compilex

This package is DEPRECATED. Please read the deprecation notice.

compilex is a node.js library which is used to build online code compiler/interpreter websites and webservices.

You can compile and respond back outputs for all the languages that can be compiled by the server.

Some of the online code compiling/judging websites are

• codepad
• ideone
• HackerRank
• CodeChef

compilex is an experimental package , however , if you want to build your site quickly , you can prefer to use the API of the above said services. Node.js Wrapper modules for those API are available. You can try HackerRank SDK and HackerEarth SDK.

Typical scenarios in which you have to go with wrapper modules instead of compilex are

• If you don't want to have the pain of configuring compilers on your server.
• If you don't have the access to the VM on which your site is hosted
• If you feel tired of configuring compilex over SSH.

Deprecation Notice

compilex is not under active development. It started as an experiment and served its purpose well. But over the time, new technologies like docker emerged. The existence of such technology and nature of node.js prove that compilex would not scale well and be production ready with its current state.

Before a production ready rewrite of architecture and code, I considered looking at already existing solutions, which seem to be powerful enough to make me not to rewrite compilex. Here are they,

APIs

There are serveral battle tested APIs, that can help compile code online without the hassle of configuration and infrastructure. Some of them are

• Hackerrank API
• Hackerearth API
• and many more.

Container Based Solution

Docker containers prove to be best fit for running code in an isolated environment ensuring security. Instead of rolling out compilex on the server itself, it would be more sensible to run compilex inside a docker container. For that to happen, we will be needing to build docker images for each language and their versions.

Luckily, there is already a well managed and open source solution called glot.io. It seems to be one stop solution which includes web editor, docker based code runner, more language suppport and production ready. So, I highly recommend looking at glot.io, if the intention is to run a code compiling service on your own infrastructure.

Steps forward

• compilex won't be unpublished from npm. This is to ensure that, projects using compilex is not affected.
• No PRs will be merged, except bug fixes. compilex will never reach 1.x.x version ( how sad :( ). This is to enforce people to use alternate solutions ( right solutions ) mentioned above.

"I thank people for their responses and support over mail, gitter, quora etc." - scriptnull

Supported Languages

compilex is currently in initial development stage . As the library grows , so does the list here .

Work Flow

1. Get the program as input from the client as a request
   
2. Use compilex modules to compile the program
   
3. Get the output and errors in json and string formats
   
4. Respond the output to the client
   

Setting Up Compilers

Inorder to compile any programming language , you need to first have the compiler for that programming language in the server machine.

C and C++

1. Installation :You need GCC compiler that can compile programs from your cmd/terminal
   • Windows - You can get MinGw .
   • Linux - Most of the linux versions are installed with gcc by default. If you haven't got , Take a look at Installing GCC .
2. Testing the Environment :After installing , set your environment variables for accessing the GCC command lines from any directory
   • Windows - create a c file in a directory , execute
     g++ filename.c -o output.exe
     output.exe
     then you will get the output of the program
   • Linux - create a c file in a directory , execute
     gcc filename.c -o output.out
     ./output.out
     then you will get the output of the program

Java

1. Installion : You need JDK ( Java Development Kit ) to compile Java programs.Click here to download JDK for various platforms.
2. Testing the Environment :After installing , set your environment variables for accessing the javac command lines from any directory
   • Create a Java file named Main.java with main function
     javac Main.java
     java Main
     then you will get the output of the program.

Python

1. Installation : You can get and install Python from here
2. Testing the Environment :After installing , set your environment variables for accessing python command lines from any directory
   • Create a python file hello.py and execute
     python hello.py
     then you will get the output of the program.

C# and VB

1. Installation : You can have the idea of accessing C# compiler from here . This step also adds VB compiler to the scope automatically as csc and vbc are located in the same directory
2. Testing the Environment :After installing , set your environment variables for accessing C# and VB command lines from any directory
   • Create a C# or VB file Hello.cs or Hello.vb and execute
     csc Hello.cs
     Hello.exe
     or
     vbc Hello.vb
     Hello.exe
     then you will get the output of the program.

Documentation

1)Require compilex

var compiler = require('compilex');
var options = {stats : true}; //prints stats on console 
compiler.init(options);

init() creates a folder named temp in your project directory which is used for storage purpose. Before using other methods , make sure to call init() method.

2)C and C++

    //if windows  
    var envData = { OS : "windows" , cmd : "g++"}; // (uses g++ command to compile )
    //else
    var envData = { OS : "linux" , cmd : "gcc" }; // ( uses gcc command to compile )
    compiler.compileCPP(envData , code , function (data) {
        res.send(data);
        //data.error = error message 
        //data.output = output value
    });
    
    //res is the response object

3)C and C++ with inputs

    //if windows  
    var envData = { OS : "windows" , cmd : "g++"}; // (uses g++ command to compile )
    //else
    var envData = { OS : "linux" , cmd : "gcc" }; // ( uses gcc command to compile )
    compiler.compileCPPWithInput(envData , code , input , function (data) {
        res.send(data);
    });

4)Java

    //if windows  
    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    //else
    var envData = { OS : "linux" }; // (Support for Linux in Next version)
    compiler.compileJava( envData , code , function(data){
        res.send(data);
    });    

5)Java with inputs

    //if windows  
    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    //else
    var envData = { OS : "linux" }; // (Support for Linux in Next version)
    compiler.compileJavaWithInput( envData , code , input ,  function(data){
        res.send(data);
    });

6)Python

    //if windows  
    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    //else
    var envData = { OS : "linux" }; 
    compiler.compilePython( envData , code , function(data){
        res.send(data);
    });    

7)Python with inputs

    //if windows  
    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    //else
    var envData = { OS : "linux" }; 
    compiler.compilePythonWithInput( envData , code , input ,  function(data){
        res.send(data);        
    });

8)C#

    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    //mono modules for linux is not included till now
    compiler.compileCS( envData , code , function(data){
        res.send(data);
    });    

9)C# with inputs

 
    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    //mono modules for linux is not included till now
    compiler.compileCSWithInput( envData , code , input ,  function(data){
        res.send(data);        
    });

10)Visual Basic

    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    compiler.compileVB( envData , code , function(data){
        res.send(data);
    });    

11)Visual Basic with inputs

 
    var envData = { OS : "windows"}; 
    compiler.compileVBWithInput( envData , code , input ,  function(data){
        res.send(data);        
    });

12)Memory Management

All the temporary files ( source code and executables ) are created in your temp directory. flush and flushSync helps you to free the memory by deleting the temporary files.

    compiler.flush(function(){
    console.log('All temporary files flushed !'); 
    });

Synchronous version of flush

    compiler.flushSync();

13)Statistical Data

Getting statistics about your compilex server has been taken care. fullStat returns json data about your server.

    compiler.fullStat(function(data){
        res.send(data);
    });

1)options : (windows only c/c++ only)

timeout: number of milliseconds to wait before killing the compiled program

    //compile and execute the file and kill it after 1 second if it still running
    var envData = { OS : "linux" , cmd : "gcc" ,options: {timeout:1000 } };
    compiler.compileCPP(envData , code , function (data) {
        res.send(data);
        //data.error = error message 
        //data.output = output value
    });

Examples

You can find examples here.The examples are downloaded everytime you download compilex via npm. you can begin with editing CSS and publish your site in minutes. Here is the screenshot of the demo.

License

All the contents in this repository are released under the MIT License .