hi Nate,

thanks very much for your analysis. Much appreciated.

On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 12:24 PM, Nathan Brown <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hey kjs,
>
> So after a quick look last night, I've concluded that we should try to
> implement the chunk_map portion of the m0 spec because the poke_caller
> test looks like it's using it but in reality it isn't.  Lines 271-274
> (https://github.com/parrot/parrot/blob/m0/t/m0/integration/m0_poke_caller.m0#L271)
> in the test are misleading, the original code is:
>
>    # S3 is the parent call frame's CHUNK
>    set_imm I3, 0,  CHUNK
>    deref   I3, CONSTS, I3
>    goto_chunk I3, I4, x
>
> But this only works because CHUNK = 5 and the 5th item in the callee
> const table is "&caller".

Does this mean it is a coincidence/accident that the example
(poke_caller) is actually working? Just because CHUNK has the value 5,
and the caller happens to be at the 5th position in the callee's CONST
table?

I think the code should be:
>
>    # I3 is the parent call frame's CHUNK
>    set_imm I3, 0,  CHUNK
>    deref   I3, PCF, I3
>    goto_chunk I3, I4, x
>
> But for this to work, we need to make the CHUNK register (see
> https://github.com/parrot/parrot/blob/m0/docs/pdds/draft/pdd32_m0.pod#register-types-and-call-frame-structure)
> and CHUNKS, CHUNK_INFO and CHUNK_MAP interpereter data (see
> https://github.com/parrot/parrot/blob/m0/docs/pdds/draft/pdd32_m0.pod#interpreter-data)
> get populated correctly and used throughout m0.

Do you know whether this has been implemented in M0?
>
> The spec states that CHUNK register should be "the index of the
> currently-executing chunk." The spec also says we should be using
> chunk indices and not names when we use the goto_chunk op. I believe
> that implementing this will mean m1 won't have to store the current
> chunk's name in its const table.
>
> If no one beats me to it, I'll take a swing at this stuff this weekend.

Great!
cheers,
kjs

>
> -Nate
>
> On Jun 5, 2012, at 8:12 PM, Nathan Brown <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi kjs,
>>
>> Nothing stands out to me immediately, but I'll try to get m1 working
>> and look at it. From the code excerpts, it looks like it works, but
>> I'd like to see all the m0 code and try to figure it out.
>>
>> I've been away for a bit, but I'm almost back and would love to help
>> getting  m0 and m1 to work better together.
>>
>> Nate
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 5:18 PM, kjstol <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> hi Nate,
>>>
>>> thanks for your reply.
>>> I've actually stolen most of the code that is generated by M1 from
>>> that particular example. If you look at that example, you'll see that
>>> the callee chunk has the caller's name in its constants segment, which
>>> is loaded at the end.
>>>
>>> When M1 generates the following code (as it does now):
>>>
>>>        set_imm    I2, 0,  PCF
>>>        deref      P0, CF, I2
>>>        set_imm    I3, 0,   RETPC
>>>        deref      I3, P0, I3
>>>        set_imm    I2, 0, 2
>>>        deref      I2, CONSTS, I2
>>>        goto_chunk I2, I3, x
>>>
>>> and you add "&main" at index 2 of the const segment, then it works.
>>> However, when M1 is changed to access the parent's CF instead:
>>>
>>>        set_imm    I2, 0,  PCF
>>>        deref      P0, CF, I2
>>>        set_imm    I3, 0,   RETPC
>>>        deref      I3, P0, I3
>>>        set_imm    I5, 0,   CONSTS ## get index of CONSTS
>>>        deref      P1, P0, I5 ## get CONSTS thingy from parent CF (in P0)
>>>        set_imm    I6, 0,   0 ## load "0"
>>>        deref      I4, P1, I6 ## get the name of the calling function, in P1,
>>> which is the parent's CF's CONST segment. The name is ALWAYS stored at
>>> index 0.
>>>        goto_chunk I4, I3, x
>>>
>>> With this code, the function doesn't return.
>>> Perhaps I'm overlooking something...?
>>>
>>> kjs
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 4:16 PM, Nathan Brown <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> Hello kjs,
>>>>
>>>> m0 actually already has a mechanism for tracking the caller, it's the 
>>>> parent (or previous) call frame PCF register. Since functions and call 
>>>> frames are equivalent in M0, setting the parent/previous call frame 
>>>> register in the child call frame to the address of the current call frame 
>>>> prior to invoking the child call frame will give you knowledge of the 
>>>> caller. This is the way that the poke_caller test in the m0 test suite 
>>>> does it.
>>>>
>>>> Hope that helps,
>>>> Nate
>>>>
>>>> On Jun 5, 2012, at 8:35 AM, kjstol <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> hi there,
>>>>>
>>>>> M1's getting more complete by the day. Function invocations and
>>>>> returns are working, _almost_ (making a few minor manual fixes in the
>>>>> generated M0 code makes it work). The problem is that the called
>>>>> function needs to know about which function it called, so its caller.
>>>>> This is a problem, because obviously, any function can call any other
>>>>> function. In particular, for a function to return, it needs to know
>>>>> the name of the caller, which it takes from the CONSTS segment.
>>>>>
>>>>> One way to do this is of course to pass the name of the caller. I
>>>>> suspect this has something to do with continuation-passing style,
>>>>> where you pass a continuation chunk, which is then invoked in order to
>>>>> return. This will have to be figured out. So, please consider this
>>>>> email as a request for further spec. of M0 :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> Meanwhile, I'll continue with more basic stuff; enumerations, variable
>>>>> scoping, and perhaps namespaces are next. Suggestions and feedback and
>>>>> requests for features are welcome.
>>>>>
>>>>> Comments welcome,
>>>>> kjs
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 2:59 PM, kjstol <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> hi there,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Attached a new version; this does some basic code generation. I'm not
>>>>>> really familiar with M0 instructions yet, but I made a few guesses.
>>>>>> Expression handling seems to work well.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There's many todos', but it's quite close to generating valid M0
>>>>>> (acceptable by the perl assembler script). Conditional and iteration
>>>>>> statements are not done yet (needs handling of labels etc.) but could
>>>>>> easily be added.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm not entirely sure what kind of syntax and functionality is needed
>>>>>> at the M1 level. Is the idea to write PMCs at this level? In that case
>>>>>> you'd want to have a "PMC" keyword I think, and allow writing member
>>>>>> functions in such a PMC. Also, allocating memory could be built-in,
>>>>>> rather than copying C's malloc and free function implementations.
>>>>>> Also, do exceptions live at this level? In that case you'd probably
>>>>>> want some kind of "try/catch" or alternative notation.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> to run:
>>>>>> ====
>>>>>> unzip the zip file
>>>>>> cd m1
>>>>>> make
>>>>>> ./m1 t2.m1
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Feedback would be appreciated.
>>>>>> thanks
>>>>>> kjs
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 3:06 AM, kjstol <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>> hi!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 2:55 AM, Vasily Chekalkin <[email protected]> 
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hello.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Welcome back :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> thanks :-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> For the record, current nqp-rx based ops compiler does parse subset of
>>>>>>>> C already. In opsc_llvm branch it does parse even more. I would
>>>>>>>> suggest to join efforts in defining "C subset" which we are going to
>>>>>>>> use as m1 ops language.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Most problematic parts iirc was:
>>>>>>>> 1. Macros. C macros are pure evil. If we are going to support
>>>>>>>> free-defined C macros it will require a lot of work. Limiting them to
>>>>>>>> VTABLE macros will reduce this issue to trivial.
>>>>>>>> 2. Ambiguous casting.
>>>>>>>> 3. Implicit string concatenation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks for sharing. I can see how scattered efforts are not helpful.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It wasn't so much an effort to implement parts of C per se, more that
>>>>>>> it's inspired by C: it's easy to read, easy to learn, and easy to
>>>>>>> implement so far. Also, my efforts so far were an expression of my
>>>>>>> self indulgence in some good hacking sessions, which I hadn't done for
>>>>>>> a long time. It's been fun :-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In my opinion, for M1, we shouldn't strive for a subset of C per se.
>>>>>>> There's many things wrong with C, and those things cause a lot of pain
>>>>>>> and bugs. If there's going to be a language M1 or Lorito to implement
>>>>>>> most of parrot (incl PMCs) it would be a good idea to define a
>>>>>>> language that prevents many of those bugs, to create a language that's
>>>>>>> really stable, clearly defined, and so on, and that forbids bad
>>>>>>> constructs. For instance, no goto statement! (I'm even no fan of break
>>>>>>> and continue statements). C's preprocessor is a cheap way of doing
>>>>>>> modules properly, but it's kindof awful. There's better ways I'm sure
>>>>>>> to support multi-file programs. I think it would be a good idea to
>>>>>>> think well about how to encourage sound programming practices (C
>>>>>>> doesn't really), and implement a language that does that well, while
>>>>>>> still being easy to learn by C programmers.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Meanwhile, my goal was to (1) indulge in my need for some hacking
>>>>>>> creativity, and (2) create a clean and simple language implementation
>>>>>>> that targets M0. Consider it a prototyping effort to identify gaps in
>>>>>>> M0 and see how far we can get with little effort.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> cheers
>>>>>>> kjs
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> Bacek
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> Vasily
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 6:15 AM, kjstol <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> hi there,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I've indulged in some hacking time, and implemented a simple subset 
>>>>>>>>> of C.
>>>>>>>>> Attached is a zip file, just type "make" and it should work (assuming
>>>>>>>>> you have bison and flex).
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> What it currently does, it generates the parsed code from the AST 
>>>>>>>>> (mostly).
>>>>>>>>> Not everything of the language is supported yet (e.g., parameters
>>>>>>>>> etc.) The parser would have to be fixed a bit, it has some known
>>>>>>>>> limitations.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The idea next is to implement a simple code generator to generate the
>>>>>>>>> M0 ops that have been spec'ed so far.
>>>>>>>>> There are many todos (e.g, thread-safety of the compiler),
>>>>>>>>> register-allocator, etc.) most of which would be easy to implement.
>>>>>>>>> For now, the focus would be on a simple and clean language
>>>>>>>>> implementation that generate M0.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Comments welcome,
>>>>>>>>> kjs
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>>> http://lists.parrot.org/mailman/listinfo/parrot-dev
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> http://lists.parrot.org/mailman/listinfo/parrot-dev
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