frustration/frustration.rs

2549 lines
89 KiB
Rust

//@ Project URL: https://gitlab.cs.washington.edu/fidelp/frustration
//@
//@ Frustration - Escaping a Turing Tar Pit with Forth
//@
//@ # What is this file?
//@
//@ This is a tutorial that will show you how to bootstrap an interactive
//@ programming environment from a small amount of code.
//@
//@ First we will design a virtual computer.
//@
//@ Then we will design software to run on that computer, to enable REPL-style
//@ interactive programming.
//@
//@ A REPL is a
//@ "[Read, Evaluate, Print loop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repl)".
//@ A REPL lets you type code at
//@ the keyboard and immediately get a result back. You can also define
//@ functions, including functions that change how the environment works in
//@ fundamental ways.
//@
//@ # What is Forth?
//@
//@ Forth is the programming language we will use with our computer.
//@
//@ Forth was invented by Chuck Moore in the 1960s as a tool for quickly
//@ coming to grips with new computer systems.
//@
//@ > "Let us imagine a situation in which you have access to
//@ > your computer. I mean sole user sitting at the board with
//@ > all the lights, for some hours at a time. This is
//@ > admittedly an atypical situation, but one that can
//@ > always be arranged if you are competent, press hard, and
//@ > will work odd hours. Can you and the computer write a
//@ > program? Can you write a program that didn't descend from
//@ > a pre-existing program? You can learn a bit and have a
//@ > lot of fun trying."
//@ >
//@ > -- Chuck Moore,
//@ > ["Programming a Problem-Oriented Language"](https://colorforth.github.io/POL.htm),
//@ > 1970
//@
//@ As you will see, it does not take much work to get Forth running on a
//@ new machine, including a machine with a completely unfamiliar instruction
//@ set.
//@
//@ But before we can do any of that we will need a machine. Let's make one.
//@
//@ # Table of Contents
//@ - Part 1 - The Computer
//@ - 1.0 - Designing the CPU
//@ - Defining a stack
//@ - Designing a stack CPU
//@ - 1.1 - The instruction set
//@ - Memory access
//@ - Designing the instruction set
//@ - The CALL instruction
//@ - Data processing instructions
//@ - The LITERAL instruction
//@ - Making the CPU run
//@ - Return-stack instructions
//@ - Memory instructions
//@ - Stack shuffling instructions
//@ - Conditional skip instruction
//@ - Arithmetic and logic
//@ - Input/output
//@ - Part 2 - The Program
//@ - Designing the Forth dictionary
//@ - Tools for building the Forth dictionary
//@ - Building the Forth dictionary
//@ - Subroutine threading
//@ - key
//@ - emit
//@ - subtraction
//@ - 0= (compare-to-zero)
//@ - = (equals)
//@ - 2.1 - The lexer
//@ - Skipping whitespace
//@ - Reading characters into a buffer
//@ - over
//@ - 2dup
//@ - The input buffer
//@ - min
//@ - c@ and c! (byte-by-byte memory access)
//@ - Filling the input buffer
//@ - word
//@ - 2.2 - Dictionary lookup
//@ - latest
//@ - find
//@ - ' (quote)
//@ - 2.3 - The outer interpreter
//@ - here
//@ - Achieving interactivity
//@ - immediate
//@ - [ and ]
//@ - smudge and unsmudge
//@ - , (comma)
//@ - number
//@ - literal
//@ - 2.4 - Defining subroutines
//@ - create
//@ - : (define word)
//@ - ; (end of definition)
//@ - Miscellanea
//@ - Part 3 - Using the interactive programming environment
//@
//@ # Part 1 - The Computer
//@
//@ ## 1.0 - Designing the CPU
//@
//@ This computer will have a 16-bit CPU. It will be able to access
//@ 2^16 (65536) memory locations, numbered 0 to 65535.
//@ Each of these locations, 0 to 65535, is called a "memory address".
const ADDRESS_SPACE: usize = 65536;
//@ The job of a CPU is to load numbers from memory, do math or logic on them,
//@ then write the resulting number back into memory.
//@
//@ The CPU needs a temporary place to hold numbers while it is working with
//@ them.
//@
//@ In most CPUs, this place is called a "register". Registers work like
//@ variables in a programming language but there are only a few of them
//@ (most CPUs have between 1 and 32).
//@
//@ - On 64-bit ARM the registers are named r0, r1, ..., r15.
//@ - On 64-bit Intel they are instead named rax, rbx, ....
//@
//@ Just in case those names ring any bells.
//@
//@ Having immediate access to dozens of registers is quite handy, but it means
//@ many choices are available to the programmer, or more likely, to the
//@ compiler. And making good choices is Hard. A lot of work goes into
//@ deciding what variable to store in what register
//@ ("[register allocation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_allocation)")
//@ and when to dump register contents back into memory ("spilling").
//@
//@ Our CPU avoids these problems by not having registers; instead we store
//@ numbers in a stack.
//@
//@ - Putting a number onto the top of the stack is called "push".
//@ - Taking the most recent number off the top of the stack is called "pop".
//@
//@ The CPU can only access the value that was most recently pushed onto the
//@ stack. This may seem like a big limitation right now but you will see ways
//@ of dealing with it.
//@
//@ The choice to use a stack instead of registers makes our CPU a
//@ "[stack machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_machine)"
//@ as opposed to a "register machine".
//@
//@ ### Defining a stack
//@
//@ This stack is fixed-size and can hold N values.
#[derive(Debug)]
struct Stack<const N: usize> {
mem: [u16; N],
tos: usize /* top-of-stack */
}
//@ First we'll need a function to add a number to the stack.
//@
//@ When a fixed-size stack fills up, there is a failure case
//@ (stack overflow) that must be handled somehow.
//@
//@ This particular stack is a circular stack, meaning that if
//@ it ever fills up, it will discard the oldest entry instead of
//@ signaling an error. The lack of error handling makes the CPU
//@ simpler.
impl<const N: usize> Stack<N> {
fn push(&mut self, val: u16) {
self.tos = (self.tos.wrapping_add(1)) & (N - 1);
self.mem[self.tos] = val;
}
//@ We'll also need a function to remove & return the most recently pushed
//@ number.
fn pop(&mut self) -> u16 {
let val = self.mem[self.tos];
self.mem[self.tos] = 0;
//@ You don't have to set the value back to zero. I am only doing
//@ this because it makes makes the stack look nicer when dumped
//@ out with print!().
self.tos = (self.tos.wrapping_sub(1)) & (N - 1);
return val;
}
//@ Finally, here is a function that creates a new stack.
//@ Because these are circular stacks it doesn't matter where top-of-stack
//@ (tos) starts off pointing. I arbitrarily set it to the highest index so
//@ the first value pushed will wind up at index 0, again because this
//@ makes the stack look nicer when printed out.
fn new() -> Stack<N> {
return Stack {tos: N-1, mem: [0; N]};
}
}
//@ ### Designing a stack CPU
//@
//@ Now that we have a stack let's use one in our CPU! Or two?
//@
//@ Why two stacks?
//@
//@ The first stack is called the "data stack" and is used instead of
//@ registers, as already described.
//@
//@ The second stack will be called the "return stack". This one holds
//@ subroutine return addresses. Don't worry if you don't know what that
//@ means; we'll get to it later when we talk about the instruction set.
//@
//@ In addition to stacks we are going to give the CPU a couple more things:
//@
//@ 1. An "instruction pointer", which holds the memory address of the next
//@ instruction that the CPU will execute.
//@
//@ 2. To make life simpler we put main memory straight on "the CPU" even
//@ though in a real computer, RAM would be off-chip and accessed through a
//@ data bus.
//@
//@ In our memory, each of the 65536 possible memory addresses will store one
//@ 8-bit byte (u8 data type in Rust). This makes it a 65536 byte (64 KB)
//@ memory. We could have chosen to make each memory address store 16-bits
//@ instead. That would make this a "word-addressed memory". Instead we are
//@ going with the
//@ "[byte-addressed memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_addressing)"
//@ that is more conventional in today's
//@ computers. This choice is arbitrary.
//@
//@ Let's add those things to the CPU.
struct Core {
ram: [u8; ADDRESS_SPACE],
ip: u16, /* instruction pointer */
dstack: Stack<16>, /* data stack */
rstack: Stack<32> /* return stack */
}
//@ Finally, let's write a function that creates and returns a CPU for us to use.
use std::convert::TryInto;
impl Core {
fn new() -> Core {
return Core {
ram: [0; ADDRESS_SPACE],
ip: 0,
dstack: Stack::new(),
rstack: Stack::new()}
}
//@ ## 1.1 - The instruction set
//@
//@ Now we have a CPU sitting there but it does nothing.
//@
//@ A working CPU would execute a list of instructions. An instruction is
//@ a number that is a command for the CPU. For example:
//@
//@ - 65522 might mean "add the top two values on the data stack".
//@ - 65524 might mean "invert the bits of the top value on the data stack".
//@
//@ The map of instruction-to-behavior comes from the CPU's
//@ "instruction set" i.e. the set of all possible instructions and their
//@ behaviors.
//@
//@ Normally you program a CPU by putting instructions into memory and then
//@ telling the CPU the memory address where it can find the first instruction.
//@
//@ The CPU will:
//@
//@ 1. Fetch the instruction (load it from memory)
//@ 2. Decode the instruction (look it up in the instruction set)
//@ 3. Execute that instruction (do the thing the instruction set said to do)
//@ 4. Move on to the next instruction and repeat.
//@
//@ So now we will make the CPU do those things.
//@ We'll start off by teaching it how to access memory, and then we will
//@ define the instruction set.
//@
//@ ### Memory access
//@
//@ Now let's write a function to read a number from the specified memory address.
fn load(&self, addr: u16) -> u16 {
//@ We immediately run into trouble because we are using byte-addressed
//@ memory as mentioned earlier.
//@
//@ Each memory location stores 8 bits (a byte)
//@
//@ Our CPU operates on 16 bit values and we want each memory operation
//@ to read/write 16 bits at a time for efficiency reasons.
//@
//@ What do we do?
//@
//@ This CPU chooses to do the following:
//@
//@ - Read the low byte of the 16-bit number from address a
//@ - Read the high byte of the 16-bit number from address a+1
//@
//@ ```
//@ 16 bit number in CPU: [00000000 00000001] = 1
//@ | |
//@ | memory address a = 1
//@ |
//@ memory address a+1 = 0
//@ ```
//@
//@ This is called
//@ "[little endian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness)"
//@ because the low byte comes first.
//@
//@ We could have just as easily done the opposite:
//@
//@ - Read the high byte of the 16-bit number from address a
//@ - Read the low byte of the 16-bit number from address a+1
//@
//@ ```
//@ 16 bit number in CPU: [00000000 00000001] = 1
//@ | |
//@ | memory address a+1 = 1
//@ |
//@ memory address a = 0
//@ ```
//@
//@ This is called "big endian" because the high byte comes first.
//@
//@ The "le" in the function call below stands for little-endian.
let a = addr as usize;
return u16::from_le_bytes(self.ram[a..=a+1].try_into().unwrap());
}
//@ Writing to memory is very similar, it just works in the opposite direction.
fn store(&mut self, addr: u16, val: u16) {
let a = addr as usize;
self.ram[a..=a+1].copy_from_slice(&val.to_le_bytes());
}
//@ With that taken care of, we can get around to defining the CPU's
//@ instruction set.
//@
//@ ### Designing the instruction set
//@
//@ Each instruction on this CPU will be the same size, 16 bits, for
//@ the following reasons:
//@
//@ 1. Instruction fetch always completes in 1 read. You never have to
//@ go back and fetch more bytes.
//@
//@ 2. If you put the first instruction at an even numbered address then
//@ you know all the rest of the instructions will also be at even
//@ numbered addresses. I will take advantage of this later.
//@
//@ 3. A variable length encoding would save space but 2 bytes per
//@ instruction is already pretty small so it doesn't matter very much.
//@
//@ Here are the instructions I picked.
//@
//@ #### The CALL instruction
//@
//@ ```
//@ CALL
//@ ------------------------------------------------------------+----
//@ | n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n | 0 |
//@ ------------------------------------------------------------+----
//@ ```
//@
//@ ##### What CALL does
//@
//@ - Push instruction pointer onto the return stack.
//@ - Set instruction pointer to address nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn0.
//@
//@ This lets you call a subroutine at any even numbered address
//@ from 0 to 65534.
//@
//@ ##### Why this is useful
//@
//@ Together with the return stack, CALL lets you call subroutines.
//@
//@ A subroutine is a list of instructions that does something
//@ useful and then returns control to the caller.
//@
//@ For example:
//@
//@ ```
//@ Address Instruction Meaning
//@ 100 -> 200 Call 200
//@ 102 -> ??? Add the top two values on the data stack.
//@ ...
//@ 200 -> ??? Push the value 3 onto the data stack
//@ 202 -> ??? Push the value 4 onto the data stack
//@ 204 -> ??? Return to caller
//@ ```
//@
//@ Don't worry about the other instructions I am using here. I will
//@ define them later.
//@
//@ I mostly want to point out the three instructions that I put
//@ at address 200 because they are a subroutine,
//@ a small self contained piece of code (6 bytes) that
//@ performs a specific task.
//@
//@ Do you think it's cool that you can count exactly how many bytes it
//@ took? I think it's cool.
//@
//@ Here is what happens when the CPU begins execution at address 100.
//@
//@ ```
//@ Address Data stack Return stack
//@ 100 [] [] <--- About to call subroutine...
//@ 200 [] [102]
//@ 202 [3] [102]
//@ 204 [3 4] [102] <--- About to return from subroutine...
//@ 102 [3 4] []
//@ 104 [7] []
//@ ```
//@
//@ The return stack is there to make sure that returning from a subroutine
//@ goes back to where it came from. We will talk more about the return
//@ stack later when we talk about the RET instruction.
//@
//@ ##### Limitations of CALL:
//@
//@ This CPU cannot call an instruction that starts at an odd address.
//@
//@ At first this seems like a limitation, but it really isn't.
//@ If you put the first instruction at an even numbered address then
//@ all the rest of the instructions will also be at even numbered
//@ addresses. So this works fine.
//@
//@ Of course if you intersperse instructions and data in memory...
//@
//@ ```
//@ _________
//@ ________ |_________| _____________
//@ |________| Data |_____________|
//@ Instructions More instructions
//@ ```
//@
//@ ...then you will have to be careful to make sure the second block
//@ of instructions also starts at an even numbered address.
//@ You might need to include an extra byte of data as
//@ "[padding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_structure_alignment#Data_structure_padding)".
//@
//@ #### Data processing instructions
//@ ```
//@ Data processing instructions
//@ --------------------------------------------+---------------+----
//@ | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | x x x x | 0 |
//@ --------------------------------------------+---------------+----
//@ ```
//@
//@ Sixteen of the even numbers are reserved for additional instructions
//@ that will be be described later.
//@
//@ The even numbers 1111111111100000 to 1111111111111110 (65504 to 65534)
//@ are reserved for these instructions. This means that CALL 65504 through
//@ CALL 65534 are not possible. Put another way, it is not possible to
//@ call a subroutine living in the top 32 bytes of memory. This is not a
//@ very severe limitation.
//@
//@ #### The LITERAL instruction
//@ ```
//@ LITERAL
//@ ------------------------------------------------------------+----
//@ | n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n | 1 |
//@ ------------------------------------------------------------+----
//@ ```
//@
//@ ##### What LITERAL does
//@
//@ - Place the value 0nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn on the data stack.
//@
//@ ##### Why this is useful:
//@
//@ Programs will often need to deal with constant numbers.
//@ For example, you might want to add 2 to a memory address (to move
//@ on to the next even-numbered address) or add 32 to a character code
//@ (to convert an uppercase letter to lowercase). These constants have
//@ to come from somewhere.
//@
//@ ##### Limitations of LITERAL:
//@
//@ To differentiate it from a call, this instruction is always an
//@ odd number. The trailing 1 is discarded before placing the number on
//@ the data stack. This missing bit means that only 2^15 values can be
//@ represented (0 to 32767). 32768 on up cannot be stored directly.
//@ You would need to do some follow-up math to get these numbers.
//@ The most direct way is to use the INV instruction, described later.
//@
//@ ### Making the CPU run
//@
//@ Now that the instruction set is generally described let's look at
//@ the code that implements it.
fn step(&mut self) {
/* 1. Fetch the instruction.
* Also advance ip to point at the next instruction for next time. */
let opcode = self.load(self.ip);
self.ip = self.ip.wrapping_add(2);
/* 2. Decode and execute the instruction */
if (opcode >= 0xffe0) && (opcode & 1 == 0) {
/* Data processing instruction */
PRIMITIVES[((opcode - 0xffe0) >> 1) as usize](self);
/* These instructions get looked up in a table. The bit
* math converts the instruction code into an index in the
* table as follows:
*
* 0xffe0 --> 0
* 0xffe2 --> 1
* ...
* 0xfffe --> 15
*
* The table will be described below, and these instructions
* explained.
*/
}
else if (opcode & 1) == 1 {
/* Literal */
self.dstack.push(opcode >> 1);
}
else {
/* Call */
self.rstack.push(self.ip);
self.ip = opcode;
}
}
}
//@ The CALL and LITERAL instructions are directly handled above.
//@
//@ The 16 data processing instructions are each assigned a number in the
//@ appropriate range that we carved out for them...
enum Op {
RET = 0xffe0, TOR = 0xffe2, RTO = 0xffe4, LD = 0xffe6,
ST = 0xffe8, DUP = 0xffea, SWP = 0xffec, DRP = 0xffee,
Q = 0xfff0, ADD = 0xfff2, SFT = 0xfff4, OR = 0xfff6,
AND = 0xfff8, INV = 0xfffa, GEQ = 0xfffc, IO = 0xfffe,
}
//@ ...which is then looked up in the table below. This table gives each
//@ instruction its unique behavior.
type Primitive = fn(&mut Core);
const PRIMITIVES: [Primitive; 16] = [
//@ #### Return-stack instructions
| x | {
/* RET - Return from subroutine */
x.ip = x.rstack.pop()
},
| x | {
/* TOR - Transfer number from data stack to return stack */
x.rstack.push(x.dstack.pop())
},
| x | {
/* RTO - Transfer number from return stack to data stack */
x.dstack.push(x.rstack.pop())
},
//@ #### Memory instructions
| x | {
/* LD - Load number from memory address specified on the data stack */
let a = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(x.load(a));
},
| x | {
/* ST - Store number to memory address specified on the data stack */
let a = x.dstack.pop();
let v = x.dstack.pop();
x.store(a, v);
},
//@ #### Stack shuffling instructions
//@
//@ Remember the problem of "register allocation" mentioned earlier,
//@ and how stack machines are supposed to avoid that problem? Well,
//@ nothing comes for free. Stack machines can only process the top
//@ value(s) on the stack. So sometimes you will have to do some work
//@ to "unbury" a crucial value and move it to the top of the stack.
//@ That's what these instructions are for.
//@
//@ Their use will become more obvious when we start programming the
//@ machine, soon.
| x | {
/* DUP - Duplicate the top number on the data stack */
let v = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(v);
x.dstack.push(v);
},
| x | {
/* SWP - Exchange the top two numbers on the data stack */
let v1 = x.dstack.pop();
let v2 = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(v1);
x.dstack.push(v2);
},
| x | {
/* DRP - Discard the top number on the data stack */
let _ = x.dstack.pop();
},
//@ #### Conditional skip instruction
//@
//@ We only have one of these: "Q". This is the only "decision-making"
//@ instruction that our CPU has. This means that all "if-then" logic,
//@ counted loops, etc. will be built using Q.
| x | {
/* Q - If the top number on the data stack is zero, skip the next
* instruction. */
let f = x.dstack.pop();
if f == 0 {
x.ip = x.ip.wrapping_add(2)
}
},
//@ Because all of our instructions are two bytes, adding two to the
//@ instruction pointer skips the next instruction.
//@
//@ #### Arithmetic and logic
| x | {
/* ADD - Sum the top two numbers on the data stack. */
let v1 = x.dstack.pop();
let v2 = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(v1.wrapping_add(v2));
},
| x | {
/* SFT - Bit shift number left or right by the specified amount.
* A positive shift amount will shift left, negative will shift right.
*/
let amt = x.dstack.pop();
let val = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(
if amt <= 0xf {
val << amt
} else if amt >= 0xfff0 {
val >> (0xffff - amt + 1)
} else {
0
}
);
},
| x | { // OR - Bitwise-or the top two numbers on the data stack.
let v1 = x.dstack.pop();
let v2 = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(v1 | v2);
},
| x | { // AND - Bitwise-and the top two numbers on the data stack.
let v1 = x.dstack.pop();
let v2 = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(v1 & v2);
},
| x | { // INV - Bitwise-invert the top number on the data stack.
let v1 = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(!v1);
},
//@ You can use the INV instruction to compensate for the LITERAL
//@ instruction's inability to encode constants 32768 to 65535,
//@ a.k.a. the
//@ [signed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two%27s_complement)
//@ negative numbers.
//@
//@ Use two instructions instead:
//@
//@ - LITERAL the complement of your desired constant
//@ - INV
//@
//@ For example,
//@
//@ - LITERAL(0) INV yields 65535 (signed -1)
//@ - LITERAL(1) INV yields 65534 (signed -2)
//@ - etc.
| x | { // GEQ - Unsigned-compare the top two items on the data stack.
let v2 = x.dstack.pop();
let v1 = x.dstack.pop();
x.dstack.push(if v1 >= v2 { 0xffff } else { 0 });
},
//@ #### Input/output
//@
//@ The CPU needs some way to communicate with the outside world.
//@
//@ Some machines use memory mapped IO where certain memory addresses are
//@ routed to hardware devices instead of main memory. This machine already
//@ has the full 64K of memory connected so no address space is readily
//@ available for hardware devices.
//@ Instead we define a separate input-output space of 65536 possible
//@ locations. Each of these possible locations is called an IO
//@ "[port](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IO_port)".
| x | { // IO - Write/read a number from/to input/output port.
let port = x.dstack.pop();
//@ For a real CPU you could hook up hardware such as a serial
//@ transmitter that sends data to a computer terminal, or just an
//@ output pin controller that is wired to a light bulb.
//@
//@ This is a fake software CPU so I am going to hook it up to
//@ [stdin and stdout](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_streams).
use std::io;
use std::io::Read;
use std::io::Write;
//@ I'm loosely following a pattern in which even ports are inputs
//@ and odd ports are outputs. But each port acts different.
//@ In a hardware CPU this would not be suitable but it is fine for
//@ a software emulation.
match port {
0 => {
/* Push a character from stdin onto the data stack */
let mut buf: [u8; 1] = [0];
let _ = io::stdin().read(&mut buf);
x.dstack.push(buf[0] as u16);
/* You are welcome to make your own computer that supports
* utf-8, but this one does not. */
}
1 => {
/* Pop a character from the data stack to stdout */
let val = x.dstack.pop();
print!("{}", ((val & 0xff) as u8) as char);
let _ = io::stdout().flush();
}
2 => {
/* Dump CPU status.
* Like the front panel with the blinking lights that Chuck
* talked about. */
println!("{:?} {:?}", x.ip, x.dstack);
let _ = io::stdout().flush();
}
_ => {}
}
}
//@ That's all the CPU instructions we'll need.
];
//@ # Part 2 - The Program
//@
//@ You now have an unfamiliar computer with no software. Can you and the
//@ computer write a program?
//@
//@ The first program is the hardest to write because you don't have any tools
//@ to help write it. The computer itself is going to be no help. Without any
//@ program it will sit there doing nothing.
//@
//@ What should the first program be?
//@ A natural choice would be a tool that helps you program more easily.
//@
//@ An interactive programming environment needs to let you do 2 things:
//@
//@ 1. Call subroutines by typing their name at the keyboard
//@ 2. Define new subroutines in terms of existing ones
//@
//@ Begin with step 1:
//@ Call subroutines by typing their name at the keyboard
//@
//@ This is where we will meet Forth.
//@
//@ Our interactive programming environment will be a small language in the
//@ Forth family. If you want to learn how to implement a full featured Forth,
//@ please read
//@ [Jonesforth](http://git.annexia.org/?p=jonesforth.git;a=blob;f=jonesforth.S),
//@ and Brad Rodriguez' series of articles
//@ "[Moving Forth](http://www.bradrodriguez.com/papers/index.html)".
//@ The small Forth I write below will probably help you understand
//@ those Forths a little better.
//@
//@ Forth organizes all the computer's memory as a "dictionary" of subroutines.
//@ The point of the dictionary is to give each subroutine a name so you
//@ can run a subroutine by typing its name. The computer will look up its
//@ address for you and call it.
//@
//@ ### Designing the Forth dictionary
//@
//@ The dictionary starts at a low address and grows towards high addresses.
//@ It is organized as a
//@ [linked list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_list), like this:
//@
//@ ```
//@ [Link field][Name][Code .......... ]
//@ ^
//@ |
//@ [Link field][Name][Code ...... ]
//@ ^
//@ |
//@ [Link field][Name][Code ............... ]
//@ ```
//@
//@ The reason it is a linked list is to allow each list entry to be a
//@ different length.
//@
//@ Each dictionary entry contains three things:
//@
//@ - "Link field": The address of the previous dictionary entry.
//@ For the first dictionary entry this field is 0.
//@
//@ - "Name": A few letters to name this dictionary entry.
//@ Later you will type this name at the keyboard to call up
//@ this dictionary entry.
//@
//@ - "Code": A subroutine to execute when you call up this dictionary
//@ entry. This is a list of CPU instructions. Note that one
//@ of the CPU instructions is "call". So you can have a subroutine
//@ that call other subroutines, or calls itself. This code should
//@ end with a return (RET) instruction. Here is an example subroutine:
//@
//@ ```
//@ Number Instruction Meaning
//@ ------ ----------- -------
//@ 7 Literal(3) Push the value 3 onto the data stack
//@ 9 Literal(4) Push the value 4 onto the data stack
//@ 65504 RET Return to caller
//@ ```
//@
//@ A linked list is not a very fast data structure but this doesn't really
//@ matter because dictionary lookup doesn't need to be fast. Lookups are
//@ for converting text you typed at the keyboard to subroutine addresses.
//@ You can't type very fast compared to a computer so this lookup doesn't
//@ need to be fast.
//@
//@ In addition to the linked list itself, you will need a couple of
//@ variables to keep track of where the dictionary is in memory:
//@
//@ - Dictionary pointer: The address of the newest dictionary entry.
//@ - Here: The address of the first unused memory location,
//@ which comes just after the newest dictionary entry.
//@
//@ ```
//@ [Link field][Name][Code .......... ]
//@ ^
//@ |
//@ [Link field][Name][Code ...... ]
//@ ^
//@ |
//@ [Link field][Name][Code ............... ]
//@ ^ ^
//@ | |
//@ [Dictionary pointer] [Here]
//@ ```
//@
//@ ### Tools for building the Forth dictionary
//@
//@ If you were sitting in front of a minicomputer in 196x you would need
//@ to create the dictionary with pencil and paper, but in 20xx we will
//@ write a Rust program to help create the dictionary.
//@
//@ First we need to keep track of where the dictionary is:
struct Dict<'a> {
dp: u16, // The dictionary pointer
here: u16, // The "here" variable
c: &'a mut Core // The dictionary lives in memory. We are going to
// hang on to a mutable reference to the core to give
// us easy access to the memory.
}
//@ Now we can write functions in Rust to help us build the dictionary.
enum Item {
Literal(u16),
Call(u16),
Opcode(Op)
}
impl From<u16> for Item { fn from(a: u16) -> Self { Item::Call(a) } }
impl From<Op> for Item { fn from(o: Op) -> Self { Item::Opcode(o) } }
impl Dict<'_> {
/* Helper to reserve space in the dictionary by advancing the "here"
* pointer */
fn allot(&mut self, n: u16) {
self.here = self.here.wrapping_add(n);
}
/* Helper to append a 16 bit integer to the dictionary */
fn comma(&mut self, val: u16) {
self.c.store(self.here, val);
self.allot(2);
}
/* Helper to append a CPU instruction to the dictionary */
fn emit<T: Into<Item>>(&mut self, val: T) {
match val.into() {
Item::Call(val) => { self.comma(val) }
Item::Opcode(val) => { self.comma(val as u16) }
Item::Literal(val) => { assert!(val <= 0x7fff);
self.comma((val << 1) | 1) }
}
}
/* Helper to append a "name" field to the dictionary. */
//@ The "name" field bears a closer look. To make each dictionary header a
//@ consistent size, I am choosing to not store every letter of the name.
//@ Instead I am storing only the length of the name and then the first
//@ three letters of the name.
//@
//@ That means these two names will compare equal:
//@
//@ - ALLOW (-> 5ALL)
//@ - ALLOT (-> 5ALL)
//@
//@ Even though their first three letters are the same, these two names
//@ will compare unequal because they are different lengths:
//@
//@ - FORTH (-> 5FOR)
//@ - FORGET (-> 6FOR)
//@
//@ If a name is shorter than 3 letters it is padded out with spaces.
//@
//@ - X (-> `1X `)
//@
//@ You can see that the name field is always four bytes regardless
//@ of how many letters are in the name, and the link field is two bytes.
//@ This means a dictionary header in this Forth is always six bytes.
fn name(&mut self, n: u8, val: [u8; 3]) {
/* Store the length and the first character */
self.comma(n as u16 | ((val[0] as u16) << 8));
/* Store the next two characters */
self.comma(val[1] as u16 | ((val[2] as u16) << 8));
}
//@ Finally, a function that appends a new link field to the dictionary,
//@ pointing to the previous dictionary entry.
/* Helper to append a new link field to the dictionary and update the
* dictionary pointer appropriately. */
fn entry(&mut self) {
let here = self.here;
self.comma(self.dp);
self.dp = here;
}
}
//@ Now we can start building the dictionary.
//@
//@ To create our Forth interactive programmming environment, we will start
//@ by defining subroutines that:
//@
//@ - read names from the keyboard
//@ - look up and execute dictionary entries by name
//@
//@ We will put these subroutines themselves in the dictionary so they are
//@ available for use once our interactive environment is up and running!
//@
//@ ### Building the Forth dictionary
fn build_dictionary(c: &mut Core) {
use Op::*;
use Item::*;
let mut d = Dict {
dp: 0, /* Nothing in the dictionary yet */
here: 2, /* Reserve address 0 as the "reset vector", i.e. where the
CPU will jump to start running Forth. We don't have a
Forth interpreter yet so we'll leave address 0 alone for
now and start the dictionary at address 2 instead. */
c: c
};
//@ #### Subroutine threading
//@
//@ Consider the following facts:
//@
//@ - The CPU knows how to execute a bunch of instructions strung together.
//@ - Forth consists of a bunch of subroutine calls strung together.
//@ - Subroutine CALL is a valid instruction of our CPU.
//@
//@ This means that we can immediately begin programming our machine in
//@ a language resembling Forth, just by writing a list of subroutine
//@ calls into the dictionary.
//@
//@ The line between "machine code program" and "Forth program" is
//@ very blurry. To illustrate:
//@
//@ Here is a subroutine consisting of a few instructions strung together.
//@
//@ ```
//@ Instruction Number Meaning
//@ ----------- ------ -------
//@ Literal(3) 7 Push the value 3 onto the data stack
//@ Literal(4) 9 Push the value 4 onto the data stack
//@ RET 65504 Return to caller
//@ ```
//@
//@ Here is a Forth subroutine consisting of a few subroutine calls strung
//@ together.
//@
//@ ```
//@ Call Number Meaning
//@ ----------- ------ -------
//@ S1 1230 Call subroutine S1 which happens to live
//@ at address 1230
//@ S2 1250 Call subroutine S2 which happens to live
//@ at address 1250
//@ RET 65504 Return to caller
//@ ```
//@
//@ Both of these are valid machine code programs (list of numbers that
//@ our CPU can directly execute).
//@
//@ This duality between CPU instructions and Forth code comes from
//@ an idea called "subroutine threading". It is a refinement of an
//@ idea called
//@ "[threaded code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threaded_code)".
//@ This has no relation to the kind of
//@ threading that lets you run programs in parallel. You can read more
//@ about threaded code on Wikipedia or in the other Forth resources I
//@ mentioned earlier (Jonesforth, and Moving Forth by Brad Rodriguez).
//@
//@ Our new language starts out with the sixteen (well, eighteen)
//@ instructions built into the CPU. We can string those instructions
//@ together into a new subroutine. Each new subroutine adds to the
//@ toolbox we have available for making the next new subroutine.
//@ Repeat until you have built what you wanted to build, via
//@ function composition. This is the idea behind Forth.
//@
//@ We are going to be writing many series of instructions so let's
//@ start out by making a Rust macro that makes them easier to type
//@ and lets us specify a CPU instruction vs. a subroutine call with
//@ equal ease.
//@
//@ The macro below will convert:
//@
//@ - `forth!(Literal(2), ADD, RET);`
//@
//@ to:
//@
//@ - `d.emit(Literal(2));`
//@ - `d.emit(ADD);`
//@ - `d.emit(RET);`
//@
//@ which you probably recognize as code that will add a new subroutine
//@ to the dictionary.
macro_rules! forth {
($x:expr) => (d.emit($x));
($x:expr, $($y:expr),+) => (d.emit($x); forth!($($y),+))
}
//@ Now we can add the first subroutine to the dictionary!
//@
//@ #### key
//@ "key" reads a character from the keyboard and places its character
//@ code on the stack.
//@
//@ There is a tradition of writing stack comments for Forth subroutines
//@ to describe the stack effect of executing the subroutine.
//@ They look like this:
//@
//@ ```
//@ key ( -- n )
//@ ```
//@
//@ Read as: key does not take any parameters off the stack, and leaves
//@ one new number pushed onto the stack.
//@
//@ Also remember that a dictionary entry looks like this:
//@
//@ ```
//@ [Link field][Name][Code .......... ]
//@ ```
//@
//@ Given all of the above, we are now ready to define "key" and add it to
//@ the dictionary.
// key ( -- n )
d.entry(); /* Compile the link field into the dictionary */
d.name(3, *b"key"); /* Compile the name field into the dictionary */
let key = d.here; /* (Save off the start address of the code so we
can call it later) */
forth!(
Literal(0), /* Compile a LITERAL instruction that pushes
0 to the stack */
IO, /* Compile an IO instruction.
*
* Remember from the CPU code that IO takes a
* parameter on the stack to specify which port
* to use.
*
* Also remember that IO port 0 reads
* a character from standard input.
*/
RET /* Compile a RET instruction */
);
//@ We have now compiled the "key" subroutine into the dictionary.
//@ It takes twelve bytes of memory and is laid out as shown below:
//@
//@ ```
//@ [Link field][Name][Code .......... ]
//@ 0000 3key 1, 65534, 65504
//@ ```
//@
//@ #### emit
//@
//@ The next subroutine we will make is "emit". This is a companion
//@ to "key" that works in the opposite direction.
//@
//@ - key ( -- n ) reads a character from stdin and pushes it to the stack.
//@ - emit ( n -- ) pops a character from the stack and writes it to stdout.
// emit ( n -- )
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"emi"); let emit = d.here;
forth!(
Literal(1),
IO,
RET);
//@ I am tired of saying "subroutine" so many times, so I am going to
//@ introduce a new term. Remember the goal our language is working
//@ towards -- we want to be able to type a word at the keyboard, and
//@ let the computer look it up in the dictionary and execute the
//@ appropriate code.
//@
//@ So far we have two named items in the dictionary, call and emit.
//@
//@ We are going to term a named dictionary item a "word". This is a
//@ Forth tradition. So call and emit are "words", or "dictionary words"
//@ if you want to be precise about it. So far these are the only words
//@ we've defined.
//@
//@ Let's define some more words.
//@
//@ #### - (subtraction)
//@
//@ Our CPU does not have subtraction so let's make subtraction by adding
//@ the
//@ [two's complement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two%27s_complement).
//@
//@ To get the two's complement, do a bitwise invert and add 1.
//@
//@ This will be the most complicated Forth that we've written so far
//@ so let's walk through step by step.
// - ( a b -- a-b )
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b"- "); let sub = d.here;
forth!( /* Stack contents: a b, to start off with.
* We want to compute a minus b */
INV, /* Bitwise invert the top item on the stack.
* Stack contents: a ~b */
Literal(1), /* Push 1 onto the stack.
* Stack contents: a ~b 1 */
ADD, /* Add the top two items on the stack.
* Stack contents: a ~b+1
* Note that ~b+1 is the two's complement of b. */
ADD, /* Add the top two items on the stack.
* Stack contents: n
* Note that n = (a + ~b+1) = a - b */
RET /* Done, return to caller, leaving n on the data stack. */
);
//@ Writing it out like that takes a lot of space. Normally Forth code
//@ is written on a single line, like this:
//@
//@ ```
//@ INV 1 ADD ADD RET
//@ ```
//@
//@ Looking at it this way, it's easy to see the new word we just
//@ created (-) is made from 5 instructions. It's pretty typical for
//@ a Forth word to be made of 2-7 of them. Beyond that length, things
//@ get successively harder to understand, and it becomes a good idea
//@ to split some work off into helper words.
//@
//@ We will see an example of this below.
//@
//@ #### 0= (compare-to-zero)
//@
//@ Our next word will be useful for Boolean logic.
//@
//@ ```
//@ 0= ( n -- f )
//@ ```
//@
//@ In a stack comment, "f" means "flag", a.k.a. Boolean value.
//@ By Forth convention, zero is false and any nonzero value is true.
//@ However the "best" value to use for a true flag is 65535 (all ones)
//@ so the bitwise logical operations can double as Boolean logical
//@ operations.
//@
//@ So what 0= does is:
//@
//@ - if n=0, leave on the stack f=65535
//@ - otherwise, leave on the stack f=0
//@
//@ It is like C's ! operator.
//@
//@ In Rust this could be implemented as:
//@
//@ ```
//@ // example code, not part of our program
//@ fn zero_eq(n: u16) -> u16 {
//@ if (n == 0) {
//@ return 65535;
//@ } else {
//@ return 0;
//@ }
//@ }
//@ ```
//@
//@ Rust has an if-then and block scope, so this is easy to write.
//@
//@ The literal translation to a typical register-machine assembly
//@ language would look something like this:
//@
//@ ```
//@ zero_eq: compare r0, 0
//@ jump_eq is_zero
//@ move r0, 0
//@ ret
//@ is_zero: move r0, 65535
//@ ret
//@ ```
//@
//@ It looks simple but I want to point out a couple things about it
//@ that are not so simple.
//@
//@ ##### The conditional jump instruction, jump_eq.
//@
//@ Our CPU doesn't have this. The only decision-making instruction
//@ we have is Q which is a conditional skip.
//@
//@ Q - If the top number on the data stack is zero, skip the next
//@ instruction.
//@
//@ A conditional jump can go anywhere. A conditional skip can only decide
//@ whether or not to skip the next instruction (i.e., it is a fixed forward
//@ jump of 2 bytes). You cannot give Q a specific address to jump to, the
//@ way jump_eq worked.
//@
//@ So our CPU does not make it easy to jump around in a long block of
//@ instructions -- our CPU prefers that you use subroutine calls.
//@
//@ ##### The forward reference
//@
//@ This is another problem. Think of the job of an assembler which is
//@ converting an assembly language program to machine code. We are
//@ currently writing our code in a tiny assembler that we made in Rust! It
//@ is very simple but so far it has worked for us. The assembler of our
//@ hypothetical register-machine below has a rather nasty problem to solve.
//@
//@ ```
//@ zero_eq: compare r0, 0
//@ jump_eq is_zero <----- On this line.
//@ move r0, 0
//@ ret
//@ is_zero: move r0, 65535
//@ ret
//@ ```
//@
//@ It wants to emit a jump to is_zero, but that symbol has not been seen
//@ yet and is unrecognized. On top of that, the assembler also doesn't yet
//@ know what address is_zero will have, so doesn't know what jump target to
//@ emit. To successfully assemble that kind of program you would need an
//@ assembler
//@ [smarter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language#Two-pass_assembler)
//@ than the assembler we made for ourselves in Rust.
//@
//@ There are ways to solve this but let's NOT solve it.
//@
//@ Our CPU has no jump instruction (only call) and our assembler only lets
//@ us call things we already defined. Instead of removing these
//@ constraints, find a way to write 0= within the constraints.
//@
//@ Here is a start at solving the problem
//@
//@ ```
//@ is_nonzero ( -- 0 )
//@ Literal(0)
//@ RET
//@
//@ 0= ( n -- f )
//@ Q <-- pop n, if n=0 skip next instruction
//@ is_nonzero <-- f=0 is now pushed to stack
//@ Literal(0)
//@ INV <-- f=65535 is now pushed to stack
//@ RET <-- Return
//@ ```
//@
//@ We got rid of the forward reference by defining is_nonzero before it
//@ was used.
//@
//@ We got rid of the jump instruction by using a subroutine call instead.
//@
//@ This code is close to working but it doesn't quite work. The problem
//@ is that is_nonzero gives control back to 0= when done, just like
//@ a subroutine call normally does, and then 0= runs as normal until it
//@ hits the return instruction at the end.
//@ So we wind up executing both the f=0 branch and the f=65535 branch,
//@ instead of just executing the f=0 branch like we wanted in this case.
//@
//@ It is possible to fix this last problem by adding the instructions
//@ RTO DRP to is_nonzero.
//@
//@ ```
//@ is_nonzero ( -- 0 )
//@ RTO <-- Pop the return address, push to data stack
//@ DRP <-- Discard it
//@ Literal(0) <-- Put 0 on the data stack
//@ RET <-- Return
//@ ```
//@
//@ Because we popped off and discarded one item from the return stack, the
//@ final RET instruction will not return to 0= any more. Instead it will
//@ skip one level and return to whoever called 0=. This has the result of
//@ ending 0= early, which is what we wanted to do.
//@
//@ ```
//@ 0= ( n -- f )
//@ Q <-- pop n, if n=0 skip next instruction
//@ is_nonzero <-- this word puts f=0 on the stack then ends 0= early
//@ Literal(0)
//@ INV <-- f=65535 is now pushed to stack
//@ RET <-- Return
//@ ```
//@
//@ I call this pattern "return-from-caller". It is used occasionally in
//@ real Forth systems. My dialect of Forth will use it extensively to work
//@ around my CPU's lack of conditional jump.
//@
//@ Now we've explained how 0= is going to work, let's write it.
//@
//@ #### 0= (compare-to-zero), for real this time
//@
//@ First we define the helper. It won't be reused, so I am not going
//@ to bother giving it a dictionary header and name for easy lookup later.
//@ Think of it as a private function.
let zero = d.here;
forth!(Literal(0), RTO, DRP, RET);
//@ Now define 0= using the helper.
// 0= ( n -- f )
d.entry(); d.name(2, *b"0= "); let zero_eq = d.here;
forth!(Q, zero, Literal(0), INV, RET);
//@ #### = (equals)
//@
//@ Next let's make a = equality comparison operator, using 0= and subtract.
//@ I call it an "operator" because that's what other languages would
//@ call it, but Forth has no special idea of an "operator". Everything
//@ is just words.
// = ( a b -- a=b )
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b"= "); let eq = d.here;
forth!(sub, zero_eq, RET);
//@ Note that 0= and subtract are both words, not CPU instructions.
//@ This makes = the first "pure" Forth word we have defined, with no
//@ direct dependency on the machine's instruction set.
//@ We could define `=` as `-` `0=` on a real standards-compliant Forth system
//@ and it would still work. So Forth gets you to the point of writing
//@ "portable" code really quickly. Often you can reuse routines early in
//@ bootstrapping even though they were written and tested on a different
//@ machine. Many languages offer portability but few offer it so quickly.
//@
//@ ## 2.1 - The lexer
//@
//@ Now that we've got some basics in place let's go back to solving
//@ the real problem of getting our language to read words from the
//@ keyboard. The first problem we have is that we need some way to
//@ separate words from each other so we know where one word ends and the
//@ next begins. This problem is called
//@ "[lexing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_analysis)".
//@ Forth has about the simplest lexer ever, it just splits on whitespace.
//@ Anything with character code <=32 is considered whitespace. Words are
//@ delimited by whitespace. And that is all the syntax Forth has.
//@
//@ To read a word from the keyboard you will need to:
//@
//@ 1. Advance past any leading whitespace
//@ 2. Read characters into a buffer until whitespace is seen again.
//@
//@ ### Skipping whitespace
//@
//@ Let's start with the "advance past leading whitespace" part
//@
//@ The "key" word gives us the latest keystroke as an ASCII code.
//@ (Really it is reading utf-8 characters one byte at a time but let's
//@ not get into that right now, pretend the year is 196x, we're sitting
//@ in front of a minicomputer and and utf-8 hasn't been invented yet.)
//@
//@ ASCII codes 0 to 32 are whitespace or control characters. Codes
//@ 33 and up are letters, numbers and symbols. So to skip whitespace
//@ all you need to do is read keys until you get an ASCII code >= 33,
//@ then return that to tell the rest of the program what key code you
//@ saw.
//@
//@ In Rust this could be implemented as:
//@
//@ ```
//@ // example code, not part of our program
//@ fn skipws() -> u16 {
//@ loop {
//@ let c = key();
//@ if c >= 33 {
//@ return c;
//@ }
//@ }
//@ }
//@ ```
//@
//@ Rust has a loop keyword, so this is easy to write.
//@ (Alarm bells should be ringing in your head at this point because
//@ we haven't put any looping constructs in our CPU or language.)
//@
//@ The literal translation to a typical register-machine assembly
//@ language would look something like this:
//@
//@ ```
//@ skipws: call key
//@ compare r0, 32
//@ jump_le skipws
//@ ret
//@ ```
//@
//@ (More alarm bells should be ringing in your head because this is
//@ using conditional jump, which our CPU doesn't have.)
//@
//@ Like last time, is there a way to solve this without conditional
//@ jump?
//@
//@ Here is a start at solving the problem:
//@
//@ ```
//@ skipws ( -- c )
//@ key <-- Put keycode on the stack: ( c )
//@ DUP <-- Duplicate top value on the stack: ( c c )
//@ Literal(33) <-- Put 33 on the stack: ( c c 33 )
//@ GEQ <-- Is c >= 33? ( c f )
//@ Q <-- If so...
//@ RET <-- ... return, leaving c on the stack. ( c )
//@ DRP <-- Discard c from the stack. ( )
//@ skipws <-- Call skipws again
//@ ```
//@
//@ You will notice there is no RET statement at the end of skipws.
//@ At the end of skipws we call skipws again. This makes an infinite
//@ loop. The only way out of the loop is the RET instruction in the
//@ middle. This works similarly to the Rust code that uses a loop { }
//@ and breaks out when it sees the condition it's looking for.
//@
//@ Writing a word that calls itself is called
//@ "[recursion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_loop)".
//@
//@ This code almost works but there is still something wrong with it.
//@ Youll notice we were careful to make sure "skipws" removed all items
//@ it added to the data stack, before it called itself. Its last two
//@ lines were:
//@
//@ ```
//@ DRP <-- Discard c from the stack
//@ skipws <-- Call skipws again
//@ ```
//@
//@ If we didn't do that, skipws would leave each whitespace character
//@ it saw, on the data stack, as it looped again and again.
//@ So instead of returning the first nonwhitespace character it would
//@ return EVERY character it saw.
//@
//@ ```
//@ 1st recursion: data stack: ( c1 )
//@ 2nd recursion: data stack: ( c1 c2 )
//@ 3rd recursion: data stack: ( c1 c2 c3 )
//@ ```
//@
//@ There are problems with this. It's messy. The caller has no idea
//@ how many values we are going to leave on the stack, so has no idea
//@ how many to pop off. Also, we might see more than 16 whitespace
//@ characters in a row, which would make weird things happen because
//@ our CPU's data stack only has room for 16 numbers.
//@
//@ For these reasons it's better to leave the data stack as we found it,
//@ when we do a recursive call. That is the reason the last two lines are
//@ DRP, skipws -- it's to stop items building up on the data stack. The
//@ final pass through this function goes down a different path that does
//@ not DRP, so it leaves something on the data stack -- the last key read.
//@
//@ The problem skipws still has, is that we haven't taken the same care
//@ with its return stack.
//@
//@ At the first line of skipws the return stack looks like this:
//@
//@ ```
//@ ( caller )
//@ ```
//@
//@ That's because skipws must have been called by our CPU's CALL
//@ instruction (we have no other way of calling subroutines!), and the
//@ CALL instruction leaves a return address on the top of the return
//@ stack so RET knows where to return to at the end of the subroutine.
//@
//@ But we are also using CALL for a different purpose: to repeat skipws.
//@ Every time we repeat skipws, the CALL instruction will push another
//@ return address to the call stack.
//@
//@ ```
//@ DRP return stack:( caller )
//@ skipws <-- Call skipws again. return stack:( caller x )
//@ <-- This location has address x.
//@
//@ first call: return stack: ( caller )
//@ 1st recursion: return stack: ( caller x )
//@ 2nd recursion: return stack: ( caller x x )
//@ 3rd recursion: return stack: ( caller x x x )
//@ ```
//@
//@ Clearly all these x's are garbage. When we are done with skipws we
//@ want to return to our caller, not to x.
//@
//@ We could patch over the problem somewhat by putting a RET instruction
//@ at x.
//@
//@ ```
//@ DRP return stack:( caller )
//@ skipws <-- Call skipws again. return stack:( caller x )
//@ RET <-- x
//@ ```
//@
//@ This yields working recursive code.
//@
//@ Each time we loop, a useless return address x is left on the return
//@ stack. When skipws wants to quit, skipws runs a RET instruction, which
//@ transfers control to x. x is the address of a RET instruction, left on
//@ the stack earler. So we wind up running RET RET RET ... until we burn
//@ through all x's on the return stack and finally transfer control back to
//@ caller.
//@
//@ ```
//@ first call: return stack: ( caller ) data stack: ( )
//@ 1st recursion: return stack: ( caller x ) data stack: ( )
//@ 2nd recursion: return stack: ( caller x x ) data stack: ( )
//@ 3rd recursion: return stack: ( caller x x x ) data stack: ( c )
//@ RET: : return stack: ( caller x x ) data stack: ( c )
//@ RET: : return stack: ( caller x ) data stack: ( c )
//@ RET: : return stack: ( caller ) data stack: ( c )
//@ RET: < control is passed back to our caller,
//@ and now they can do stuff with the "c" on the data
//@ stack, yay >
//@ ```
//@
//@ This works. It isn't very fast but we don't care about speed right
//@ now, just about getting our computer to work.
//@
//@ But there is still a problem.
//@
//@ Our CPU has a fixed-size circular return stack that can hold 32 numbers.
//@ What happens if you loop 32 times or more? The return stack fills up
//@ completely with the useless "x" addresses, and the address of caller
//@ is lost.
//@
//@ ```
//@ recursive call N : return stack: ( caller x x x ... x )
//@ recursive call N+1: return stack: ( x x x x ... x ) :-(
//@ ```
//@
//@ So skipping 32 or more whitespace characters in a row wouldn't work.
//@ To fix that problem we need to find a way to stop the useless "x"
//@ addresses from building up on the return stack.
//@
//@ ```
//@ 1st loop: return stack: ( caller ) data stack: ( )
//@ 2nd loop: return stack: ( caller ) data stack: ( )
//@ 3rd loop: return stack: ( caller ) data stack: ( c )
//@ RET: < control is passed back to our caller >
//@ ```
//@
//@ The most common solution is
//@ "[tail call optimization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tail_call)".
//@ If a function's last instruction is a recursive call, that call can be
//@ replaced with a jump. On paper this doesn't work very well on our
//@ computer, for two reasons:
//@
//@ 1. Our CPU has no jump, only call.
//@
//@ 2. Our assembler, and eventually our interactive environment, would need
//@ to be smart enough to emit a call sometimes and a jump other times.
//@ This is the same "look-ahead" problem that we saw with forward
//@ references -- you don't know that a given CALL will be followed by a
//@ RET, unless you can see the future.
//@
//@ Earlier we decided to keep our assembler very dumb so it would be
//@ weird to start making it smart now.
//@
//@ So what are we going to do?
//@
//@ It is possible to get a very, very dumb caveman version of tail call
//@ optimization, by manually using the "return-from-caller" trick, RTO DRP,
//@ to "get rid of" the x that is pushed on by the skipws CALL.
//@
//@ ```
//@ skipws ( -- c ) RTO DRP ... Q RET ... skipws
//@
//@ 1st loop: return stack: ( caller ) data stack: ( )
//@ 2nd loop: return stack: ( ) data stack: ( )
//@ 3rd loop: return stack: ( ) data stack: ( )
//@ ```
//@
//@ So now recursive calls will leave the return-stack as they found it,
//@ which is good! We don't have the useless-x problem any more.
//@ Unfortunately, the first pass through skipws discards the original
//@ caller's return address, which we wanted to keep. There is a quick
//@ hack around that problem: wrap skipws in another subroutine, and
//@ always call it through that wrapper.
//@
//@ ```
//@ skipws ( -- c ) RTO DRP ... Q RET ... skipws
//@
//@ wrapper ( -- c ) skipws RET
//@ ```
//@
//@ The RET in skipws returns from wrapper, but that's ok.
//@
//@ Finally we are able to write loops, and we did not even need to add
//@ anything to our language or CPU to get that to work, we just needed to
//@ look at things differently. Learning to look at things differently is a
//@ big part of the Forth philosophy.
//@
//@ We'll see a better way of solving this problem later, in the file
//@ frustration.4th, but for now this is good enough and we can get back to
//@ solving our original problem, skipping whitespace.
//@
//@ ### Skipping whitespace (for real this time)
//@
//@ You should now understand what the next two functions are doing
//@ because we just talked about them at length. In the real program
//@ I swapped the names of the two functions because I wanted to let the
//@ wrapper have the friendly "skipws" name.
let skip_helper = d.here;
forth!(RTO, DRP, key, DUP, Literal(33), GEQ, Q, RET, DRP, skip_helper);
// skipws ( -- c )
d.entry(); d.name(6, *b"ski"); let skipws = d.here;
forth!(skip_helper);
//@ Step 1 of the lexer is now working!
//@ We can now discard whitespace characters typed at the keyboard,
//@ i.e. advance to the first character of a word.
//@
//@ ### Reading characters into a buffer
//@
//@ The next stage of lexing is once again going to be more complicated than
//@ any code we've written before, so we are going to need some more helper
//@ words.
//@
//@ Until now, we have been able to structure our code in such a way that
//@ the next value we need is conveniently stored at the top of the stack.
//@ The most we've had to do is either DUPlicate this value or DRP it
//@ because it's no longer needed. In more complicated code, sometimes we
//@ will need to "dig through" the values on the stack to surface the one we
//@ want to use next. This is inefficient and ugly so we will do it as
//@ little as possible, but it will soon be necessary.
//@
//@ The CPU instruction SWP does stack shuffling by swapping the first
//@ two values on the data stack. We already have SWP (it's built into the
//@ CPU) but I will write out its stack effect below as a recap of what it
//@ does.
//@
//@ ```
//@ SWP ( a b -- b a ).
//@ ```
//@
//@ The problem with SWP is that it can only reach the top two values
//@ on the stack. If you wanted to dig further, you couldn't do it with
//@ SWP.
//@
//@ One way of digging further is by using the RTO and TOR instructions
//@ as demonstrated below in the "over" word.
//@
//@ #### over
// over ( a b -- a b a )
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"ove"); let over = d.here;
forth!(TOR, /* data stack: ( a ) return stack: ( caller b ) */
DUP, /* data stack: ( a a ) return stack: ( caller b ) */
RTO, /* data stack: ( a a b ) return stack: ( caller ) */
SWP, /* data stack: ( a b a ) return stack: ( caller ) */
RET);
//@ "over" is a good building block for further stack shuffling words.
//@
//@ #### 2dup
// 2dup ( a b -- a b a b )
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"2du"); let twodup = d.here;
forth!(over, over, RET);
//@ #### The input buffer
//@
//@ Now we can get back to writing the lexer. Step 2 of lexing is "Read
//@ characters into a buffer until whitespace is seen again", and once that
//@ works we will be done writing the lexer!
//@
//@ Start by setting aside the word input buffer. We'll format it as Nabcde
//@ where N is the number of characters stored.
let word_buf = d.here;
d.allot(6);
//@ It may seem strange to be plopping this down in the middle of the
//@ dictionary but it will work fine, just as long as we're setting aside
//@ an even number of bytes. As mentioned earlier, if you intersperse
//@ instructions and data in memory...
//@
//@ ```
//@ _________
//@ ________ |_________| _____________
//@ |________| Data |_____________|
//@ Instructions More instructions
//@ ```
//@
//@ ...then you will have to be careful to make sure the second block
//@ of instructions also starts at an even numbered address.
//@ You might need to include an extra byte of data as "padding".
//@
//@ In this case we set aside one byte for length and five bytes for
//@ characters, which is a total of six bytes, so no padding is needed.
//@
//@ We are about to do some buffer handling so we want bounds checking.
//@ Let's write a min-value word. It will look at the top two items
//@ on the stack and return whichever is less.
//@
//@ This word is simple enough that I'm not going to walk through it
//@ like I did with some of the earlier words. If you want to understand
//@ how it works I recommend walking through it on paper or in your head.
//@ With a little practice this will become as natural as walking through
//@ code in any other language.
//@
//@ #### min
// min ( a b -- n )
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"min"); let min = d.here;
forth!(twodup, GEQ, Q, SWP, DRP, RET);
//@ #### c@ and c! (byte-by-byte memory access)
//@
//@ We want to access the buffer byte-by-byte, but our machine only
//@ accesses memory 16 bits at a time.
//@
//@ Reading one byte at a time is pretty easy, just do a 16-bit read and
//@ discard the high byte with Literal(0xFF) AND.
// c@ ( a -- n )
d.entry(); d.name(2, *b"c@ "); let cld = d.here;
forth!(LD, Literal(0xff), AND, RET);
//@ To write one byte at a time, we'll take the approach of reading two
//@ bytes, editing just the low byte, and then writing the full two-byte
//@ value back to memory. The high byte gets unnecessarily rewritten but
//@ we are writing back its old value so no one will know the difference.
//@
//@ If our CPU was multi-core, or had interrupts, there could be some
//@ problems with this approach (search the Internet for
//@ "[non-atomic read-modify-write](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linearizability)"),
//@ but ours isn't, so we are fine.
// c! ( n a -- )
d.entry(); d.name(2, *b"c! "); let cst = d.here;
forth!(DUP, /* ( n a a ) r: ( caller ) */
LD, /* ( n a old-n ) r: ( caller ) */
Literal(0xff), INV, /* ( n a old-n 0xff00 ) r: ( caller ) */
AND, /* ( n a old-highbyte ) r: ( caller ) */
SWP, TOR, /* ( n old-highbyte ) r: ( caller a ) */
OR, /* ( new-n ) r: ( caller a ) */
RTO, /* ( new-n a ) r: ( caller ) */
ST, /* ( ) r: ( caller ) */
RET);
//@ #### Filling the input buffer
//@
//@ Now we have everything we need to fill the input buffer one byte at a time:
/* Load 1 letter into the buffer. */
let stchar = d.here;
forth!(Literal(word_buf), cld, /* Retrieve the first byte of the buffer,
i.e. its current length. */
Literal(1), ADD, /* Increment the length. */
DUP, Literal(word_buf), cst, /* Write-back the incremented length
to the first byte of the buffer */
/* Decide where to store the letter in the buffer.
*
* The 1st letter should be stored 1 byte past the buffer start
* (to leave room for the length).
*
* The 2nd letter should be stored 2 bytes past the buffer start
* ...
* The 5th letter should be stored 5 bytes past the buffer start.
*
* Any letters beyond the 5th will also be stored in the 5th slot
* overwriting whatever letter was seen there previously. This
* is fine because only the first 3 letters of the word are
* significant anyway. What's important is that we not overrun
* the buffer and corrupt adjacent parts of the dictionary.
*/
Literal(5), min, Literal(word_buf), ADD,
cst, /* Store the letter in the buffer */
RET);
//@ Parsing a whole word is not much harder. Just tail-recursively call
//@ the function we just wrote, until whitespace is seen again (a character
//@ code that is <= 32).
let getcs_helper = d.here;
forth!(RTO, DRP, /* The "return-from-caller" trick */
stchar,
key, DUP, Literal(32), SWP, GEQ, Q, RET,
getcs_helper);
//@ This also returns the whitespace character that was seen,
//@ although we won't do much with it.
// getcs ( -- c )
d.entry(); d.name(5, *b"get"); let getcs = d.here;
forth!(getcs_helper, RET);
//@ #### word
//@
//@ The lexer is almost done, now we'll write the word that the rest of the
//@ program will use to call it.
//@
//@ This word is named "word".
//@
//@ First, it clears word_buf by setting its length byte to 0 and
//@ padding out the first three name bytes by setting them to 32 (space).
//@ Then, reads a word from the keyboard into the word_buf.
// word ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"wor"); let word = d.here;
forth!(
Literal(word_buf), /* Address of word_buf */
DUP, Literal(2), ADD, /* Address of word_buf + 2 */
Literal(0x2020), SWP, ST, /* Set name bytes 2 and 1 to space */
Literal(0x2000), SWP, ST, /* Set name byte 0 to space and
set length to zero */
skipws, /* Lexer step 1, skip leading whitespace */
getcs, /* Lexer step 2, read letters into buffer until whitespace
is seen again */
DRP, /* We don't care what whitespace character was last seen
so drop it */
RET);
//@ The lexer is now complete: we can read space-delimited words from
//@ the keyboard.
//@
//@ This took a long while, because we had to figure out how to do things
//@ like branching and looping, while also figuring out how to write the
//@ lexer itself.
//@ But now our dictionary is filled with useful helper words so our next
//@ steps will be faster to write.
//@
//@ ## 2.2 - Dictionary lookup
//@
//@ Let's move on to dictionary lookup, so we can do something useful with
//@ the space-delimited words we now know how to read from the keyboard.
//@
//@ ### latest
//@
//@ To do dictionary lookup we first need to keep track of where the
//@ dictionary is, so let's teach Forth about the dictionary pointer (dp)
//@ variable that we've so far been tracking in Rust.
//@
//@ The traditional Forth name for this variable is "latest".
// latest ( -- a )
/* Address of "latest" variable. This variable stores the address of
* the latest word in the dictionary. */
let latest_ptr = d.here; d.allot(2);
d.entry(); d.name(6, *b"lat"); let latest = d.here;
forth!(Literal(latest_ptr), RET);
//@ ### find
//@
//@ Now we will write "find" which is the word that does dictionary
//@ lookup. Dictionary lookup is a linked list traversal starting
//@ at latest (the end of the dictionary). For each dictionary entry, we
//@ compare its name against the name that "word" placed in the input
//@ buffer. If it matches, we return the address of this dictionary entry's
//@ code field. Otherwise we advance to the previous dictionary entry and
//@ try again. If we don't match anything before we hit address 0 (the
//@ start of the dictionary) that means the name in the input buffer
//@ was not found in the dictionary.
//@
//@ The stack effect of find will be:
//@
//@ ```
//@ find ( -- xt|0 )
//@ ```
//@
//@ It's time to explain a couple more conventions often used in stack
//@ effect comments:
//@
//@ - xt is "execution token". In our Forth, "execution token" just means
//@ the address of some code.
//@
//@ - A vertical bar | means "or". So find will return either an execution
//@ token, or 0 if no execution token is found.
/* Helper word ( a -- f )
*/
let matches = d.here;
forth!(
/* Stash the address of the name field by putting it on the
* return stack
*/
Literal(2), ADD, TOR,
/* Load the 4 bytes at word_buf */
Literal(word_buf), DUP, Literal(2), ADD, LD, SWP, LD,
/* Load the first 2 bytes of the name field */
RTO, DUP, TOR, LD,
/* Compare to the first 2 bytes at word_buf.
* Don't worry about that bitwise AND: it will be explained later
* when we are adding "immediate" words to the outer interpreter.
*/
Literal(0x0080), INV, AND, eq,
/* Compare the second 2 bytes of the name field to the second
* 2 bytes at word_buf
*/
SWP, RTO, Literal(2), ADD, LD, eq,
/* If both comparisons were true, return true, else return false */
AND, RET);
/* Helper word ( a -- a' )
*/
let matched = d.here;
forth!(
Literal(6), ADD, /* Advance six bytes (the length of the dictionary
header). This advances from the start of the
header to the address of the code field. */
RTO, DRP, /* Return-from-caller */
RET);
let find_helper = d.here;
forth!(
RTO, DRP,
DUP, Literal(0), eq, Q, RET, /* No match - return 0 */
DUP, matches, Q, matched, /* Match - return the code address */
LD, find_helper); /* Try the next one */
//@ And find itself is just a wrapper around the tail-recursive
//@ find_helper word.
// find ( -- xt|0 )
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"fin"); let find = d.here;
forth!(latest, LD, find_helper);
//@ ### ' (quote)
//@
//@ The ' (quote) word reads the next word from the keyboard and then looks
//@ it up in the dictionary. It works very similarly to the "address-of"
//@ operator in C. ' fn in Forth is like &fn in C.
// ' ( -- xt|0 )
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b"' "); let quote = d.here;
forth!(word, find, RET);
//@ ## 2.3 - The outer interpreter
//@
//@ We can now look up a subroutine in the dictionary by typing its name
//@ at the keyboard.
//@
//@ Remember that an interactive programming environment needs to let you
//@ do two things:
//@
//@ 1. Call subroutines by typing their name at the keyboard
//@ 2. Define new subroutines in terms of existing ones
//@
//@ We're also going to succumb to temptation at this point and add a third
//@ feature to our language.
//@
//@ - 3. Push numbers onto the data stack by typing them at the keyboard
//@
//@ We haven't achieved any of these three goals yet, but we now have all
//@ of the building blocks we need to do so.
//@
//@ To add words to the dictionary we'll need to keep track of where the
//@ end of the dictionary is, so let's teach Forth about the "here"
//@ variable that we've so far been tracking in Rust.
//@
//@ ### here
// here ( -- a )
/* Address of "here" variable. This variable stores the address of
the first free space in the dictionary */
let here_ptr = d.here; d.allot(2);
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"her"); let here = d.here;
forth!(Literal(here_ptr), RET);
//@ ### Achieving interactivity
//@
//@ Let's talk a little bit about how we are going to make our Forth
//@ interactive. We want to do one of two things:
//@
//@ 1. Call subroutines by typing their name at the keyboard
//@ 2. Define new subroutines in terms of existing ones
//@
//@ Both of these things are structurally similar. We can solve either
//@ problem by reading a list of words from the keyboard and doing something
//@ with each word.
//@
//@ First we look up the word in the dictionary, then we either:
//@
//@ 1. Execute it right now (if we are in interpreting mode).
//@ 2. Append it to the dictionary (if we are in compiling mode).
//@
//@ Numbers can be handled in a similar way. If we encounter a number
//@ in interpreting mode, we'll put it on the stack. If we encounter a
//@ number in compiling mode, we'll compile a LITERAL instruction that
//@ will put the number on the stack when executed.
//@
//@ It seems a pretty good bet that we'll be able to solve our problem
//@ with an interpreting/compiling mode flag, so let's make one.
// state ( -- a )
/* Address of "state" variable. This variable stores -1 if
* interpreting or 0 if compiling. */
let state_ptr = d.here; d.allot(2);
d.entry(); d.name(5, *b"sta"); let state = d.here;
forth!(Literal(state_ptr), RET);
//@ We need a way of switching between interpreting and compiling mode.
//@
//@ If you are interpreting, this is easy -- just write 0 to state.
//@
//@ If you are compiling, it is not so easy to go back into interpreting
//@ mode, because everything you type gets compiled. There is no way to
//@ execute a word when you are in compiling mode, so you are stuck
//@ compiling forever.
//@
//@ What if there was a way to execute a word in compiling mode?
//@
//@ We will define a special category of words called "immediate" words
//@ that are executed whenever they are seen, even if you are in compiling
//@ mode.
//@
//@ We will mark a word as "immediate" by setting the high bit of the
//@ length byte, in the name field of its dictionary entry.
//@
//@ ```
//@ ----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
//@ | i | n | n | n | n | n | n | n |
//@ ----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
//@ ```
//@
//@ - nnnnnnn = length (0 to 127)
//@ - i = "immediate" bit (1 = immediate, 0 = ordinary)
//@
//@ Do you remember the bit math in "find" that I told you to not worry
//@ about just yet?
//@
//@ ```
//@ Literal(0x0080), INV, AND
//@ ```
//@
//@ This math was
//@ [masking out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_mask)
//@ the "immediate" flag so it would not interfere
//@ with dictionary lookup.
//@
//@ ### immediate
/* Helper function to get the address of the latest dictionary entry */
let word_addr = d.here;
forth!(Literal(latest_ptr), LD, Literal(2), ADD, RET);
// immediate ( -- )
/* Set the "immediate" flag on the latest dictionary entry */
d.entry(); d.name(9, *b"imm");
forth!(word_addr, DUP, LD, Literal(0x0080), OR, SWP, ST, RET);
//@ ### [ and ]
//@
//@ Now we can define words to switch between interpreting and compiling
//@ mode. The names [ and ] are traditional Forth names.
// [ ( -- )
d.entry();
d.name(
1 | 0x80, /* In Rust we do not have access to the handy "immediate"
function, but we can make a word "immediate" by setting
the high bit in its length field, as is done here. */
*b"[ ");
let lbracket = d.here;
forth!(Literal(0), INV, state, ST, RET);
// ] ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(1 | 0x80, *b"] "); let rbracket = d.here;
forth!(Literal(0), state, ST, RET);
//@ ### smudge and unsmudge
//@
//@ By setting a different bit of the name field we can temporarily hide a
//@ word from name lookups. We will talk more about this later.
// smudge ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(6 | 0x80, *b"smu"); let smudge = d.here;
forth!(word_addr, DUP, LD, Literal(0x0040), OR, SWP, ST, RET);
// unsmudge ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(8 | 0x80, *b"uns"); let unsmudge = d.here;
forth!(word_addr, DUP, LD, Literal(0x0040), INV, AND, SWP, ST, RET);
//@ ### , (comma)
//@
//@ Now let's make a word that appends to the dictionary.
//@ We have had a Rust helper function for this for a long time.
//@ The word below is the same thing but callable from Forth.
// , ( n -- )
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b", "); let comma = d.here;
forth!(here, LD, ST,
here, LD, Literal(2), ADD, here, ST, RET);
//@ ### number
//@
//@ We will read numbers the same way we read words: from the input
//@ buffer. This, incidentally, is why we chose to reserve space for five
//@ characters in the input buffer, even though we only needed to store
//@ three for word lookup. The largest 16-bit number will fit in five
//@ decimal digits.
//@
//@ Our numbers will be base-10. To build up a base-10 number digit by
//@ digit, we'll need to be able to multiply by 10. Our CPU has no multiply
//@ but it does have bit shift, which can be used to multiply or divide an
//@ unsigned value by any power of two.
// x10 ( n -- n*10 )
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"x10"); let x10 = d.here;
forth!(
DUP, DUP, Literal(3), SFT, /* Find n*8 */
ADD, ADD, /* (n*8) + n + n = (n*10) */
RET);
//@ Now we can write a word that goes through the input buffer
//@ character by character and converts it to an integer on the stack.
/* Helper function to clear junk off the stack. */
let end_num = d.here;
forth!(DRP, RTO, DRP, RET);
/* Helper function to clear junk off the stack and return -1. */
let bad_num = d.here;
forth!(DRP, DRP, DRP, Literal(0), INV, RTO, DRP, RET);
// Helper function ( 0 1 -- n|-1 )
let number_helper = d.here;
forth!(
RTO, DRP,
/* Load the next character */
DUP, Literal(word_buf), ADD, cld,
/* If the character is not in the range 48 to 57
* (which are the character codes for '0' to '9')
* then this is not a number, so return the error code -1 (65535)
*/
Literal(48), sub, DUP, Literal(10), GEQ, Q, bad_num,
SWP, TOR, SWP, x10, ADD, RTO,
/* If we've come to the end of the input buffer then end. */
DUP, Literal(word_buf), cld, GEQ, Q, end_num,
/* Move on to the next digit */
Literal(1), ADD, number_helper);
// number ( -- n|-1 )
d.entry(); d.name(6, *b"num"); let number = d.here;
forth!(Literal(0), Literal(1), number_helper);
//@ ### literal
//@
//@ To compile an integer, we'll want to convert it to a LITERAL
//@ instruction in the dictionary. Bear in mind that only numbers 0-32767
//@ can be directly stored in a LITERAL instruction. This code makes no
//@ attempt to automatically perform the LITERAL INV trick -- that's left
//@ up to the programmer.
/* Compile a number */
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"lit"); let lit = d.here;
forth!(DUP, ADD, Literal(1), ADD, comma, RET);
// Helper function to compile a number ( n -- n? )
let try_compile_lit = d.here;
forth!(
/* If we are in interpreting mode, */
state, LD,
/* then exit immediately, leaving this number on the stack. */
Q, RET,
/* Otherwise, turn it into a LITERAL instruction and append that
* to the dictionary, */
lit,
/* and then return-from-caller. */
RTO, DRP, RET);
//@ Similarly, to compile a word, we'll want to convert from an execution
//@ token (xt) on the stack to a CALL instruction in the dictionary.
//@ Unless it's an immediate word, which we need to execute right now.
// Helper function to compile a call ( xt -- xt? )
let try_compile_call = d.here;
forth!(
/* If this is an immediate word, */
DUP, Literal(4), sub, LD, Literal(0x0080), AND,
/* or if we are in interpreting mode, */
state, LD, OR,
/* then we should execute this word, not compile it. */
Q, RET,
/* Otherwise, compile it by appending its address to the dictionary, */
comma,
/* and then return-from-caller. */
RTO, DRP, RET);
/* Given the address of a word, execute that word. */
// execute ( xt -- )
d.entry(); d.name(7, *b"exe"); let execute = d.here;
forth!(TOR, RET);
// Helper function to compile or execute a word ( xt -- )
let do_word = d.here;
forth!(
/* When this function concludes, return-from-caller. */
RTO, DRP,
/* If this word should be compiled, compile it, */
try_compile_call,
/* otherwise, execute it. */
execute, RET);
//@ Forth can have very good error handling. This Forth does not.
//@ If we try to look up a word in the dictionary and can't find it,
//@ and if the word also can't be parsed as an number,
//@ then we print out a ? and move on to the next word.
//@
//@ This helper function does some stack cleanup, prints the ?, then
//@ uses the return-from-caller trick to move on to the next word.
let bad = d.here;
forth!(DRP, Literal(63), emit, RTO, DRP, RET);
//@ Given all that, here's an all-in-one subroutine that figures out what to do
//@ with the contents of the input buffer.
// dispatch ( xt -- )
d.entry(); d.name(8, *b"dis"); let dispatch = d.here;
forth!(
/* If the word was found in the dictionary, treat it as a word. */
DUP, Q, do_word,
/* If it wasn't found in the dictionary, try to parse it as a number.
* If it isn't a number, flag it as an error. */
DRP, number, DUP, Literal(1), ADD, zero_eq, Q, bad,
/* If it is a number, treat it as a number. */
try_compile_lit, RET);
//@ And now we can write the main interpreter/compiler loop.
//@ This is the top-level code for our entire Forth system!
//@ Forth names this "quit", because you'd expect putting the word
//@ "quit" in the middle of a compiled program to bring you back
//@ to top-level.
//@
//@ "quit" is called the "outer interpreter" because it is the outermost
//@ interpreter loop that Forth uses. Some Forth implementations also
//@ use an "inner interpreter" to execute their threaded code. Our Forth
//@ does not have an inner interpreter because we used subroutine
//@ threading, making our threaded code a list of subroutine calls that
//@ can be directly executed by the CPU.
//@
//@ Let's look at what "quit" does. We've already done all the hard work
//@ so it can be quite short.
// quit ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"qui"); let quit = d.here;
forth!(
quote, /* Read a word from the keyboard and look it up in
* the dictionary */
dispatch, /* Figure out what to do with the word */
quit /* Repeat forever */
);
//@ You might have noticed that "quit" isn't tail-recursive -- it
//@ just calls itself normally. "quit" is never supposed to return
//@ so it doesn't matter for it to properly maintain the return stack.
//@ It will just fill up the circular stack and wrap around. That's
//@ fine.
//@
//@ We now have an interpreter that can compile or execute code!!!
//@
//@ We have now succeeded at:
//@
//@ - 1. Call subroutines by typing their name at the keyboard
//@ - 3. Push numbers onto the data stack by typing them at the keyboard
//@
//@ ## 2.4 - Defining subroutines
//@
//@ There are still a few more words we'll need if we want to:
//@
//@ - 2. Define new subroutines in terms of existing ones
//@
//@ Let's take care of that now.
//@
//@ #### create
//@ Here is a word to create a new dictionary header.
// create ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(6, *b"cre"); let create = d.here;
forth!(
here, LD,
latest, LD, comma, /* emit the link field */
latest, ST, /* point "latest" at us */
word, /* read a word from the keyboard */
/* emit the name field (by copying it from the input buffer) */
Literal(word_buf), DUP, LD, comma, Literal(2), ADD, LD, comma,
RET);
//@ #### : (define word)
//@
//@ Here is the word to compile a new Forth word.
// : ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b": ");
forth!(
/* Read name from keyboard, create dictionary header */
create,
/* Hide the word until we are done defining it. This lets us
* redefine a word in terms of a previous incarnation of itself. */
smudge,
/* Switch to compiling mode */
rbracket,
RET);
//@ #### ; (end of definition)
//@
//@ Finally, here is semicolon, the "end" marker that ends the Forth word.
//@ Note that ; is immediate, as it has to switch us from compiling mode
//@ back into interpreting mode.
// ; ( -- )
d.entry(); d.name(1 | 0x80, *b"; ");
forth!(
/* Emit a RET instruction. RET = 65504 which is outside of the
* LITERAL instruction's 0 to 32767 range, so you have to store the
* inverse and use INV to swap it back. */
Literal(!(RET as u16)), INV, comma,
/* The word is now done, so unhide it. */
unsmudge,
/* Switch back to interpreting mode */
lbracket,
RET);
//@ ### Miscellanea
//@
//@ Wrap up the CPU instructions into dictionary words so we can call them
//@ interactively from Forth. Instructions that modify the return stack
//@ need special care, because otherwise they will mess up the
//@ wrapper we created for them, instead of acting on the caller
//@ the way they are supposed to.
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"ret"); forth!(RTO, DRP, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(2, *b">r "); forth!(RTO, SWP, TOR, TOR, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(2, *b"r> "); forth!(RTO, RTO, SWP, TOR, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b"@ "); forth!(LD, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b"! "); forth!(ST, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"dup"); forth!(DUP, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"swa"); forth!(SWP, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(4, *b"dro"); forth!(DRP, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(1 | 0x80, *b"? "); /* This one only works in-line. */
forth!(Literal(!(Q as u16)), INV, comma, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(1, *b"+ "); forth!(ADD, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(5, *b"shi"); forth!(SFT, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(2, *b"or "); forth!(OR, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"and"); forth!(AND, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"inv"); forth!(INV, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(3, *b"u>="); forth!(GEQ, RET);
d.entry(); d.name(2, *b"io "); forth!(IO, RET);
//@ Update Forth's "latest" and "here" variables to match the ones
//@ we've been tracking in Rust.
d.c.store(latest_ptr, d.dp);
d.c.store(here_ptr, d.here);
//@ Start out in interpreting mode.
d.c.store(state_ptr, 0xffff);
//@ Put a call to the outer interpreter at the CPU's
//@ [reset vector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reset_vector).
d.c.store(0, quit);
}
//@ Finally, start the machine.
fn main() {
/* Create the machine */
let mut c = Core::new();
/* Put the dictionary into memory */
build_dictionary(&mut c);
/* Start running the CPU from the reset vector */
c.ip = 0;
loop {
c.step();
}
}
//@ ## Part 3 - Using the interactive programming environment
//@
//@ > "The next step is a problem-oriented-language. By permitting
//@ > the program to dynamically modify its control language, we
//@ > mark a qualitative change in capability. We also change our
//@ > attention from the program to the language it implements.
//@ > This is an important, and dangerous, diversion. For it's
//@ > easy to lose sight of the problem amidst the beauty of the
//@ > solution."
//@ >
//@ > -- Chuck Moore,
//@ > ["Programming a Problem-Oriented Language"](https://colorforth.github.io/POL.htm),
//@ > 1970
//@
//@
//@ Now we can start programming in "real" Forth, not a weird macro language
//@ inside Rust.
//@
//@ You can compile our Forth computer with:
//@
//@ ```
//@ rustc frustration.rs
//@ ```
//@
//@ You can run our Forth computer with:
//@
//@ ```
//@ ./frustration
//@ ```
//@
//@ However, I recommend loading a Forth program (frustration.4th, provided)
//@ which does a few more setup steps before letting you loose.
//@
//@ ```
//@ cat frustration.4th - | ./frustration
//@ ```
//@
//@ The line above is a good way to run Frustration if you're using Linux.
//@ It concatenates together frustration.4th and - (stdin). This means you
//@ can type commands once frustration.4th has been executed.
//@
//@ There is a shell script supplied that will do all of the above for you.
//@
//@ ```
//@ bash build.sh
//@ ```
//@
//@ Please read
//@ [frustration.4th](./frustration.4th)
//@ if you want to learn more about how to use Forth.