write generated code to disk for easier inspection

now that the generated code is actually readable let's make it easier to access

this commit also documents how to inspect the generated code via
`rtfm-expansion.rs` and `cargo-expand`

1 files changed, 64 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/book/en/src/by-example/tips.md b/book/en/src/by-example/tips.md
index 79b9d71..4936bd2 100644
--- a/book/en/src/by-example/tips.md
+++ b/book/en/src/by-example/tips.md
@@ -113,3 +113,67 @@ Here's an example where `heapless::Pool` is used to "box" buffers of 128 bytes.
 ``` console
 $ cargo run --example binds
 {{#include ../../../../ci/expected/pool.run}}```
+
+## Inspecting the expanded code
+
+`#[rtfm::app]` is a procedural macro that produces support code. If for some
+reason you need to inspect the code generated by this macro you have two
+options:
+
+You can inspect the file `rtfm-expansion.rs` inside the `target` directory. This
+file contains the expansion of the `#[rtfm::app]` item (not your whole program!)
+of the *last built* (via `cargo build` or `cargo check`) RTFM application. The
+expanded code is not pretty printed by default so you'll want to run `rustfmt`
+over it before you read it.
+
+``` console
+$ cargo build --example foo
+
+$ rustfmt target/rtfm-expansion.rs
+
+$ tail -n30 target/rtfm-expansion.rs
+```
+
+``` rust
+#[doc = r" Implementation details"]
+const APP: () = {
+    use lm3s6965 as _;
+    #[no_mangle]
+    unsafe fn main() -> ! {
+        rtfm::export::interrupt::disable();
+        let mut core = rtfm::export::Peripherals::steal();
+        let late = init(
+            init::Locals::new(),
+            init::Context::new(rtfm::Peripherals {
+                CBP: core.CBP,
+                CPUID: core.CPUID,
+                DCB: core.DCB,
+                DWT: core.DWT,
+                FPB: core.FPB,
+                FPU: core.FPU,
+                ITM: core.ITM,
+                MPU: core.MPU,
+                SCB: &mut core.SCB,
+                SYST: core.SYST,
+                TPIU: core.TPIU,
+            }),
+        );
+        core.SCB.scr.modify(|r| r | 1 << 1);
+        rtfm::export::interrupt::enable();
+        loop {
+            rtfm::export::wfi()
+        }
+    }
+};
+```
+
+Or, you can use the [`cargo-expand`] subcommand. This subcommand will expand
+*all* the macros, including the `#[rtfm::app]` attribute, and modules in your
+crate and print the output to the console.
+
+[`cargo-expand`]: https://crates.io/crates/cargo-expand
+
+``` console
+$ # produces the same output as before
+$ cargo expand --example smallest | tail -n30
+```