Hey kjs,

No problem, since I helped to get the poke_caller test to pass I figured I 
could help out. 

On Jun 6, 2012, at 12:35 PM, kjstol <[email protected]> wrote:

> 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?

Yes, I didn't notice this coincidence before. I was initially just working to 
get the test passing and removing the workarounds that were blocking me. 
Somehow I didn't notice this issue.



> 
> 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?

It had not in c. I think it has in perl.

>> 
>> 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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