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<a href="../../html/index.html">Home</a> » Parrot
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<h1><a name="NAME"
>NAME</a></h1>
<p>docs/parrot.pod - Parrot</p>
<h1><a name="The_Parrot_Virtual_Machine"
>The Parrot Virtual Machine</a></h1>
<p>Parrot is a language-agnostic common bytecode format and an interpreter for dynamic languages.</p>
<h2><a name="Documentation"
>Documentation</a></h2>
<p>The Parrot documentation is spread across a wide range of files.
Good starting points are:</p>
<dl>
<dt><a name="intro.pod"
><em>intro.pod</em></a></dt>
An introductory article on what Parrot is and how to do some interesting things with it.
<dt><a name="overview.pod"
><em>overview.pod</em></a></dt>
An overview of the Parrot architecture and design.
<dt><a name="running.pod"
><em>running.pod</em></a></dt>
Brief descriptions of the different executables and how to run them.
<dt><a name="faq.pod"
><em>faq.pod</em></a></dt>
The Parrot FAQ.
<dt><a name="glossary.pod"
><em>glossary.pod</em></a></dt>
A guide to some of the jargon that crops up repeatedly in Parrot development (and in the documentation...)</dl>
<p>More detailed information on the design and implementation of Parrot can be found in:</p>
<dl>
<dt><a name="pdds/"
><em>pdds/</em></a></dt>
This subdirectory contains all of the current Parrot Design Documents (PDDs).
These are intended to be detailed guides to the design of the various Parrot subsystems; for instance,
<em>pdd03_calling_conventions.pod</em> specifies Parrot's inter-routine calling conventions.
<dt><a name="ops/"
><em>ops/</em></a></dt>
This subdirectory contains documentation files that are created from the corresponding opcode files at build time.
These files describe what each opcode does and specify what arguments they take.
<dt><a name="pmc/"
><em>pmc/</em></a></dt>
This subdirectory contains documentation on several of the PMC types available to Parrot.
Currently only a few of the available PMCs have been documented.
(Patches welcome!)
<dt><a name="dev/"
><em>dev/</em></a></dt>
This subdirectory contains a number of files discussing various implementation decisions made during the course of the development of Parrot.
The intent is to keep discussion of implementation-specific issues separate from the basic design issues discussed in the PDDs.
<dt><a name="vtables.pod"
><em>vtables.pod</em></a></dt>
A brief introduction to the vtable at the heart of all PMCs,
and how to implement your own PMC type.
<dt><a name="embed.pod"
><em>embed.pod</em></a></dt>
Describes the embedding subsystem in excruciating detail.
<dt><a name="memory_internals.pod"
><em>memory_internals.pod</em></a></dt>
An introduction to the Parrot GC subsystem
<dt><a name="parrotbyte.pod"
><em>parrotbyte.pod</em></a></dt>
The Parrot bytecode format.
<dt><a name="packfile-perl.pod,_packfile-c.pod"
><em>packfile-perl.pod</em>,
<em>packfile-c.pod</em></a></dt>
The APIs for accessing packed bytecode files (packfiles) from Perl and C.
<dt><a name="strings.pod"
><em>strings.pod</em></a></dt>
A description of the string implementation.
<dt><a name="tests.pod"
><em>tests.pod</em></a></dt>
Hints on writing tests for the Parrot interpreter.
<dt><a name="debug.pod"
><em>debug.pod</em></a></dt>
A beginner's guide to debugging the Parrot executable.
<dt><a name="debugger.pod"
><em>debugger.pod</em></a></dt>
Documentation for <code>parrot_debugger</code>,
the Parrot debugger.</dl>
<h2><a name="Supported_Platforms"
>Supported Platforms</a></h2>
<p>Parrot compiles and runs on a large number of platforms,
including all common ones.
The Parrot team is committed to supporting the following combinations as "core platforms": Linux (x86),
Win32 (x86),
OS X (x86 and PPC),
Cygwin,
FreeBSD (x86),
NetBSD,
OpenBSD,
Solaris.
Here x86 includes the x86_64 architecture.
x86 describes that Parrot is supported to run on a 32-bit and 64-bit (AMD64 and Intel 64) CPU.</p>
<h2><a name="Authors"
>Authors</a></h2>
<p>Parrot is developed and maintained by the members of the <code>parrot-dev@lists.parrot.org</code> mailing list.
The list is archived at: <a href='http://groups.google.com/group/parrot-dev/'><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/parrot-dev/">http://groups.google.com/group/parrot-dev/</a></a> Many people have contributed their time and expertise to the Parrot project; see the <em>CREDITS</em> file for details.</p>
<h2><a name="Web_pages"
>Web pages</a></h2>
<p>See:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href='http://www.parrot.org/'><a href="http://www.parrot.org/">http://www.parrot.org/</a></a></li>
<li><a href='https://trac.parrot.org/'>https://trac.parrot.org/</a></li>
<li><a href='http://github.com/parrot/parrot'><a href="http://github.com/parrot/parrot">http://github.com/parrot/parrot</a></a></li>
</ul>
<p>for more information.</p>
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