preprocessor.

8

Thank you all for answer me about preprocessor and sorry about my late response.

So, now that i understand what preprocessor is, what is running inside the ATMEL?

9

The hex file which gets loaded on the processor contains Atmel machine code. You can read the datasheet for the opcodes.

10

KeithRB:
The hex file which gets loaded on the processor contains Atmel machine code. You can read the datasheet for the opcodes.

Is there any way to take a look inside the drivers who creates the Atmel machine code?

11

Is there any way to take a look inside the drivers who creates the Atmel machine code?

The compiler, avr-gcc, is supplied as binary executable, but the sources will be somewhere on the Web.

12

AWOL:

Is there any way to take a look inside the drivers who creates the Atmel machine code?

The compiler, avr-gcc, is supplied as binary executable, but the sources will be somewhere on the Web.

Thank you. I'll take a look at both datasheet and avr-gcc this week.