Programming Language

Nocter

A self-contained systems language built around simplicity, encapsulation, and foolproof design.

Specification GitHub

Machine Program and Native Target Boundary

This document owns the handoff from concrete MIR to native executable bytes. Internal mechanisms belong in the nocter-machine, nocter-arm64, and nocter-macho READMEs.

Pipeline

MirProgram
  -> MachineLayoutStore
  -> MachineProgram
  -> Arm64Program
  -> MachOImage

MachineLayoutStore assigns immutable stored layouts to the concrete types already closed by Executable. MachineProgram classifies arguments and results, expands target-independent storage and destruction operations, closes primitive dependencies and imported-service identities, and owns deterministic machine linkage.

Arm64Program assigns physical registers and frames, selects and encodes instructions, and resolves branch/data fixups. MachOImage assigns file-format structures and emits final bytes. Artifact publication remains outside all three products.

ABI Ownership

The public ABI contract comes from spec/platform/abi-and-layout.md. Machine is its sole implementation owner for stored layout and argument/result transport. ARM64 consumes already classified machine values; it cannot independently decide aggregate layout or source-level calling convention. Mach-O consumes encoded sections and cannot alter code selection or linkage identity.

Semantic Closure

Machine input contains closed runtime representations, primitive roles, and target-service descriptors. No native stage can inspect a semantic declaration, generic requirement, interface implementation, source path, or rendered type. Structural copy and destruction use explicit concrete schemas rather than recovering field or variant structure from names.

Required Invariants

  • Every concrete type has one stored-layout result.
  • Every call site and callee use the same machine transport plan.
  • Machine linkage names already selected items and never performs semantic lookup.
  • ARM64 register allocation cannot change ABI classification.
  • Primitive expansion is selected by closed runtime role.
  • Imported-service descriptors are interned once into a dense machine domain; calls retain only its identity and the shared preplanned runtime-call ABI.
  • Mach-O writing is deterministic and cannot introduce executable items.
  • No partial image is a successful native artifact.