Couldn't we reuse the AsmJIT DSL and generate some C code with Asm directives through Slang?
And call that C code through FFI? Seems cleaner and more debuggable. And could be moved to x64. Phil On Dec 16, 2015 6:49 AM, "Clément Bera" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > 2015-12-15 20:22 GMT+01:00 Jan Vrany <[email protected]>: >> >> Hi Esteban, Eliot, Clemont >> >> thanks very much for elaborate answer. I'm aware of all what you said >> (well, most :-), but my actual needs are very low and primitive. >> >> All I need now is something that allows me to turn x86_64 assembly >> into a machine code using a sane Smalltalk API, which I can later copy >> to VM code space. Nothing more, nothing less :-) I do not fancy >> spending time writing yet-another-x86-assembler hence my interest in >> asmjit. > > > As far as I know AsmJIT has stable support for x86 but not x86_64 >> >> >> Thanks! Jan >> >> >> >> On Tue, 2015-12-15 at 18:34 +0100, Clément Bera wrote: >> > We're getting away from Jan initial question here ... >> > >> > I think the point here is that Cog has: >> > - 2 stable back ends: ARMv5 and x86 >> > - 2 backends stable in the simulator with production planned for ~ >> > April: x64 and MIPS >> > and Tim is willing to do the ARMv8 backend. >> > >> > All the 4, and soon 5, cog back ends are maintained: >> > - x86 and x64 maintained by Eliot >> > - MIPS maintained by Ryan >> > - ARMv5 and soon ARMv8 maintained by Tim >> > >> > Each backend requires months of work. >> > >> > Do you want to maintain 10 backends instead of 5 ? Do want to spend >> > time to implement 5 backends or 10 ? >> > >> > I don't. Only the x86 backend is duplicated right now in AsmJIT. >> > >> > So one idea is to reuse Cog's backends from the image instead of >> > AsmJIT. To do so, we can use encodings available in the sista >> > extended instruction set to tell Cog what machine code to generate. A >> > project named uFFI aims, among other things, at doing this, by >> > providing a unified interface between the Cog backends and AsmJIT. >> > >> > >> > 2015-12-15 16:43 GMT+01:00 Eliot Miranda <[email protected]>: >> > > Hi Jan, >> > > >> > > > On Dec 15, 2015, at 3:06 AM, Jan Vrany <[email protected]> >> > > wrote: >> > > > >> > > > Hi guys, >> > > > >> > > > two queations: >> > > > >> > > > (i) Is AsmJit going to be developed any more or it's abandoned >> > > > as well as native boost? >> > > >> > > AsmJIT is effectively being abandoned but NativeBoost is not. >> > > >> > > The key limitation of AsmJIT is that it was not designed to be >> > > cross platform; it is effectively an x86 assembler. As such it's >> > > use gets in the way of ARM and x86_64 (I am currently getting the C >> > > version of 64-bit Cog Spur working on x86_64, given that it is >> > > working in the simulator). >> > > >> > > Another limitation is that it doesn't play that well with the VM's >> > > JIT. Igor and I never managed to work on integrating it better. >> > > The VM's job is managing code and Igor's approach was to hack; >> > > eliminating execution protection in the entire heap, instead of >> > > extending the support that either the Alien plugin's callback >> > > support or the JIT's executable method zone provides. Making the >> > > entire heap executable is /not/ a sensible approach. >> > > >> > > But there is a better way! A key component of the Sista adaptive >> > > optimizer/speculative inlined that Clément is currently stabilizing >> > > (!!) is a set of bytecodes that encode unsafe operations like >> > > at:put: without bounds, type or store checks. For example, the >> > > normal at:put: is about a hundred instructions, checks for >> > > smallinteger indices, differentiates between byte, 32-but long and >> > > pointer objects and does a store check. But one of the Sista codes >> > > for at:put: generates about two instructions, one to adjust the >> > > index, the other to do the store. Distaste job is to analyze code >> > > and inline methods using these unsafe bytecodes where they are >> > > proven to be safe, hence increasing performance. >> > > >> > > Unlike AsmJIT, Sista's unsafe bytecodes are cross platform, and, >> > > being executed by the VM, can work on an interpreter VM or be >> > > converted to machine code by the JIT. >> > > >> > > So our plan is to extend these bytecodes with ones that support >> > > marshaling arguments for NativeBoost calls. Ronie Salgado has >> > > already extended his lowcode scheme to define these instructions >> > > and sometime soon (hopefully 2016) we shall rewrite NativeBoost to >> > > target these bytecodes. >> > > >> > > HTH >> > > >> > > > (ii)Where can I find latest AsmJit? I'm properly confused: >> > > > >> > > > * Is is the one in latest Pharo 4.0 (5.0) image? >> > > > * Is it the one here: http://smalltalkhub.com/#!/~Pharo/AsmJi >> > > t ? >> > > > (the one in the image seem to be based on completely >> > > disjunct >> > > > set of .mcz than those in the repo above). >> > > > >> > > > Best, Jan >> > > >> > > _,,,^..^,,,_ (phone) >> > > >> >
