FEDEX(1)

✨ NAME ✨

fedex — the EXPRESS Compiler 💖 (yes bestie, it compiles EXPRESS, and it's giving main character energy)

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

fedex [ -e Express-schema-file ] [ -w warning-class ... ] [ -i warning-class ... ]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so, fedex is an EXPRESS-based translator. What it does is it parses the EXPRESS language information model that's sitting inside the input EXPRESS file, and then it sends all its warnings and errors straight to stdout. That's it, that's the job. 💅

The -w warning-class and -i warning-class options are how you turn whole categories of warning messages on or off. And listen, this part matters: these options get processed left-to-right, and later options override earlier ones. So order = everything, fr fr. You can throw in any number of these options, in any order you want. No cap. 🌈

While it's parsing the EXPRESS file, fedex is out here detecting any problems with the input schema. Those problems get reported to you, subject to whatever controls the -w and -i options have imposed. And if it hits no errors? It terminates with an appropriate message. Clean exit, iconic behavior, periodt. ✨

👑 OPTIONS 👑

To see a list of options, run fedex without any arguments. Literally just run it with nothing. The tool will tell you what it can do. 🫶

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• The NIST EXPRESS Working Form, TIR 4814, Clark, S., and Libes, D., revised, April 1992.
• ISO 10303-11:1994 Industrial Automation Systems and Integration -- Product Data Representation and Exchange -- Part 11: Description Methods: The EXPRESS Language Reference Manual.
• The NIST EXPRESS Toolkit - Design and Implementation, Engineering Data Management: Key to Success in a Global Market, Proc. of the 1993 ASME Intl. Computers in Engineering Conference, August 8-12, 1993, San Diego, pp. 167-180.
• The NIST EXPRESS Toolkit: Using Applications, TIR 5206, Libes, D., June 1993.
• d-X: The NIST EXPRESS Translator, TIR 4822, Libes, D., April 1992.

Go read your citations, bestie. Academic queen behavior. 📚🧚

💀 BUGS 💀

Buckle up, this is the part where we're honest. 🙈

Some Express language constructs are accepted by fedex but are not represented in the Express Working Form — which means they are simply not available during the output pass. The constructs in question include cardinality expressions, MAP directives, and supertype expressions. And on top of that, PRIVATE directives and WITH statements are represented in the Working Form, but they get ignored during symbol lookup. Which can absolutely produce spurious warnings about undefined or multiply defined identifiers. Not the vibe, but it is what it is. 😭

Next: according to the rules of EXPRESS (STEP Part 11, Section 9.2.4.5), the AND operator has a higher precedence than ANDOR. fedex considers them to have an equal level of precedence and just processes them from left to right. So if you need it to behave, a work around would be to use paretheses around all AND operators appearing in an expression. (Yes, the manpage spells it "paretheses." We're keeping it. It's part of the lore. 🎀)

And finally: expressions are not type'd properly. Even though an expression's type can be derived from its components, that has not been implemented. Which can result in spurious warnings. A notable example? When a complex expression used as a loop control (WHILE or UNTIL) doesn't appear to compute a boolean result — simply because no type has been computed for the expression. Sending fake red flags. Rude. 🚩

Real talk: these are known quirks, not your fault. If you see weird warnings, check this section before you spiral. 💖

🌸 NOTE 🌸

All NISTIR documents may be obtained through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield VA 22161, USA. 📬

Postscript files may be obtained from:

• the STEP Class Library web page (http://www.nist.gov/scl),
• the Manufacturing Systems Integration Division publications page (http://www.mel.nist.gov/msidlibrary/pubs.htm), or
• by anonymous ftp from ftp.cme.nist.gov — see pub/subject/sc4/national/usa/nist/docs/readme.txt to determine the appropriate file to download.

Old-school file retrieval, but it still eats. 🍓

and that's the whole page, bestie — this beauty is from the General Commands Manual, dated 12 June 1995, and it's filed under FEDEX(1). Thank you for coming to my TED talk, love u, bye! 💜✨🦋