Module Reference

This page lists the currently documented Wist frontend module aliases and their broad responsibilities.

For module authoring guidance, read Writing Modules. This page is a reference index, not a tutorial. For a complete beginner-friendly walkthrough, read Create Your First Module.

Alias source

Module aliases are declared through DialectModuleAliasAttribute.

The attribute accepts one or more aliases:

[DialectModuleAlias("Arithmetic")]

Most Wist frontend modules also expose themselves through:

[DialectRuntimeExport("FrontendModule", "...")]

Runtime export metadata is what lets dialect/runtime composition select concrete runtime components.

Common frontend modules

The following aliases are used by the current Wist module coverage tests and module implementations.

Alias	Broad responsibility	Typical owner evidence
Whitespaces	whitespace lexeme handling	whitespace module
SemicolonAsNewLine	semicolon/newline normalization	semicolon module
Comments	comment lexemes	comments module
Numbers	numeric literal lexemes and number AST translation	NumbersModuleImpl
Identifier	identifier lexemes and identifier handling	identifier module
Arithmetic	arithmetic operator lexemes, parser creators and visitors	ArithmeticModuleImpl
TextualAddition	textual plus operator that lowers to arithmetic addition	TextualAdditionModuleImpl
Equality	equality operations	equality module
Conditions	if / elif / else conditional syntax	ConditionsModuleImpl
ComparisonConditions	comparison operations such as <, <=, >, >=	comparison condition module
BooleanConditions	boolean operations such as and/or/not	boolean condition module
Loops	while and for syntax	LoopsModuleImpl
Variables	let, assignment and local variable behavior	VariablesModuleImpl
Scopes	grouped scopes and parenthesized bodies	scopes module
Labels	label-related control constructs	labels module
InternalPreprocessorLexemes	internal preprocessing lexeme support	internal preprocessor module
CSharpInterop	trusted C# interop surface	C# interop module

Native and specialized modules

Additional modules exist for specialized profiles:

Alias	Broad responsibility
NativeTypes	native type-oriented execution/profile support
SafeMathFunctions	safe math function surface
FunctionCalls	function call syntax/runtime support
ParametersSetter	parameter-setting syntax/runtime support

These should be used only when the dialect actually needs the corresponding surface.

Optimizer aliases

Optimizers are separate from frontend modules and use DialectOptimizerAliasAttribute.

Examples visible in current code include:

Alias	Broad responsibility
ArithmeticOptimization	arithmetic intrinsic lowering and peephole simplification
NativeCilOptimization	typed native CIL-oriented constant loading
NativeTypesOptimization	native type optimization support
EGraphOptimization	e-graph-inspired arithmetic/profile optimization support
BooleanOptimization	boolean intrinsic optimization support
ComparisonIntrinsicOptimization	comparison intrinsic optimization support

Optimizer aliases are enabled through dialect optimizer directives, not through use module directives.

Module responsibilities

A frontend module may contribute:

• lexeme registrations;
• parser node creators;
• AST visitors;
• bytecode post-processing;
• capability providers;
• runtime export metadata.

A module should own only the syntax and semantics it introduces.

Dependencies are not automatic magic

Some modules are useful only with related modules.

Examples:

• Variables usually requires Identifier.
• Loops usually requires variables and comparisons to be useful.
• Conditions often requires equality or comparison modules depending on the condition expression.
• TextualAddition is useful with Arithmetic, Numbers, Scopes and Whitespaces in the first-module tutorial.
• CSharpInterop belongs to trusted/full profiles, not restricted user-facing formula DSLs.

Dialect authors are responsible for selecting coherent module sets and testing omitted syntax.

Stability note

This page is a curated reference, not an automatically generated catalog. When adding a new module, update this page only after confirming the module's alias, runtime export and intended responsibility from code.

Related pages

• Writing Modules
• Create Your First Module
• Dialect Reference
• Testing a DSL