Compile — Spark → SPARK_BC / GAS / sparkasm

Engineer guide for emitting bytecode and related objects. Product name: Spark / SparkLang only.

This page does not reimplement the compiler. It points at makefile targets and in-tree tools. ISA detail: SPARK_BC.md. Factory story: SPARK_BC Builder. Diagrams: Diagrams (tools + LLM assist vs SoT).

What “compile” means here

Path	Input	Output	SoT
C bootstrap	`.spark`	`.sparkbc` (`SPBC` magic)	`./spark-bootstrap --compile`
GAS wrapper	`.spark`	same `.sparkbc`	`./spark --compile` thin-forks bootstrap
sparkasm	`.sasm` / peer asm	ELF objects / tests	`make -C sparkasm` — not SPARK_BC
Tensor asm check	`control.sparkasm`	shape check only	`make test-sparkasm-control` — not a tensor VM

SPARK_BC is an orchestration ISA (opcodes like TRAIN / STEP / HALT). It is not neural weights, not CUDA, not a HuggingFace export.

Compile path diagram

Compile path

Caption: .spark → bootstrap/GAS → .sparkbc → run/train/serve. Full decompile diagrams + screenshots: Decompile. LLM assist layout: research/LLM_DECOMPILE.md.

Bootstrap emit (SoT)

make spark-bootstrap # or: make sparkc
        ./spark-bootstrap --compile examples/hello.spark -o /tmp/hello.sparkbc
        ./spark-bootstrap --compile examples/spark_train_step.spark \
         -o /tmp/spark-train-step.sparkbc

C lowering (bootstrap/ + selfhost/lex.c) remains the encode SoT. Published bytes live under docs/examples/*.sparkbc — rebuild with the commands in SPARK_BC Builder; do not invent hex.

GAS `./spark --compile`

make spark
        ./spark --compile examples/spark_builder.spark \
         -o /tmp/spark-builder.sparkbc

Implemented as a thin wrap of ./spark-bootstrap (exit status propagates). GAS does not reimplement .sparkbc packing.

Source dry-run (not bytecode):

./spark --dry-run examples/hello.spark

sparkasm (peer assembler)

make sparkasm
        make test-sparkasm

Assembles Spark-asm IR → objects/binaries under sparkasm/. Separate from SPARK_BC. See sparkasm/README.md and SELF_HOST.md.

Optional SPARK_BC → sasm emit probe (not the default factory path):

make spark-bc-emit
        make test-bc-emit

Tensor-assembly source (control)

examples/models/control.sparkasm documents a tiny GQA + SwiGLU forward as macros. It is readable source + shape check, not a running attention VM:

make test-sparkasm-control

Status is in the file header and on Attention / forward.

Product wrapper

make spark-bc
        ./scripts/spark-bc # phase-6 product wrapper; see scripts/spark-bc

Prefer --compile on bootstrap or GAS for engineer reproduction.

Gates

Target	What it proves
`make test-sparkbc`	compile + `--run-bc` vs GAS dry oracle + dump tests
`make sparkbc-e2e`	TRAIN→STEP→ARTIFACT focused gate
`make test-bc-emit`	bc_emit + pack hello + sparkasm path

Full target list: SPARKBC_MAKE.md.