Added -serial-ir command line option (#664)

* Added -serial-ir option, to make generateIR always serialize in and out before further processing. Testing out serialization, and adding a kind of 'firewall' between compiler front end and backend.

* Reduce peak memory usage, by discarding IR when stored in serialized form.
Typo fix.

1 files changed, 5 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/source/slang/compiler.h b/source/slang/compiler.h
index bf71dd217..a83d8b334 100644
--- a/source/slang/compiler.h
+++ b/source/slang/compiler.h
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ namespace Slang
         List<RefPtr<TranslationUnitRequest> > translationUnits;
 
         // Entry points we've been asked to compile (each
-        // assocaited with a translation unit).
+        // associated with a translation unit).
         List<RefPtr<EntryPointRequest> > entryPoints;
 
         // Types constructed by reflection API
@@ -342,6 +342,10 @@ namespace Slang
         bool shouldValidateIR = false;
         bool shouldSkipCodegen = false;
 
+        // If true then generateIR will serialize out IR, and serialize back in again. Making 
+        // serialization a bottleneck or firewall between the front end and the backend
+        bool useSerialIRBottleneck = false; 
+
         // How should `#line` directives be emitted (if at all)?
         LineDirectiveMode lineDirectiveMode = LineDirectiveMode::Default;