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- <title>Stacker: An Example Of Using LLVM</title>
+ <title>Stacker: An Example Of Using LLVM</title>
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+ table, tr, td { border: 2px solid gray }
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<body>
+
<div class="doc_title">Stacker: An Example Of Using LLVM</div>
-<hr>
+
<ol>
<li><a href="#abstract">Abstract</a></li>
<li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="#gep">The Wily GetElementPtrInst</a></li>
<li><a href="#linkage">Getting Linkage Types Right</a></li>
<li><a href="#constants">Constants Are Easier Than That!</a></li>
- </ol>
- </li>
+ </ol></li>
<li><a href="#lexicon">The Stacker Lexicon</a>
<ol>
- <li><a href="#stack">The Stack</a>
- <li><a href="#punctuation">Punctuation</a>
- <li><a href="#comments">Comments</a>
- <li><a href="#literals">Literals</a>
- <li><a href="#words">Words</a>
- <li><a href="style">Standard Style</a>
- <li><a href="#builtins">Built-Ins</a>
- </ol>
- </li>
+ <li><a href="#stack">The Stack</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#punctuation">Punctuation</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#comments">Comments</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#literals">Literals</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#words">Words</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#style">Standard Style</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#builtins">Built-Ins</a></li>
+ </ol></li>
<li><a href="#example">Prime: A Complete Example</a></li>
<li><a href="#internal">Internal Code Details</a>
<ol>
<li><a href="#tests">Test Programs</a></li>
<li><a href="#exercise">Exercise</a></li>
<li><a href="#todo">Things Remaining To Be Done</a></li>
- </ol>
- </li>
+ </ol></li>
</ol>
-<div class="doc_text">
-<p><b>Written by <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a> </b></p>
-<p> </p>
+
+<div class="doc_author">
+ <p>Written by <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a></p>
</div>
-<hr>
+
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_section"> <a name="abstract">Abstract </a></div>
+<div class="doc_section"><a name="abstract">Abstract</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>This document is another way to learn about LLVM. Unlike the
<a href="LangRef.html">LLVM Reference Manual</a> or
-<a href="ProgrammersManual.html">LLVM Programmer's Manual</a>, we learn
+<a href="ProgrammersManual.html">LLVM Programmer's Manual</a>, here we learn
about LLVM through the experience of creating a simple programming language
named Stacker. Stacker was invented specifically as a demonstration of
LLVM. The emphasis in this document is not on describing the
-intricacies of LLVM itself, but on how to use it to build your own
+intricacies of LLVM itself but on how to use it to build your own
compiler system.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<p>Amongst other things, LLVM is a platform for compiler writers.
Because of its exceptionally clean and small IR (intermediate
representation), compiler writing with LLVM is much easier than with
-other system. As proof, the author of Stacker wrote the entire
-compiler (language definition, lexer, parser, code generator, etc.) in
-about <em>four days</em>! That's important to know because it shows
-how quickly you can get a new
-language up when using LLVM. Furthermore, this was the <em >first</em>
+other system. As proof, I wrote the entire compiler (language definition,
+lexer, parser, code generator, etc.) in about <em>four days</em>!
+That's important to know because it shows how quickly you can get a new
+language running when using LLVM. Furthermore, this was the <em >first</em>
language the author ever created using LLVM. The learning curve is
included in that four days.</p>
<p>The language described here, Stacker, is Forth-like. Programs
-are simple collections of word definitions and the only thing definitions
+are simple collections of word definitions, and the only thing definitions
can do is manipulate a stack or generate I/O. Stacker is not a "real"
-programming language; its very simple. Although it is computationally
+programming language; it's very simple. Although it is computationally
complete, you wouldn't use it for your next big project. However,
-the fact that it is complete, its simple, and it <em>doesn't</em> have
+the fact that it is complete, it's simple, and it <em>doesn't</em> have
a C-like syntax make it useful for demonstration purposes. It shows
that LLVM could be applied to a wide variety of languages.</p>
<p>The basic notions behind stacker is very simple. There's a stack of
: MAIN hello_world ;<br></code></p>
<p>This has two "definitions" (Stacker manipulates words, not
functions and words have definitions): <code>MAIN</code> and <code>
-hello_world</code>. The <code>MAIN</code> definition is standard, it
+hello_world</code>. The <code>MAIN</code> definition is standard; it
tells Stacker where to start. Here, <code>MAIN</code> is defined to
simply invoke the word <code>hello_world</code>. The
<code>hello_world</code> definition tells stacker to push the
-<code>"Hello, World!"</code> string onto the stack, print it out
+<code>"Hello, World!"</code> string on to the stack, print it out
(<code>>s</code>), pop it off the stack (<code>DROP</code>), and
finally print a carriage return (<code>CR</code>). Although
<code>hello_world</code> uses the stack, its net effect is null. Well
<p>Although I knew that LLVM uses a Single Static Assignment (SSA) format,
it wasn't obvious to me how prevalent this idea was in LLVM until I really
started using it. Reading the <a href="ProgrammersManual.html">
-Programmer's Manual</a> and <a href="LangRef.html">Language Reference</a>
+Programmer's Manual</a> and <a href="LangRef.html">Language Reference</a>,
I noted that most of the important LLVM IR (Intermediate Representation) C++
classes were derived from the Value class. The full power of that simple
design only became fully understood once I started constructing executable
You could write a function using LLVM that computes this expression like this: </p>
<pre><code>
Value*
-expression(BasicBlock*bb, Value* a, Value* b, Value* x, Value* y )
+expression(BasicBlock* bb, Value* a, Value* b, Value* x, Value* y )
{
Instruction* tail = bb->getTerminator();
ConstantSInt* one = ConstantSInt::get( Type::IntTy, 1);
BinaryOperator* or1 =
- new BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Or, a, b, "", tail );
+ BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Or, a, b, "", tail );
BinaryOperator* add1 =
- new BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Add, x, one, "", tail );
+ BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Add, x, one, "", tail );
BinaryOperator* add2 =
- new BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Add, y, one, "", tail );
+ BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Add, y, one, "", tail );
BinaryOperator* div1 =
- new BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Div, add1, add2, "", tail);
+ BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Div, add1, add2, "", tail);
BinaryOperator* mult1 =
- new BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Mul, or1, div1, "", tail );
+ BinaryOperator::create( Instruction::Mul, or1, div1, "", tail );
return mult1;
}
</code></pre>
-<p>"Okay, big deal," you say. It is a big deal. Here's why. Note that I didn't
+<p>"Okay, big deal," you say? It is a big deal. Here's why. Note that I didn't
have to tell this function which kinds of Values are being passed in. They could be
-<code>Instruction</code>s, <code>Constant</code>s, <code>GlobalVariable</code>s,
-etc. Furthermore, if you specify Values that are incorrect for this sequence of
+<code>Instruction</code>s, <code>Constant</code>s, <code>GlobalVariable</code>s, or
+any of the other subclasses of <code>Value</code> that LLVM supports.
+Furthermore, if you specify Values that are incorrect for this sequence of
operations, LLVM will either notice right away (at compilation time) or the LLVM
-Verifier will pick up the inconsistency when the compiler runs. In no case will
-you make a type error that gets passed through to the generated program.
-This <em>really</em> helps you write a compiler that always generates correct code!<p>
+Verifier will pick up the inconsistency when the compiler runs. In either case
+LLVM prevents you from making a type error that gets passed through to the
+generated program. This <em>really</em> helps you write a compiler that
+always generates correct code!<p>
<p>The second point is that we don't have to worry about branching, registers,
stack variables, saving partial results, etc. The instructions we create
<em>are</em> the values we use. Note that all that was created in the above
<ol>
<li><em>Create your blocks early.</em> While writing your compiler, you
will encounter several situations where you know apriori that you will
- need several blocks. For example, if-then-else, switch, while and for
+ need several blocks. For example, if-then-else, switch, while, and for
statements in C/C++ all need multiple blocks for expression in LVVM.
The rule is, create them early.</li>
<li><em>Terminate your blocks early.</em> This just reduces the chances
before. This makes for some very clean compiler design.</li>
</ol>
<p>The foregoing is such an important principal, its worth making an idiom:</p>
-<pre><code>
-BasicBlock* bb = new BasicBlock();</li>
+<pre>
+BasicBlock* bb = new BasicBlock();
bb->getInstList().push_back( new Branch( ... ) );
new Instruction(..., bb->getTerminator() );
-</code></pre>
+</pre>
<p>To make this clear, consider the typical if-then-else statement
(see StackerCompiler::handle_if() method). We can set this up
in a single function using LLVM in the following way: </p>
MyCompiler::handle_if( BasicBlock* bb, SetCondInst* condition )
{
// Create the blocks to contain code in the structure of if/then/else
- BasicBlock* then = new BasicBlock();
- BasicBlock* else = new BasicBlock();
- BasicBlock* exit = new BasicBlock();
+ BasicBlock* then_bb = new BasicBlock();
+ BasicBlock* else_bb = new BasicBlock();
+ BasicBlock* exit_bb = new BasicBlock();
// Insert the branch instruction for the "if"
- bb->getInstList().push_back( new BranchInst( then, else, condition ) );
+ bb->getInstList().push_back( new BranchInst( then_bb, else_bb, condition ) );
// Set up the terminating instructions
- then->getInstList().push_back( new BranchInst( exit ) );
- else->getInstList().push_back( new BranchInst( exit ) );
+ then->getInstList().push_back( new BranchInst( exit_bb ) );
+ else->getInstList().push_back( new BranchInst( exit_bb ) );
// Fill in the then part .. details excised for brevity
- this->fill_in( then );
+ this->fill_in( then_bb );
// Fill in the else part .. details excised for brevity
- this->fill_in( else );
+ this->fill_in( else_bb );
// Return a block to the caller that can be filled in with the code
// that follows the if/then/else construct.
- return exit;
+ return exit_bb;
}
</pre>
<p>Presumably in the foregoing, the calls to the "fill_in" method would add
the instructions for the "then" and "else" parts. They would use the third part
of the idiom almost exclusively (inserting new instructions before the
terminator). Furthermore, they could even recurse back to <code>handle_if</code>
-should they encounter another if/then/else statement and it will just work.</p>
+should they encounter another if/then/else statement, and it will just work.</p>
<p>Note how cleanly this all works out. In particular, the push_back methods on
the <code>BasicBlock</code>'s instruction list. These are lists of type
-<code>Instruction</code> which also happen to be <code>Value</code>s. To create
+<code>Instruction</code> (which is also of type <code>Value</code>). To create
the "if" branch we merely instantiate a <code>BranchInst</code> that takes as
-arguments the blocks to branch to and the condition to branch on. The blocks
-act like branch labels! This new <code>BranchInst</code> terminates
-the <code>BasicBlock</code> provided as an argument. To give the caller a way
-to keep inserting after calling <code>handle_if</code> we create an "exit" block
-which is returned to the caller. Note that the "exit" block is used as the
-terminator for both the "then" and the "else" blocks. This gaurantees that no
-matter what else "handle_if" or "fill_in" does, they end up at the "exit" block.
+arguments the blocks to branch to and the condition to branch on. The
+<code>BasicBlock</code> objects act like branch labels! This new
+<code>BranchInst</code> terminates the <code>BasicBlock</code> provided
+as an argument. To give the caller a way to keep inserting after calling
+<code>handle_if</code>, we create an <code>exit_bb</code> block which is
+returned
+to the caller. Note that the <code>exit_bb</code> block is used as the
+terminator for both the <code>then_bb</code> and the <code>else_bb</code>
+blocks. This guarantees that no matter what else <code>handle_if</code>
+or <code>fill_in</code> does, they end up at the <code>exit_bb</code> block.
</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
method on the various lists. This is so common that it is worth mentioning.
The "push_back" inserts a value into an STL list, vector, array, etc. at the
end. The method might have also been named "insert_tail" or "append".
-Althought I've used STL quite frequently, my use of push_back wasn't very
+Although I've used STL quite frequently, my use of push_back wasn't very
high in other programs. In LLVM, you'll use it all the time.
</p>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>
It took a little getting used to and several rounds of postings to the LLVM
-mail list to wrap my head around this instruction correctly. Even though I had
+mailing list to wrap my head around this instruction correctly. Even though I had
read the Language Reference and Programmer's Manual a couple times each, I still
missed a few <em>very</em> key points:
</p>
<ul>
- <li>GetElementPtrInst gives you back a Value for the last thing indexed</em>
- <li>All global variables in LLVM are <em>pointers</em>.
- <li>Pointers must also be dereferenced with the GetElementPtrInst instruction.
+<li>GetElementPtrInst gives you back a Value for the last thing indexed.</li>
+<li>All global variables in LLVM are <em>pointers</em>.</li>
+<li>Pointers must also be dereferenced with the GetElementPtrInst
+instruction.</li>
</ul>
<p>This means that when you look up an element in the global variable (assuming
-its a struct or array), you <em>must</em> deference the pointer first! For many
+it's a struct or array), you <em>must</em> deference the pointer first! For many
things, this leads to the idiom:
</p>
-<pre><code>
-std::vector<Value*> index_vector;
+<pre>
+std::vector<Value*> index_vector;
index_vector.push_back( ConstantSInt::get( Type::LongTy, 0 );
// ... push other indices ...
GetElementPtrInst* gep = new GetElementPtrInst( ptr, index_vector );
-</code></pre>
+</pre>
<p>For example, suppose we have a global variable whose type is [24 x int]. The
variable itself represents a <em>pointer</em> to that array. To subscript the
array, we need two indices, not just one. The first index (0) dereferences the
will run against your grain because you'll naturally think of the global array
variable and the address of its first element as the same. That tripped me up
for a while until I realized that they really do differ .. by <em>type</em>.
-Remember that LLVM is a strongly typed language itself. Everything
-has a type. The "type" of the global variable is [24 x int]*. That is, its
+Remember that LLVM is strongly typed. Everything has a type.
+The "type" of the global variable is [24 x int]*. That is, it's
a pointer to an array of 24 ints. When you dereference that global variable with
a single (0) index, you now have a "[24 x int]" type. Although
the pointer value of the dereferenced global and the address of the zero'th element
in the array will be the same, they differ in their type. The zero'th element has
type "int" while the pointer value has type "[24 x int]".</p>
-<p>Get this one aspect of LLVM right in your head and you'll save yourself
+<p>Get this one aspect of LLVM right in your head, and you'll save yourself
a lot of compiler writing headaches down the road.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="linkage"></a>Getting Linkage Types Right</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>Linkage types in LLVM can be a little confusing, especially if your compiler
-writing mind has affixed very hard concepts to particular words like "weak",
+writing mind has affixed firm concepts to particular words like "weak",
"external", "global", "linkonce", etc. LLVM does <em>not</em> use the precise
-definitions of say ELF or GCC even though they share common terms. To be fair,
+definitions of, say, ELF or GCC, even though they share common terms. To be fair,
the concepts are related and similar but not precisely the same. This can lead
you to think you know what a linkage type represents but in fact it is slightly
different. I recommend you read the
carefully. Then, read it again.<p>
<p>Here are some handy tips that I discovered along the way:</p>
<ul>
- <li>Unitialized means external. That is, the symbol is declared in the current
- module and can be used by that module but it is not defined by that module.</li>
- <li>Setting an initializer changes a global's linkage type from whatever it was
- to a normal, defind global (not external). You'll need to call the setLinkage()
- method to reset it if you specify the initializer after the GlobalValue has been
- constructed. This is important for LinkOnce and Weak linkage types.</li>
- <li>Appending linkage can be used to keep track of compilation information at
- runtime. It could be used, for example, to build a full table of all the C++
- virtual tables or hold the C++ RTTI data, or whatever. Appending linkage can
- only be applied to arrays. The arrays are concatenated together at link time.</li>
+ <li><em>Uninitialized means external.</em> That is, the symbol is declared in the current
+ module and can be used by that module, but it is not defined by that module.</li>
+ <li><em>Setting an initializer changes a global' linkage type.</em> Setting an
+ initializer changes a global's linkage type from whatever it was to a normal,
+ defined global (not external). You'll need to call the setLinkage() method to
+ reset it if you specify the initializer after the GlobalValue has been constructed.
+ This is important for LinkOnce and Weak linkage types.</li>
+ <li><em>Appending linkage can keep track of things.</em> Appending linkage can
+ be used to keep track of compilation information at runtime. It could be used,
+ for example, to build a full table of all the C++ virtual tables or hold the
+ C++ RTTI data, or whatever. Appending linkage can only be applied to arrays.
+ All arrays with the same name in each module are concatenated together at link
+ time.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
functions in the LLVM IR that make things easier. Here's what I learned: </p>
<ul>
<li>Constants are Values like anything else and can be operands of instructions</li>
- <li>Integer constants, frequently needed can be created using the static "get"
+ <li>Integer constants, frequently needed, can be created using the static "get"
methods of the ConstantInt, ConstantSInt, and ConstantUInt classes. The nice thing
about these is that you can "get" any kind of integer quickly.</li>
<li>There's a special method on Constant class which allows you to get the null
proceeding, a few words about the stack are in order. The stack is simply
a global array of 32-bit integers or pointers. A global index keeps track
of the location of the top of the stack. All of this is hidden from the
-programmer but it needs to be noted because it is the foundation of the
+programmer, but it needs to be noted because it is the foundation of the
conceptual programming model for Stacker. When you write a definition,
you are, essentially, saying how you want that definition to manipulate
the global stack.</p>
<p>Manipulating the stack can be quite hazardous. There is no distinction
given and no checking for the various types of values that can be placed
on the stack. Automatic coercion between types is performed. In many
-cases this is useful. For example, a boolean value placed on the stack
+cases, this is useful. For example, a boolean value placed on the stack
can be interpreted as an integer with good results. However, using a
word that interprets that boolean value as a pointer to a string to
print out will almost always yield a crash. Stacker simply leaves it
<p>So, your typical definition will have the form:</p>
<pre><code>: name ... ;</code></pre>
<p>The <code>name</code> is up to you but it must start with a letter and contain
-only letters numbers and underscore. Names are case sensitive and must not be
+only letters, numbers, and underscore. Names are case sensitive and must not be
the same as the name of a built-in word. The <code>...</code> is replaced by
-the stack manipulting words that you wish define <code>name</code> as. <p>
+the stack manipulating words that you wish to define <code>name</code> as. <p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="comments"></a>Comments</div>
# This is a comment to end of line
( This is an enclosed comment )
</code></pre>
-<p>See the <a href="#example">example</a> program to see how this works in
+<p>See the <a href="#example">example</a> program to see comments in use in
a real program.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="literals"></a>Literals</div>
<div class="doc_text">
- <p>There are three kinds of literal values in Stacker. Integer, Strings,
+ <p>There are three kinds of literal values in Stacker: Integers, Strings,
and Booleans. In each case, the stack operation is to simply push the
- value onto the stack. So, for example:<br/>
+ value on to the stack. So, for example:<br/>
<code> 42 " is the answer." TRUE </code><br/>
- will push three values onto the stack: the integer 42, the
- string " is the answer." and the boolean TRUE.</p>
+ will push three values on to the stack: the integer 42, the
+ string " is the answer.", and the boolean TRUE.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="words"></a>Words</div>
transformation he applies will affect the program.</p>
<p>Words in a definition come in two flavors: built-in and programmer
defined. Simply mentioning the name of a previously defined or declared
-programmer-defined word causes that word's definition to be invoked. It
+programmer-defined word causes that word's stack actions to be invoked. It
is somewhat like a function call in other languages. The built-in
-words have various effects, described below.</p>
+words have various effects, described <a href="#builtins">below</a>.</p>
<p>Sometimes you need to call a word before it is defined. For this, you can
use the <code>FORWARD</code> declaration. It looks like this:</p>
<p><code>FORWARD name ;</code></p>
linking.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="style"></a>Standard Style</div>
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>TODO</p>
+</div>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="builtins"></a>Built In Words</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>The built-in words of the Stacker language are put in several groups
depending on what they do. The groups are as follows:</p>
<ol>
- <li><em>Logical</em>These words provide the logical operations for
+ <li><em>Logical</em>: These words provide the logical operations for
comparing stack operands.<br/>The words are: < > <= >=
= <> true false.</li>
- <li><em>Bitwise</em>These words perform bitwise computations on
+ <li><em>Bitwise</em>: These words perform bitwise computations on
their operands. <br/> The words are: << >> XOR AND NOT</li>
- <li><em>Arithmetic</em>These words perform arithmetic computations on
+ <li><em>Arithmetic</em>: These words perform arithmetic computations on
their operands. <br/> The words are: ABS NEG + - * / MOD */ ++ -- MIN MAX</li>
<li><em>Stack</em>These words manipulate the stack directly by moving
- its elements around.<br/> The words are: DROP DUP SWAP OVER ROT DUP2 DROP2 PICK TUCK</li>
- <li><em>Memory</em>These words allocate, free and manipulate memory
+ its elements around.<br/> The words are: DROP DROP2 NIP NIP2 DUP DUP2
+ SWAP SWAP2 OVER OVER2 ROT ROT2 RROT RROT2 TUCK TUCK2 PICK SELECT ROLL</li>
+ <li><em>Memory</em>These words allocate, free, and manipulate memory
areas outside the stack.<br/>The words are: MALLOC FREE GET PUT</li>
- <li><em>Control</em>These words alter the normal left to right flow
+ <li><em>Control</em>: These words alter the normal left to right flow
of execution.<br/>The words are: IF ELSE ENDIF WHILE END RETURN EXIT RECURSE</li>
- <li><em>I/O</em> These words perform output on the standard output
+ <li><em>I/O</em>: These words perform output on the standard output
and input on the standard input. No other I/O is possible in Stacker.
<br/>The words are: SPACE TAB CR >s >d >c <s <d <c.</li>
</ol>
<li><em>p</em> - a pointer to a malloc'd memory block</li>
</ol>
</div>
-<div class="doc_text">
-<table class="doc_table" >
+<div class="doc_text" >
+ <table class="doc_table">
<tr class="doc_table"><td colspan="4">Definition Of Operation Of Built In Words</td></tr>
-<tr class="doc_table"><td colspan="4">LOGICAL OPERATIONS</td></tr>
-<tr class="doc_table"><td>Word</td><td>Name</td><td>Operation</td><td>Description</td></tr>
-<tr class="doc_table"><td><</td>
+<tr class="doc_table"><td colspan="4"><b>LOGICAL OPERATIONS</b></td></tr>
+<tr class="doc_table">
+ <td>Word</td>
+ <td>Name</td>
+ <td>Operation</td>
+ <td>Description</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="doc_table">
+ <td><</td>
<td>LT</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- b</td>
<td>Two values (w1 and w2) are popped off the stack and
<tr><td>FALSE</td>
<td>FALSE</td>
<td> -- b</td>
- <td>The boolean value FALSE (0) is pushed onto the stack.</td>
+ <td>The boolean value FALSE (0) is pushed on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>TRUE</td>
<td>TRUE</td>
<td> -- b</td>
- <td>The boolean value TRUE (-1) is pushed onto the stack.</td>
+ <td>The boolean value TRUE (-1) is pushed on to the stack.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4"><b>BITWISE OPERATORS</b></td></tr>
+<tr>
+ <td>Word</td>
+ <td>Name</td>
+ <td>Operation</td>
+ <td>Description</td>
</tr>
-<tr><td colspan="4">BITWISE OPERATIONS</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Word</td><td>Name</td><td>Operation</td><td>Description</td></tr>
<tr><td><<</td>
<td>SHL</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- w1<<w2</td>
are bitwise exclusive OR'd together and pushed back on the stack.
For example, The sequence 1 3 XOR yields 2.</td>
</tr>
-<tr><td colspan="4">ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Word</td><td>Name</td><td>Operation</td><td>Description</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4"><b>ARITHMETIC OPERATORS</b></td></tr>
+<tr>
+ <td>Word</td>
+ <td>Name</td>
+ <td>Operation</td>
+ <td>Description</td>
+</tr>
<tr><td>ABS</td>
<td>ABS</td>
<td>w -- |w|</td>
<td>One value s popped off the stack; its absolute value is computed
- and then pushed onto the stack. If w1 is -1 then w2 is 1. If w1 is
+ and then pushed on to the stack. If w1 is -1 then w2 is 1. If w1 is
1 then w2 is also 1.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>NEG</td>
<td>NEG</td>
<td>w -- -w</td>
<td>One value is popped off the stack which is negated and then
- pushed back onto the stack. If w1 is -1 then w2 is 1. If w1 is
+ pushed back on to the stack. If w1 is -1 then w2 is 1. If w1 is
1 then w2 is -1.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> + </td>
<td>ADD</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- w2+w1</td>
<td>Two values are popped off the stack. Their sum is pushed back
- onto the stack</td>
+ on to the stack</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> - </td>
<td>SUB</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- w2-w1</td>
<td>Two values are popped off the stack. Their difference is pushed back
- onto the stack</td>
+ on to the stack</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> * </td>
<td>MUL</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- w2*w1</td>
<td>Two values are popped off the stack. Their product is pushed back
- onto the stack</td>
+ on to the stack</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> / </td>
<td>DIV</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- w2/w1</td>
<td>Two values are popped off the stack. Their quotient is pushed back
- onto the stack</td>
+ on to the stack</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>MOD</td>
<td>MOD</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- w2%w1</td>
<td>Two values are popped off the stack. Their remainder after division
- of w1 by w2 is pushed back onto the stack</td>
+ of w1 by w2 is pushed back on to the stack</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> */ </td>
<td>STAR_SLAH</td>
<td>w1 w2 w3 -- (w3*w2)/w1</td>
<td>Three values are popped off the stack. The product of w1 and w2 is
- divided by w3. The result is pushed back onto the stack.</td>
+ divided by w3. The result is pushed back on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> ++ </td>
<td>INCR</td>
<td>w -- w+1</td>
<td>One value is popped off the stack. It is incremented by one and then
- pushed back onto the stack.</td>
+ pushed back on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> -- </td>
<td>DECR</td>
<td>w -- w-1</td>
<td>One value is popped off the stack. It is decremented by one and then
- pushed back onto the stack.</td>
+ pushed back on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>MIN</td>
<td>MIN</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- (w2<w1?w2:w1)</td>
<td>Two values are popped off the stack. The larger one is pushed back
- onto the stack.</td>
+ on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>MAX</td>
<td>MAX</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- (w2>w1?w2:w1)</td>
<td>Two values are popped off the stack. The larger value is pushed back
- onto the stack.</td>
+ on to the stack.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4"><b>STACK MANIPULATION OPERATORS</b></td></tr>
+<tr>
+ <td>Word</td>
+ <td>Name</td>
+ <td>Operation</td>
+ <td>Description</td>
</tr>
-<tr><td colspan="4">STACK MANIPULATION OPERATIONS</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Word</td><td>Name</td><td>Operation</td><td>Description</td></tr>
<tr><td>DROP</td>
<td>DROP</td>
<td>w -- </td>
<tr><td>DUP</td>
<td>DUP</td>
<td>w1 -- w1 w1</td>
- <td>One value is popped off the stack. That value is then pushed onto
+ <td>One value is popped off the stack. That value is then pushed on to
the stack twice to duplicate the top stack vaue.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>DUP2</td>
<td>SWAP</td>
<td>w1 w2 -- w2 w1</td>
<td>The top two stack items are reversed in their order. That is, two
- values are popped off the stack and pushed back onto the stack in
+ values are popped off the stack and pushed back on to the stack in
the opposite order they were popped.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>SWAP2</td>
<td>w1 w2 w3 w4 -- w3 w4 w2 w1</td>
<td>The top four stack items are swapped in pairs. That is, two values
are popped and retained. Then, two more values are popped and retained.
- The values are pushed back onto the stack in the reverse order but
- in pairs.</p>
+ The values are pushed back on to the stack in the reverse order but
+ in pairs.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>OVER</td>
<td>OVER</td>
<td>w1 w2-- w1 w2 w1</td>
<td>Two values are popped from the stack. They are pushed back
- onto the stack in the order w1 w2 w1. This seems to cause the
+ on to the stack in the order w1 w2 w1. This seems to cause the
top stack element to be duplicated "over" the next value.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>OVER2</td>
<td>OVER2</td>
<td>w1 w2 w3 w4 -- w1 w2 w3 w4 w1 w2</td>
- <td>The third and fourth values on the stack are replicated onto the
+ <td>The third and fourth values on the stack are replicated on to the
top of the stack</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>ROT</td>
<td>ROT</td>
<td>w1 w2 w3 -- w2 w3 w1</td>
<td>The top three values are rotated. That is, three value are popped
- off the stack. They are pushed back onto the stack in the order
+ off the stack. They are pushed back on to the stack in the order
w1 w3 w2.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>ROT2</td>
how much to rotate. That is, ROLL with n=1 is the same as ROT and
ROLL with n=2 is the same as ROT2.</td>
</tr>
-<tr><td colspan="4">MEMORY OPERATIONS</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Word</td><td>Name</td><td>Operation</td><td>Description</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4"><b>MEMORY OPERATORS</b></td></tr>
+<tr>
+ <td>Word</td>
+ <td>Name</td>
+ <td>Operation</td>
+ <td>Description</td>
+</tr>
<tr><td>MALLOC</td>
<td>MALLOC</td>
<td>w1 -- p</td>
<td>One value is popped off the stack. The value is used as the size
of a memory block to allocate. The size is in bytes, not words.
The memory allocation is completed and the address of the memory
- block is pushed onto the stack.</td>
+ block is pushed on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>FREE</td>
<td>FREE</td>
pushed back on the stack so this doesn't count as a "use ptr"
in the FREE idiom.</td>
</tr>
-<tr><td colspan="4">CONTROL FLOW OPERATIONS</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Word</td><td>Name</td><td>Operation</td><td>Description</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4"><b>CONTROL FLOW OPERATORS</b></td></tr>
+<tr>
+ <td>Word</td>
+ <td>Name</td>
+ <td>Operation</td>
+ <td>Description</td>
+</tr>
<tr><td>RETURN</td>
<td>RETURN</td>
<td> -- </td>
<td>The boolean value on the top of the stack is examined. If it is non-zero then the
"words..." between WHILE and END are executed. Execution then begins again at the WHILE where another
boolean is popped off the stack. To prevent this operation from eating up the entire
- stack, you should push onto the stack (just before the END) a boolean value that indicates
+ stack, you should push on to the stack (just before the END) a boolean value that indicates
whether to terminate. Note that since booleans and integers can be coerced you can
use the following "for loop" idiom:<br/>
<code>(push count) WHILE (words...) -- END</code><br/>
the top of stack is decremented to 0 at which the WHILE test fails and control is
transfered to the word after the END.</td>
</tr>
-<tr><td colspan="4">INPUT & OUTPUT OPERATIONS</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Word</td><td>Name</td><td>Operation</td><td>Description</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="4"><b>INPUT & OUTPUT OPERATORS</b></td></tr>
+<tr>
+ <td>Word</td>
+ <td>Name</td>
+ <td>Operation</td>
+ <td>Description</td>
+</tr>
<tr><td>SPACE</td>
<td>SPACE</td>
<td> -- </td>
<tr><td>>d</td>
<td>OUT_STR</td>
<td> -- </td>
- <td>A value is popped from the stack. It is put out as a decimal integer.</td>
+ <td>A value is popped from the stack. It is put out as a decimal
+ integer.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>>c</td>
<td>OUT_CHR</td>
<td> -- </td>
- <td>A value is popped from the stack. It is put out as an ASCII character.</td>
+ <td>A value is popped from the stack. It is put out as an ASCII
+ character.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><s</td>
<td>IN_STR</td>
<td> -- s </td>
- <td>A string is read from the input via the scanf(3) format string " %as". The
- resulting string is pushed onto the stack.</td>
+ <td>A string is read from the input via the scanf(3) format string " %as".
+ The resulting string is pushed on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><d</td>
<td>IN_STR</td>
<td> -- w </td>
- <td>An integer is read from the input via the scanf(3) format string " %d". The
- resulting value is pushed onto the stack</td>
+ <td>An integer is read from the input via the scanf(3) format string " %d".
+ The resulting value is pushed on to the stack</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><c</td>
<td>IN_CHR</td>
<td> -- w </td>
- <td>A single character is read from the input via the scanf(3) format string
- " %c". The value is converted to an integer and pushed onto the stack.</td>
+ <td>A single character is read from the input via the scanf(3) format string
+ " %c". The value is converted to an integer and pushed on to the stack.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>DUMP</td>
<td>DUMP</td>
to see instantly the net effect of the definition.</td>
</tr>
</table>
+
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_section"> <a name="example">Prime: A Complete Example</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>The following fully documented program highlights many features of both
the Stacker language and what is possible with LLVM. The program has two modes
-of operations. If you provide numeric arguments to the program, it checks to see
-if those arguments are prime numbers, prints out the results. Without any
-aruments, the program prints out any prime numbers it finds between 1 and one
-million (there's a log of them!). The source code comments below tell the
+of operation. If you provide numeric arguments to the program, it checks to see
+if those arguments are prime numbers and prints out the results. Without any
+arguments, the program prints out any prime numbers it finds between 1 and one
+million (there's a lot of them!). The source code comments below tell the
remainder of the story.
</p>
</div>
################################################################################
# Utility definitions
################################################################################
-: print >d CR ;
+: print >d CR ;
: it_is_a_prime TRUE ;
: it_is_not_a_prime FALSE ;
: continue_loop TRUE ;
: exit_loop FALSE;
################################################################################
-# This definition tryies an actual division of a candidate prime number. It
+# This definition tries an actual division of a candidate prime number. It
# determines whether the division loop on this candidate should continue or
# not.
-# STACK<:
+# STACK<:
# div - the divisor to try
# p - the prime number we are working on
-# STACK>:
+# STACK>:
# cont - should we continue the loop ?
# div - the next divisor to try
# p - the prime number we are working on
# cont - should we continue the loop (ignored)?
# div - the divisor to try
# p - the prime number we are working on
-# STACK>:
+# STACK>:
# cont - should we continue the loop ?
# div - the next divisor to try
# p - the prime number we are working on
# definition which returns a loop continuation value (which we also seed with
# the value 1). After the loop, we check the divisor. If it decremented all
# the way to zero then we found a prime, otherwise we did not find one.
-# STACK<:
+# STACK<:
# p - the prime number to check
-# STACK>:
-# yn - boolean indiating if its a prime or not
+# STACK>:
+# yn - boolean indicating if its a prime or not
# p - the prime number checked
################################################################################
: try_harder
################################################################################
# This definition determines if the number on the top of the stack is a prime
-# or not. It does this by testing if the value is degenerate (<= 3) and
+# or not. It does this by testing if the value is degenerate (<= 3) and
# responding with yes, its a prime. Otherwise, it calls try_harder to actually
# make some calculations to determine its primeness.
-# STACK<:
+# STACK<:
# p - the prime number to check
-# STACK>:
+# STACK>:
# yn - boolean indicating if its a prime or not
# p - the prime number checked
################################################################################
: is_prime
DUP ( save the prime number )
- 3 >= IF ( see if its <= 3 )
+ 3 >= IF ( see if its <= 3 )
it_is_a_prime ( its <= 3 just indicate its prime )
ELSE
try_harder ( have to do a little more work )
################################################################################
# This definition is called when it is time to exit the program, after we have
# found a sufficiently large number of primes.
-# STACK<: ignored
-# STACK>: exits
+# STACK<: ignored
+# STACK>: exits
################################################################################
: done
- "Finished" >s CR ( say we are finished )
+ "Finished" >s CR ( say we are finished )
0 EXIT ( exit nicely )
;
# If it is a prime, it prints it. Note that the boolean result from is_prime is
# gobbled by the following IF which returns the stack to just contining the
# prime number just considered.
-# STACK<:
+# STACK<:
# p - one less than the prime number to consider
-# STACK>
+# STAC>K
# p+1 - the prime number considered
################################################################################
: consider_prime
DUP ( save the prime number to consider )
- 1000000 < IF ( check to see if we are done yet )
+ 1000000 < IF ( check to see if we are done yet )
done ( we are done, call "done" )
ENDIF
++ ( increment to next prime number )
# This definition starts at one, prints it out and continues into a loop calling
# consider_prime on each iteration. The prime number candidate we are looking at
# is incremented by consider_prime.
-# STACK<: empty
-# STACK>: empty
+# STACK<: empty
+# STACK>: empty
################################################################################
: find_primes
- "Prime Numbers: " >s CR ( say hello )
+ "Prime Numbers: " >s CR ( say hello )
DROP ( get rid of that pesky string )
1 ( stoke the fires )
print ( print the first one, we know its prime )
#
################################################################################
: say_yes
- >d ( Print the prime number )
+ >d ( Print the prime number )
" is prime." ( push string to output )
- >s ( output it )
+ >s ( output it )
CR ( print carriage return )
DROP ( pop string )
;
: say_no
- >d ( Print the prime number )
+ >d ( Print the prime number )
" is NOT prime." ( push string to put out )
- >s ( put out the string )
+ >s ( put out the string )
CR ( print carriage return )
DROP ( pop string )
;
################################################################################
# This definition processes a single command line argument and determines if it
# is a prime number or not.
-# STACK<:
+# STACK<:
# n - number of arguments
# arg1 - the prime numbers to examine
-# STACK>:
+# STACK>:
# n-1 - one less than number of arguments
# arg2 - we processed one argument
################################################################################
################################################################################
# The MAIN program just prints a banner and processes its arguments.
-# STACK<:
+# STACK<:
# n - number of arguments
# ... - the arguments
################################################################################
################################################################################
# The MAIN program just prints a banner and processes its arguments.
-# STACK<: arguments
+# STACK<: arguments
################################################################################
: MAIN
NIP ( get rid of the program name )
-- ( reduce number of arguments )
DUP ( save the arg counter )
- 1 <= IF ( See if we got an argument )
+ 1 <= IF ( See if we got an argument )
process_arguments ( tell user if they are prime )
ELSE
find_primes ( see how many we can find )
under the LLVM "projects" directory. You will need to obtain the LLVM sources
to find it (either via anonymous CVS or a tarball. See the
<a href="GettingStarted.html">Getting Started</a> document).</p>
-<p>Under the "projects" directory there is a directory named "stacker". That
+<p>Under the "projects" directory there is a directory named "Stacker". That
directory contains everything, as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>lib</em> - contains most of the source code
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="lexer"></a>The Lexer</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>See projects/Stacker/lib/compiler/Lexer.l</p>
-</p></div>
+</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="parser"></a>The Parser</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>See projects/Stacker/lib/compiler/StackerParser.y</p>
-</p></div>
+</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="compiler"></a>The Compiler</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>See projects/Stacker/lib/compiler/StackerCompiler.cpp</p>
-</p></div>
+</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="runtime"></a>The Runtime</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>See projects/Stacker/lib/runtime/stacker_rt.c</p>
-</p></div>
+</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="driver"></a>Compiler Driver</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>See projects/Stacker/tools/stkrc/stkrc.cpp</p>
-</p></div>
+</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="tests"></a>Test Programs</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>See projects/Stacker/test/*.st</p>
-</p></div>
+</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"> <a name="exercise">Exercise</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
definitions, the ROLL word is not implemented. This word was left out of
Stacker on purpose so that it can be an exercise for the student. The exercise
is to implement the ROLL functionality (in your own workspace) and build a test
-program for it. If you can implement ROLL you understand Stacker and probably
+program for it. If you can implement ROLL, you understand Stacker and probably
a fair amount about LLVM since this is one of the more complicated Stacker
operations. The work will almost be completely limited to the
<a href="#compiler">compiler</a>.
by the compiler. That means you don't have to futz around with figuring out how
to get the keyword recognized. It already is. The part of the compiler that
you need to implement is the <code>ROLL</code> case in the
-<code>StackerCompiler::handle_word(int)</code> method.</p> See the implementations
-of PICk and SELECT in the same method to get some hints about how to complete
-this exercise.<p>
+<code>StackerCompiler::handle_word(int)</code> method.</p> See the
+implementations of PICK and SELECT in the same method to get some hints about
+how to complete this exercise.<p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_subsection"> <a name="todo">Things Remaining To Be Done</a></div>
+<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="todo">Things Remaining To Be Done</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>The initial implementation of Stacker has several deficiencies. If you're
interested, here are some things that could be implemented better:</p>
<ol>
<li>Write an LLVM pass to compute the correct stack depth needed by the
- program.</li>
+ program. Currently the stack is set to a fixed number which means programs
+ with large numbers of definitions might fail.</li>
<li>Write an LLVM pass to optimize the use of the global stack. The code
emitted currently is somewhat wasteful. It gets cleaned up a lot by existing
passes but more could be done.</li>
<li>Add -O -O1 -O2 and -O3 optimization switches to the compiler driver to
- allow LLVM optimization without using "opt"</li>
- <li>Make the compiler driver use the LLVM linking facilities (with IPO) before
- depending on GCC to do the final link.</li>
+ allow LLVM optimization without using "opt."</li>
+ <li>Make the compiler driver use the LLVM linking facilities (with IPO)
+ before depending on GCC to do the final link.</li>
<li>Clean up parsing. It doesn't handle errors very well.</li>
<li>Rearrange the StackerCompiler.cpp code to make better use of inserting
instructions before a block's terminating instruction. I didn't figure this
- technique out until I was nearly done with LLVM. As it is, its a bad example
+ technique out until I was nearly done with LLVM. As it is, its a bad example
of how to insert instructions!</li>
<li>Provide for I/O to arbitrary files instead of just stdin/stdout.</li>
- <li>Write additional built-in words.</li>
+ <li>Write additional built-in words; with inspiration from FORTH</li>
<li>Write additional sample Stacker programs.</li>
- <li>Add your own compiler writing experiences and tips in the <a href="lessons">
- Lessons I Learned About LLVM</a> section.</li>
+ <li>Add your own compiler writing experiences and tips in the
+ <a href="#lessons">Lessons I Learned About LLVM</a> section.</li>
</ol>
</div>
-<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+
<hr>
-<div class="doc_footer">
-<address><a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a></address>
-<a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a>
-<br>Last modified: $Date$ </div>
+<address>
+ <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img
+ src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss" alt="Valid CSS!"></a>
+ <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer"><img
+ src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401" alt="Valid HTML 4.01!"></a>
+
+ <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a><br>
+ <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
+ Last modified: $Date$
+</address>
+
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