Ubuntu Manpage: grammar::me::cpu::gasm

NAME

       grammar::me::cpu::gasm - ME assembler

SYNOPSIS

       package require grammar::me::cpu::gasm  ?0.1?

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::begin g n ?mode? ?note?

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::done --> t

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::state

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::state! s

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::lift t dst = src

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Inline t node label

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Cmd cmd ?arg...?

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Bra

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Nop text

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Note text

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Jmp label

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Exit

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Who label

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Label name

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Clear

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Ok

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Fail

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/At name

       ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/CloseLoop

_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       This  package  provides  a simple in-memory assembler. Its origin is that of a support package for use by
       packages converting PEG and other grammars into a corresponding matcher based on the ME virtual  machine,
       like  page::compiler::peg::mecpu. Despite that it is actually mostly agnostic regarding the instructions,
       users can choose any instruction set they like.

       The program under construction is held in a graph structure (See package struct::graph)  during  assembly
       and  subsequent  manipulation,  with instructions represented by nodes, and the flow of execution between
       instructions explicitly encoded in the arcs between them.

       In this model jumps are not encoded explicitly, they are implicit in the arcs. The generation of explicit
       jumps  is  left  to  any code converting the graph structure into a more conventional representation. The
       same goes for branches. They are implicitly encoded by all instructions which  have  two  outgoing  arcs,
       whereas  all  other  instructions  have  only one outgoing arc. Their conditonality is handled by tagging
       their outgoing arcs with information about the conditions under which they are taken.

       While the graph the assembler operates on is supplied from the outside, i.e.  external,  it  does  manage
       some internal state, namely:

       [1]    The handle of the graph node most assembler operations will work on, the anchor.

       [2]    A  mapping  from  arbitrary  strings  to instructions. I.e. it is possible to label an instruction
              during assembly, and later recall that instruction by its label.

       [3]    The condition code to use when creating arcs between instructions, which is one of always, ok, and
              fail.

       [4]    The current operation mode, one of halt, okfail, and !okfail.

       [5]    The  name  of  a  node  in  a  tree. This, and the operation mode above are the parts most heavily
              influenced by the needs of a grammar compiler,  as  they  assume  some  basic  program  structures
              (selected  through the operation mode), and intertwine the graph with a tree, like the AST for the
              grammar to be compiled.

DEFINITIONS

As the graph the assembler is operating on, and the tree it is intertwined with, are supplied to the
assembler from the outside it is necessary to specify the API expected from them, and to describe the
structures expected and/or generated by the assembler in either.

[1] Any graph object command used by the assembler has to provide the API as specified in the
documentation for the package struct::graph.

[2] Any tree object command used by the assembler has to provide the API as specified in the
documentation for the package struct::tree.

[3] Any instruction (node) generated by the assembler in a graph will have at least two, and at most
three attributes:

instruction
The value of this attribute is the name of the instruction. The only names currently
defined by the assembler are the three pseudo-instructions

NOP This instruction does nothing. Useful for fixed framework nodes, unchanging jump
destinations, and the like. No arguments.

C A .NOP to allow the insertion of arbitrary comments into the instruction stream,
i.e. a comment node. One argument, the text of the comment.

BRA A .NOP serving as explicitly coded conditional branch. No arguments.

However we reserve the space of all instructions whose names begin with a "." (dot) for
future use by the assembler.

arguments
The value of this attribute is a list of strings, the arguments of the instruction. The
contents are dependent on the actual instruction and the assembler doesn't know or care
about them. This means for example that it has no builtin knowledge about what instruction
need which arguments and thus doesn't perform any type of checking.

expr This attribute is optional. When it is present its value is the name of a node in the tree
intertwined with the graph.

[4] Any arc between two instructions will have one attribute:

condition
The value of this attribute determines under which condition execution will take this arc.
It is one of always, ok, and fail. The first condition is used for all arcs which are the
single outgoing arc of an instruction. The other two are used for the two outgoing arcs of
an instruction which implicitly encode a branch.

[5] A tree node given to the assembler for cross-referencing will be written to and given the
following attributes, some fixed, some dependent on the operation mode. All values will be
references to nodes in the instruction graph. Some of the instruction will expect some or specific
sets of these attributes.

gas::entry
Always written.

gas::exit
Written for all modes but okfail.

gas::exit::ok
Written for mode okfail.

gas::exit::fail
Written for mode okfail.

API

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::begin g n ?mode? ?note?
This command starts the assembly of an instruction sequence, and (re)initializes the state of the
assembler. After completion of the instruction sequence use ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::done to
finalize the assembler.

It will operate on the graph g in the specified mode (Default is okfail). As part of the
initialization it will always create a standard .NOP instruction and label it "entry". The
creation of the remaining standard instructions is mode-dependent:

halt An "icf_halt" instruction labeled "exit/return".

!okfail
An "icf_ntreturn" instruction labeled "exit/return".

okfail Two .NOP instructions labeled "exit/ok" and "exit/fail" respectively.

The note, if specified (default is not), is given to the "entry" .NOP instruction.

The node reference n is simply stored for use by ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::done. It has to refer
to a node in the tree t argument of that command.

After the initialization is done the "entry" instruction will be the anchor, and the condition
code will be set to always.

The command returns the empy string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::done --> t
This command finalizes the creation of an instruction sequence and then clears the state of the
assembler. NOTE that this does not delete any of the created instructions. They can be made
available to future begin/done cycles. Further assembly will be possible only after
reinitialization of the system via ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::begin.

Before the state is cleared selected references to selected instructions will be written to
attributes of the node n in the tree t. Which instructions are saved is mode-dependent. Both mode
and the destination node n were specified during invokation of ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::begin.

Independent of the mode a reference to the instruction labeled "entry" will be saved to the
attribute gas::entry of n. The reference to the node n will further be saved into the attribute
"expr" of the "entry" instruction. Beyond that

halt A reference to the instruction labeled "exit/return" will be saved to the attribute
gas::exit of n.

okfail See halt.

!okfail
Reference to the two instructions labeled "exit/ok" and "exit/fail" will be saved to the
attributes gas::exit::ok and gas::exit::fail of n respectively.

The command returns the empy string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::state
This command returns the current state of the assembler. Its format is not documented and
considered to be internal to the package.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::state! s
This command takes a serialized assembler state s as returned by ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::state
and makes it the current state of the assembler.

Note that this may overwrite label definitions, however all non-conflicting label definitions in
the state before are not touched and merged with s.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::lift t dst = src
This command operates on the tree t. It copies the contents of the attributes gas::entry,
gas::exit::ok and gas::exit::fail from the node src to the node dst. It returns the empty string
as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Inline t node label
This command links an instruction sequence created by an earlier begin/done pair into the current
instruction sequence.

To this end it

[1] reads the instruction references from the attributes gas::entry, gas::exit::ok, and
gas::exit::fail from the node n of the tree t and makes them available to assembler und the
labels label/entry, label/exit::ok, and label/exit::fail respectively.

[2] Creates an arc from the anchor to the node labeled label/entry, and tags it with the
current condition code.

[3] Makes the node labeled label/exit/ok the new anchor.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Cmd cmd ?arg...?
This is the basic command to add instructions to the graph. It creates a new instruction of type
cmd with the given arguments arg... If the anchor was defined it will also create an arc from the
anchor to the new instruction using the current condition code. After the call the new
instruction will be the anchor and the current condition code will be set to always.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Bra
This is a convenience command to create a .BRA pseudo-instruction. It uses
::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Cmd to actually create the instruction and inherits its behaviour.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Nop text
This is a convenience command to create a .NOP pseudo-instruction. It uses
::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Cmd to actually create the instruction and inherits its behaviour. The
text will be saved as the first and only argument of the new instruction.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Note text
This is a convenience command to create a .C pseudo-instruction, i.e. a comment. It uses
::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Cmd to actually create the instruction and inherits its behaviour. The
text will be saved as the first and only argument of the new instruction.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Jmp label
This command creates an arc from the anchor to the instruction labeled with label, and tags with
the the current condition code.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Exit
This command creates an arc from the anchor to one of the exit instructions, based on the
operation mode (see ::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::begin), and tags it with current condition code.

For mode okfail it links to the instruction labeled either "exit/ok" or "exit/fail", depending on
the current condition code, and tagging it with the current condition code For the other two modes
it links to the instruction labeled "exit/return", tagging it condition code always, independent
the current condition code.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::Who label
This command returns a reference to the instruction labeled with label.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Label name
This command labels the anchor with name. Note that an instruction can have more than one label.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Clear
This command clears the anchor, leaving it undefined, and further resets the current condition
code to always.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Ok
This command sets the current condition code to ok.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/Fail
This command sets the current condition code to fail.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/At name
This command sets the anchor to the instruction labeled with name, and further resets the current
condition code to always.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

::grammar::me::cpu::gasm::/CloseLoop
This command marks the anchor as the last instruction in a loop body, by creating the attribute
LOOP.

The command returns the empty string as its result.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This  document,  and  the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems.  Please
       report     such     in     the     category     grammar_me     of     the     Tcllib     SF      Trackers
       [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].   Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may
       have for either package and/or documentation.

KEYWORDS

       assembler, grammar, graph, parsing, tree, virtual machine

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2005 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

DEFINITIONS

API

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

KEYWORDS

CATEGORY

COPYRIGHT