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--- sd:tinyc_for_the_sd-8516 [2026/04/17 07:09] – appledog
+++ sd:tinyc_for_the_sd-8516 [2026/06/05 16:53] (current) – appledog
@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 == Introduction
-This TinyC is more like the "B" language in it's feature set, and in the idea that it is intended to compile a version of itself written in C.
+<blockquote>This is not intended to be a general purpose programming language. It is intended to be the language I write the general purpose programming language in. However, I keep running into bugs. I am not sure if I should keep improving it or whether it's time to re-write it.</blockquote>
-Current Feature Set:
+TinyC refers to V1 (tinyc.asm) and V2 (tinyc.c), which is the same as V1 but written in C. V1 is intended to compile V2, and then we have self-hosting C. Thus, this TinyC should be more like the "B" language in it's feature set, and in the idea that it is intended to compile a version of itself written in C. From there, we can iterate on the C compiler and make it better.
+V1 Current Feature Set:
 * Expressions with precedence
 * Local variables
@@ Line 24: / Line 26: @@
 This is enough that I was able to start writing functions in C like abs, min, max, strlen, strcmp, atoi/itoa, and so on.
+== Function Library
+* [[List of TinyC built-in functions]]
 == History
-A self-hosting C compiler had been my goal for quite some time. But I didn't know how to write one. I hacked out a BASIC first, then followed some guides and source code to get a Forth running. But C eluded me for several months. Eventually I was able to leverage what I had learned doing BASIC to get a parser that could compile int main(void) { return 0; } and emitted LDA #0 and RET. The debugger was simply printing the return value.
+A self-hosting C compiler had been my goal for quite some time. But I didn't know how to write one. I hacked out a BASIC first, then followed some guides and source code to get a Forth running. But C eluded me for several months. Eventually I was able to leverage what I had learned doing BASIC to get a parser that could compile int main(void) { return 0; } and emitted LDA #0 and RET. The debugger was simply printing the return value. The rest of the story is found in the [[TinyC Developer Diary]]. Mainly so I don't forget what I learned, as this project has gotten quite big.
-=== Expression Parser
+== Issues
-I did expressions first because I had already done a parser for BASIC. I will go into some detail here over how I did it. First, it's almost exactly the same as in Stellar BASIC. Stellar BASIC's ''parse_expression'' calls ''parse_term'' which calls ''parse_factor''. An identical structure with identical precedence handling. The only difference is that BASIC evaluates expressions immediately (pushing results onto a value stack), while TinyC emits machine code that will perform the evaluation later at runtime. The parser shape is the blueprint. The big dif is that this was compiled, so I had to emit code versus just evaluating everything into the accumulator/TOS.
+The big issue is that I don't //really// know what I am doing. Meaning, it's really no issue to mechanically process a script and write an interpreter or compiler for it, if you //just start coding//. The real issues will be operational, later on. Here, the issue is that the compiler doesn't know where to compile itself to. TinyC v1 lives in bank 1, TinyC v2 lives in bank 3 (because that's where it was compiled). So should it compile to bank 1? Well, originally it wasn't written this way but when you talk about it like this the solution seems easy; have an int variable such as **target_bank** and we just compile into that. What would really be good is to compile into an area but the code itself is targeted for a different bank.
-=== Simplest explanation possible
+What is even better is if I could write relocatable code. You know, simply writing this out all gives me ideas. Relocatable code! Could be interesting. Ok let's write down some ideas-- [[Relocatable Code]]
-The simplest and easiest way is to imagine everything has brackets. So an expression like 2 + 3 * 4 is required to be in the form (2 + (3 * 4)). What the parser has to do is evaluate every () expression. This is done recursively and is the recursive part of "recursive descent parser". But not everything has brackets. You just imagine it does, because you evaluate the left term first then pass the right term down in terms of precedence ("precedence descent" is the "descent" in "recursive descent parser").
-<blockquote>It was the early days of computer science. 1958 at MIT. John McCarthy was a Mathematician, not a "Computer Scientist". He wanted to represent logic and math on the computer. This is how LISP was invented. First, they made + the name of a function. They said, + is a function that takes two parameters. That makes sense. And, you could just say "add" for clarity, since we want the computer to serve us English speaking humans. So
+=== Compile to disk
+The other solution I am mulling is to rewrite the emitter. There's no reason it has to output to the exact location it will run at. It could output the bytes to a file instead.
- + 3 * 4
+== What's Missing?
+* Preprocessor: no #include, #define, #ifdef, macros, conditional compilation. Every program is monolithic.
+Structs and unions: cannot define composite types. No member access (., ->).
+* Typedef: no type aliases.
+* Multi-dimensional arrays and array declarations: int arr[10] doesn't exist; arrays only as pointers.
+* Initializers: int g = 5; parses but doesn't run. No aggregate initializers {1, 2, 3}.
+* String literals as data: strings work only as immediate operands, not as initialized arrays.
+* Function pointers: no syntax, no calling convention.
+* Variable arguments: no ..., no va_list.
+* enum: no constant enumeration.
+* static, extern, register, volatile, const: storage class and qualifier keywords missing.
+* Multiple return types: only int (well, 24-bit). No void, char, short, long, float, double returns.
+* void type: parsed in (void) parameter list only; can't declare void variables, return void, or use void
-became
+=== Operator gaps
+* Bitwise ops are critical for systems programming. Without them, no masking, no flag manipulation.
+* Logical && and || with short-circuit semantics matter for correctness, not just convenience.
+* ++/-- are syntactic sugar but their absence is glaring.
+* % (modulo) for any non-trivial arithmetic.
+* Compound assignment is just sugar but expected.
-    (2 + (3 * 4))
+=== Library
+* No standard library at all. No printf, malloc, strcmp, memcpy, strlen. Programs must be self-contained or call only the six builtins.
+* No file I/O from compiled programs (peek/poke don't qualify).
+* No dynamic memory.
-Now each bracket has a left and a right and an operand. One operation. So let's re-write this as parameters to function calls, because thats how computers work (ex. ''ADD A, B''):
+=== Compiler quality
+* No optimization passes. Every operation goes through BLA via the stack.
-    (+ 2 (* 3 4))
+* No type checking. Assigning char * to int is silent.
+* No warnings about unused variables, missing returns, narrowing conversions.
-And lets use English to name the functions, as we agreed earlier:
+* Error messages are minimal ("undefined variable" without line number context).
+* No symbol scoping beyond function-local — all locals share one flat namespace within a function.
-    (add 2 (mul 3 4))
-Now let's move the bracket to after the function name, which follows principles of English language (ex. we say "I am not hungry" not, "I am hungry not" because we don't want to introduce out of context information:
-    add(2 mul(3 4))
-Now separate parameters with commas, which is another principle of English:
-    add(2, mul(3,4))
-This is the link between Stack Machines, Forth, LISP, BASIC and C. C is that moment where we deal with things in a way that makes sense in English, but they're still at the bare metal in terms of being able to parse them directly into machine code.
-</blockquote>
-So the first kind of parser you should write has a pre-processor that encases everyting in parentheses. Then brute force it; just scan for ()'s and emit the innermost functions first. It would end up looking like (2 + ((3 * 4) / 5)). This makes parsing robotic and easy.
-There's nothing wrong with parsing like that. Its a good way to emit code. It's reliable and safe.
-Everything which follows is merely a refactor of this exact technique going back to the early days of 1950s computer science when all this stuff was originally invented.
-=== Three-Level Descent
-The expression parser we use is exactly similar to the above but does it using special rules. It evaluates the left term, then finds an operator, then parses the right side down to the next level. This way, higher precedence operators bind their operands before lower-precedence operators get a chance to. As it recursively unravels, everything eventually gets parsed and evaluated.
-^ Level ^ Function ^ Operators ^ Calls Down To ^
-| Comparison | ''parse_expr'' | ==  !=  <  >  <=  >=  etc. | ''parse_additive'' |
-| Additive | ''parse_additive'' | +  - | ''parse_term'' |
-| Multiplicative | '''parse_term'' | *  / | ''parse_primary'' |
-| Primary | ''parse_primary'' | numbers, variables, ''()'', unary ''-'' | none (equates to value) |
-=== Example; 2 + 3 * 4
-* 1. ''parse_expr'' calls ''parse_additive''
-* 2. ''parse_additive'' calls ''parse_term''
-* 3. ''parse_term'' calls ''parse_primary'', emits ''LDA #2''
-* 4. ''parse_term'' checks for ''*'' or ''/'', sees ''+'', //not its operator,// returns
-* 5. ''parse_additive'' sees ''+'', saves left operand, emits ''PUSH A''
-* 6. ''parse_additive'' calls ''parse_term'' for the right side
-* 7. ''parse_term'' calls ''parse_primary'' and emits ''LDA #3''
-* 8. ''parse_term'' sees ''*'' saves left operand, emits ''PUSH A''
-* 9. ''parse_term'' calls ''parse_primary'' and emits ''LDA #4''
-* 10. ''parse_term'' emits ''MOV B, A'' / ''POP A'' / ''MUL A, B'', A now holds 12
-* 11. ''parse_term'' checks for more ''*'' or ''/'', sees end, returns
-* 12. ''parse_additive'' emits ''MOV B, A'' / ''POP A'' / ''ADD A, B'', A now holds 14
-* 13. ''parse_additive'' checks for more ''+'' or ''-'', sees '';'' then returns
-+ 3 * 4    --->    2 (pass to evaluator recursively) +
-The parser puts the 2 in A then evaluates whatever is in the parentheses, then adds them. The parentheses aren't there. The compiler imagines they are there by considering "whatever is left" (left meaning right) as one expression. Therefore, "parse expression", by its very nature of considering an entire expression, considers the entire expression as if it were surrounded by parentheses.
-The key insight comes from step 4: ''parse_term'' returns immediately when it sees ''+'' //because addition is not its concern.// This forces the ''+'' to be handled one level up, as if the multiplication was surrounded by parentheses.
-=== Emits
-Every operator follows the same code generation template. The left operand is already in register A (from the recursive call). The compiler saves it, evaluates the right operand (which also lands in A), then combines them:
-    PUSH A          ; save left operand on stack
-    <code here>     ; evaluate right operand into A
-    MOV B, A        ; move right operand to B
-    POP A           ; restore left operand to A
-    ADD A, B        ; A = left + right (or SUB, MUL, DIV)
-This looks inefficient but remember each individual lego block puts it's result into A. So we need to move A around a bit. Actually we can do this:
-    MOV B, A        ; move left operand to B
-    <code here>     ; evaluate right operand into A
-    ADD A, B        ; A = right plus left (or SUB, MUL, DIV)
-With a little extra code we can emit into B. A later optimization perhaps.
-    <code here>     ; evaluate right operand into B
-    ADD A, B        ; A = left + right (or SUB, MUL, DIV)
-This pattern is uniform across all arithmetic operators. The only difference is the final instruction: ''ADD'', ''SUB'', ''MUL'', or ''DIV''.
-=== From the C version
-The additive level in the C version illustrates the pattern:
-<codify C>
-int parse_additive() {
-    parse_term();                   // left operand = A
-    if (g_error) { return 0; }
-    while (1) {
-        if (g_tok_type == TOK_PLUS) {
-            next_token();           // consume ''+''
-            emit_push_a();          // save left
-            parse_term();           // right operand = A
-            emit_mov_b_a();         // B = right
-            emit_pop_a();           // A = left
-            emit_add_a_b();         // A = left + right
-        } else if (g_tok_type == TOK_MINUS) {
-            next_token();
-            emit_push_a();
-            parse_term();
-            emit_mov_b_a();
-            emit_pop_a();
-            emit_sub_a_b();
-        } else {
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-    return 0;
-}
-</codify>
-The multiplicative level is structurally identical, with ''parse_primary'' replacing ''parse_term'' and ''MUL''/''DIV'' replacing ''ADD''/''SUB''.
-=== The B in BEDMAS
-Brackets in expressions (parentheses) override precedence by recursing back to the top level. When ''parse_primary'' encounters ''('', it calls ''parse_expr'', the full expression parser, including all precedence levels. This means ''(2 + 3) * 4'' evaluates the addition first because ''parse_primary'' fully resolves the parenthesized sub-expression before returning to ''parse_term'', which then multiplies by 4.
-<codify C>
-// Inside parse_primary:
-if (g_tok_type == TOK_LPAREN) {
-    next_token();           // consume '('
-    parse_expr();           // full precedence chain
-    expect(TOK_RPAREN);     // consume ')'
-    return 0;
-}
-</codify>
-=== Conclusion
-The parser turns the whole (expression) into one number. Either as parse_expr on the whole thing, or as parse_expr on the whole thing with brackets. The expression parser is a big simplification loop. Chunk by chunk, we simplify everything as if it was surrounded by parentheses. The big reveal is that all of this started by writing a parser that pre-processed expressions by surrounding them with brackets. So if you are having any trouble understanding an expression parser just go back to surrounding everything in parentheses and work from there. It will work exactly the same.
-=== Comparisons (<, ==, >)
-Comparisons sit at the lowest precedence level, handled by ''parse_expr'' itself. Unlike arithmetic operators, comparisons can not loop. ''a < b < c'' is not valid chaining in C. The parser checks for a comparison operator once, evaluates both sides, then emits a compare-and-set sequence that leaves 1 (true) or 0 (false) in register A.
-The emitted code for ''a == 5'' is simple. It kind of reminds me of forth; imagine if 'A' was the TOS (top of stack). We compare the value with whats in A, then we push a 1 or 0 (true/false) variable onto the TOS for evaluation by an IF.
-<codify armasm>
-    (load a value into A)
-    LDB #5              ; load value to check against
-    CMP A, B            ; sets CPU flags
-    JZ true_case        ; jump if equal
-    LDA #0              ; false
-    JMP done
-true_case:
-    LDA #1              ; true
-done:
-    ; A = 0 or 1
-</codify>
-=== Symbol table
-Arguably the symbol table is the core milestone. I had been working on various variable storage systems until this, and this is, I think, the best one so far.
-All I wanted from a variable system was the ability to map a string to a string. That was the core idea. If I could do that I could have a variable system. So when the programmer writes ''int x = 5;'' on one line and ''return x;'' three lines later, the compiler needs to set the string "x" to refer to the string "5". This is what the NVAR system does, and it was easy to implement. I just created a record system and scanned for the variable names from the start of record-space.
-But in BASIC, every time a line executes, the interpreter searches for the variable by name. From the beginning. This was very slow. A compiler is different: it resolves names to locations once during compilation and bakes the result into the machine code. The compiled program never sees the symbol table. That's the C way. Compiled, not interpreted. The idea comes directly from the javascript assembler. It inserts dummy values for pointers until the labels can be resolved. AKA back-patching.
-=== Symbol table record structure
-The symbol table is a flat array of fixed-size records. I was worried about doing flat sized records because it can waste a lot of space but as it turns out we can do 100 or so in just 2k and that is enough for bootstrapping. Each record occupies 20 bytes with the following layout:
-^ Offset ^ Size ^ Field ^ Description |
-| 0–15 | 16 | Name | Null-terminated, padded to 16 bytes (max 15 chars) |
-| 16 | 1 | Type | 0=int, 1=int*, 2=char, 3=char* |
-| 17 | 1 | Kind | 0=local, 1=param, 2=function, 3=global |
-| 18–19 | 2 | Value | 16-bit: stack offset (locals/params), code address (functions), or memory address (globals) |
-Note: name size was increased to 15 from 7 because some function names like get_thing() were larger than 7 characters. If we run out of space change this first.
-=== How it works
-The big reveal is that it doesn't store variables in the table like NVAR does, it stores handles (pointers) to the variables, and the variables are placed onto the stack. That is so we can do scoping (see below).
-Three operations manage the table, like NVAR_SET, NVAR_GET and NVAR_CLEAR, here we use SVAR_SET (sym_add), SVAR_GET (sym_find) and SVAR_CLEAR (sym_clear).
-* SVAR_SET/sym_add()
-** Appends a new entry. Needs name, and value like NVAR but additionally needs type (ex int, char) and kind (ex function, global, param).
-* SVAR_GET/sym_find()
-** Performs a linear scan from the first entry, comparing each stored name against the search string using ''strcmp''. Faster than NVAR because it's fixed length. Second, it returns the //address// of that entry, not the value. This is so we can do pointers.
-* SVAR_CLEAR/sym_clear()
-** resets the count to zero. Just write a zero at the start to show no variables.
-=== Scoping using the stack
-The compiler implements function-level scoping by saving the values on the stack and only keeping a handle to them in the symbol table. When parsing a function definition, the current symbol count is saved into ''CC_SYM_SCOPE''. Parameters and local variables are added during parsing. When the function's closing brace is reached, the count is restored to the saved value, effectively discarding all locals and parameters while preserving function-level entries (other function names, globals) that were added before. Kind of like "FORGET" in Forth.
-=== Type vs Kind
-* Kind 0 = Local Variable
-** A positive integer representing the distance below the frame pointer (GLZ).
-* Kind 1 = Params
-** A positive integer representing the distance above the frame pointer. Accessed as ''[GLZ + offset]''.
-* Kind 2 = Functions
-** The 16-bit code address where the function's compiled body begins. Used by ''emit_call'' to generate ''CALL addr'' instructions.
-* Kind 3 = Globals
-** A fixed memory address in bank 0, allocated from a bump pointer starting at ''$D000''. This can't go on the stack for some reason I forgot. (CHECKME)
-=== Compiling ''int a = 5;''
-# ''CC_FRAME_OFFSET'' goes from 0 to 2 (each int is 2 bytes)
-# ''cc_sym_add'' is called with name="a", type=0, kind=0, value=2
-# It computes the slot address: ''CC_SYMTAB + (count * 12) = $00F040''
-# Writes "a\0\0\0\0\0\0\0" (name padded to 8), then 0x00 (type), 0x00 (kind), 0x02 0x00 (value = 2, little-endian)
-# Increments ''CC_SYM_COUNT'' to 1
-Next for ''int b = 3;''
-#  ''CC_FRAME_OFFSET'' goes from 2 to 4
-# Slot address: $00F040 + (1 * 12) = $00F04C
-# Writes "b\0..." with value=4
-When ''return a;'' needs the variable:**
-#. ''cc_sym_find'' does a linear scan from $00F040
-#. Compares each record's name against ''CC_TOK_BUF'' using strcmp
-#. Finds "a" at record 0, returns a pointer (usu. BLY or LLZ) pointing to that record
-#. The caller reads the value field at BLY+10, gets 2
-#. Emits ''LDA [GLZ-2]'' (load from frame pointer minus 2)
-When a new ''.compile'' starts:
-''cc_sym_clear'' sets ''CC_SYM_COUNT'' to 0. Like calling NVAR_CLEAR on RUN in BASIC. The old data is still in memory, but invisible since nothing scans past count.
-The table is purely compile-time. The compiled program has no idea it exists. Variable names are resolved to numeric stack offsets during compilation and baked into the emitted instructions.
-=== But why stack frames?
-The stack is used because local variables need to appear when a function is entered and disappear when it returns, and the stack naturally provides that lifetime.
-When ''int main(void) { int a = 5; int b = 3; return a + b; }'' is compiled, the emitted code does this:
-    PUSH GLZ          ; save old frame pointer (3 bytes on stack)
-    MOV GLZ, SP       ; GLZ = current stack top. This is our reference point
-    SUB SP, #2        ; reserve 2 bytes for 'a'. SP moves down
-    SUB SP, #2        ; reserve 2 bytes for 'b'. SP moves down again
-The stack now looks like this (growing downward):
-                ┌───────────────────────┐
-       GLZ-2    │      return info      │
-                ├───────────────────────┤
-    GLZ points  │  saved GLZ (3 bytes)  │
-                ├───────────────────────┤
-       GLZ-2    │      a (2 bytes)      │
-                ├───────────────────────┤
-       GLZ-4    │      b (2 bytes)      │
-                ├───────────────────────┤
-     SP points  │      (free space)     │
-                └───────────────────────┘
-''a'' is always at ''GLZ-2''. ''b'' is always at ''GLZ-4''. These offsets are fixed at compile time and baked into the instructions. ''STA [GLZ-2]'' stores into ''a''. ''LDA [GLZ-4]'' reads from ''b''.
-But why male models?
-(But why on the stack?) It boils down to a memory management issue. You could assign ''a'' to address $1000 and ''b'' to $1002. For a single function that's called once, it would work. The problem is if a second function uses the name of a local variable in a function it calls. Recursion is another example of this:
-    int factorial(int n) {
-        if (n == 0) return 1;
-        return n * factorial(n - 1);
-    }
-If ''n'' lives at a fixed address, the second call to ''factorial'' (the second use of n) overwrites the first ''n''. Then when the inner call returns and the outer call tries to read it's own ''n'', the value is gone.
-The solution is, every call needs its own private copy of ''n''. If we place variables on the stack when we call a function, then we can just pop them off when we leave. Boom, instant memory management with scoping on top.
-== Working through if-else
-After the symbol table, everything else started to fall into place quickly; if was next, and I already had the concept from the expression parser in BASIC.
-By this time the language structure was starting to become established so I will write down how I added if as a guide for other keywords.
-To get a new language feature like ''if-else'', we have to follow the same pattern as in BASIC. This means:
-# Add it to the lexer (match keyword).
-# Parse the statement (done in the executor in BASIC, but a separate step here).
-# Emitter -- This is the big diff, since we don't do it 'now' but we have to do it 'later' (at runtime).
-The plan is the exact same as assembly (labels); back-patching, technically a two-pass, but done in the moment so we say it's one pass.
-# Emit the condition (cc_parse_expr, result in A)
-# Emit CMP A, #0
-# Emit JZ with a placeholder address. Save CC_HERE before writing it
-# Parse the then-block (emits its code)
-# Go back and patch the JZ address to point here (past the block)
-for if-else:
-# Emit condition (same)
-# Emit CMP A, #0 (same)
-# JZ placeholder (same)
-# Parse then-block (same)
-# Emit JMP placeholder (skip over else)
-# Patch placeholder to here
-# Parse else-block
-# Patch placeholder to here
-==== Documenting the process
-Just like adding a keyword in BASIC.
-. Add the tokens.
-<codify armasm>
-    .equ TOK_IF             17
-    .equ TOK_ELSE           18
-</codify>
-. Add the strings.
-<codify armasm>
-    cc_kw_if:
-        .bytes "if", 0
-    cc_kw_else:
-        .bytes "else", 0
-</codify>
-. Add the keyword checks in the keyword checks section.
-<codify armasm>
-    ; Check "if"
-    LDELM CC_TOK_BUF
-    LDFLD @cc_kw_if
-    LDAH $02
-    INT $12
-    JZ @cc_nt_kw_if
-    ; Check "else"
-    LDELM CC_TOK_BUF
-    LDFLD @cc_kw_else
-    LDAH $02
-    INT $12
-    JZ @cc_nt_kw_else
-</codify>
-And the handlers,
-<codify armasm>
-    cc_nt_kw_if:
-        LDAL TOK_IF
-        STAL [@CC_TOKEN_TYPE]
-        POP I
-        RET
-    cc_nt_kw_else:
-        LDAL TOK_ELSE
-        STAL [@CC_TOKEN_TYPE]
-        POP I
-        RET
-</codify>
-We have to add it to the parser:
-<codify armasm>
-    cc_parse_stmt:
-        LDAL [@CC_TOKEN_TYPE]
-        CMP AL, TOK_RETURN
-        JZ @cc_parse_return
-        CMP AL, TOK_INT
-        JZ @cc_parse_vardecl
-        CMP AL, TOK_IDENT
-        JZ @cc_parse_assign
-        CMP AL, TOK_IF  ; Added here at the end
-        JZ @cc_parse_if
-        ; Unknown statement
-        LDAL #1
-        STAL [@CC_ERROR]
-        LDELM @cc_str_expect_stmt
-        LDAH $18
-        INT $10
-        RET
-</codify>
-Finally here is the if parser. Note three important changes from BASIC.
-# Instead of manually checking for things like ) the system uses a TOKEN table (TOK_LPAREN, etc). This generalized approach, I think, adds to thinkability and expandability.
-# You don't see int05_skip_space everywhere. Instead we have a cc_skip_ws which is included in cc_next_token. This isn't as 'inlined' as basic, but it doesn't need to be since it's a compiler. Keeping things like skip_space out of the way aids code understandability.
-# It's an emitter not an interpreter. Instead of doing it "now" we need to have a plan to do it 'later'.
-<codify armasm>
-; cc_parse_if
-; 'if' '(' expr ')' block ('else' block)?
-;
-; Emitted code shape (if only):
-;   <expr>            ; result in A
-;   CMP_IMM A, #0     ; test condition
-;   JZ patch1         ; skip then-block if false
-;   <then-block>
-;   patch1:           ; JZ lands here
-;
-; Emitted code shape (if/else):
-;   <expr>
-;   CMP_IMM A, #0
-;   JZ patch1         ; skip to else if false
-;   <then-block>
-;   JMP patch2        ; skip over else
-;   patch1:           ; else starts here
-;   <else-block>
-;   patch2:           ; both paths rejoin here
-;
-cc_parse_if:
-    ; Consume 'if'
-    CALL @cc_next_token
-    ; Expect '('
-    LDAL TOK_LPAREN
-    CALL @cc_expect
-    LDAL [@CC_ERROR]
-    CMP AL, #0
-    JNZ @cc_pi_done
-    ; Parse condition expression (result in A)
-    CALL @cc_parse_expr
-    LDAL [@CC_ERROR]
-    CMP AL, #0
-    JNZ @cc_pi_done
-    ; Expect ')'
-    LDAL TOK_RPAREN
-    CALL @cc_expect
-    LDAL [@CC_ERROR]
-    CMP AL, #0
-    JNZ @cc_pi_done
-    ; Emit: CMP_IMM A, #0 (opcode=91, reg=0, imm16=0,0)
-    LDAL #91
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDAL #0                         ; REG_A
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDAL #0                         ; imm16 lo = 0
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDAL #0                         ; imm16 hi = 0
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    ; Emit: JZ <placeholder> — save address of the operand for patching
-    LDAL #101                       ; JZ opcode
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    ; Save CC_HERE — this is where the 3-byte address will go
-    LDBLX [@CC_HERE]
-    PUSH BLX                        ; patch1 address saved on stack
-    ; Emit 3 placeholder bytes
-    LDAL #0
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    ; Parse then-block
-    CALL @cc_parse_block
-    LDAL [@CC_ERROR]
-    CMP AL, #0
-    JNZ @cc_pi_bail1
-    ; Check for 'else'
-    LDAL [@CC_TOKEN_TYPE]
-    CMP AL, TOK_ELSE
-    JZ @cc_pi_else
-    ; No else = patch1 = CC_HERE (jump past then-block)
-    POP BLX                         ; BLX = patch1 location
-    CALL @cc_backpatch
-    JMP @cc_pi_done
-cc_pi_else:
-    ; Consume 'else'
-    CALL @cc_next_token
-    ; Emit: JMP <placeholder> at end of then-block
-    LDAL #100                       ; JMP opcode
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDBLY [@CC_HERE]
-    PUSH BLY                        ; patch2 address saved on stack
-    LDAL #0
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    ; We need patch1 now. Swap:
-    POP BLY                         ; BLY = patch2
-    POP BLX                         ; BLX = patch1
-    PUSH BLY                        ; re-push patch2
-    CALL @cc_backpatch              ; patch1 = current CC_HERE
-    ; Parse else-block
-    CALL @cc_parse_block
-    LDAL [@CC_ERROR]
-    CMP AL, #0
-    JNZ @cc_pi_bail1
-    ; Patch2 = CC_HERE (JMP lands past else-block)
-    POP BLX                         ; BLX = patch2 location
-    CALL @cc_backpatch
-cc_pi_done:
-    RET
-cc_pi_bail1:
-    POP BLX                         ; discard patch address
-    RET
-</codify>
-For a backpatch helper (in case we need this elsewhere) we just copy HERE:
-<codify armasm>
-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
-;; backpatch helper
-cc_backpatch:
-    PUSH ELM
-    LDELM [@CC_HERE]
-    STELM [FLD]
-    POP ELM
-    RET
-</codify>
-== while is easy
-Once we have backpatching and the expression machinery, every new control flow construct is just a new arrangement of jumps. ''for'' would be the same. The mantra is "All loops are possible with goto" (See: [[https://www.appledog.ca/wiki/doku.php?id=sd:sd-8516_user_s_guide#more_loops||more loops]] from the SD-8516 User's Guide).
-== Functions and Pointers and Etc
-To make a long story short I started to feel the pain of a 16 bit symbol table as I had already done a significant amount of work and I was in no mood to rewrite all the code to make it 24 or 32 bits. I was having significant issues because the word size is 16 bits but pointers are 24 bits.
-So I came up with the brilliant idea of just making everything in bank 0.
-== Final Boss: Strings
-Strings were the final boss. I am still working on them, kind of. Just fixed some errors this morning.
-Adding strings was easy after char *. Same process: add TOK_CHAR. cc_kw_char. etc. It was the usual suspects for bugs again too. The usual pointer clobber bugs.
-=== Jumping past strings
-The key is to jump past the string. The data lives inside the code.
-    char *s = "Hello";
-When we emit the code here we will add a jmp, insert the string, then set s to the address of the string. This will allow us to reference the string like an array (s[6]) and so forth. Buffer overflows! Ahh so that's where this stuff comes from.
-    s[6] = 133; call opcode; now we're in business!
-== Moving the Stack
-I eventually had to move the stack because the stack is in bank 1 and this means ''&local_var'' is broken. We can not get the address of a local variable since it is technically stored in bank 1. This is a problem for strings too. This, for example, returns 40 (not 101):
-    int main(void) {
-        char *msg = "Hello";
-        return msg[1];
-    }
-The solution is to move the SP inside the C REPL only. While we are inside we will do something like:
-    MOV GLZ, SP
-    MOV SP, $FFFF
-    PUSH GLZ
-    <program code here>
-    POP SP
-    RET
-== Built-in functions
-Once strings worked I added putchar() as a built-in function. All I did was add the emitter to cc_do_compile. Unfortunately I added it before the symbol table was cleared so it didn't work. The I moved it. Here's the emitter:
-<codify armasm>
-; Built-in function emitter.
-; Emits machine code for built-in functions and registers them in the symbol table.
-cc_emit_builtins:
-    CALL @cc_builtin_putchar
-    RET
-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
-; putchar(c)
-; Prints character c to terminal via INT $10 AH=$17
-cc_builtin_putchar:
-    ; Register in symbol table
-    LDA [@CC_HERE]
-    MOV B, A
-    LDELM @cc_bi_putchar
-    LDAL #0    ; type = 0 (int)
-    LDAH #2    ; kind = 2 (function)
-    CALL @cc_sym_add
-    ; Emit prologue
-    CALL @cc_emit_push_glz
-    CALL @cc_emit_mov_glz_sp
-    ; Emit: LDA [GLZ+6] (first arg)
-    LDA #210
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDA #0
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDA #94
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDA #6
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    ; Emit: LDAH $17 (teletype putchar)
-    LDA #0
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDA #40
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDA $17
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    ; Emit: INT $10
-    LDA #134
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    LDA $10
-    CALL @cc_emit_byte
-    ; Emit epilogue
-    CALL @cc_emit_mov_sp_glz
-    CALL @cc_emit_pop_glz
-    CALL @cc_emit_ret
-    RET
-; --- Name strings ---
-cc_bi_putchar:
-    .bytes "putchar", 0
-</codify>
-After this, I added getchar(), halt() and yield(), and then things started getting really easy, for example print() is just:
-<codify C>
-int print(char *s) {
-    int i = 0;
-    while (s[i] != 0) {
-        putchar(s[i]);
-        i = i + 1;
-    }
-    return 0;
-}
-</codify>
-Wow, so we're writing our library in C now. Things are starting to go well from here!
-* [[List of TinyC built-in functions]]
-== Evil Stack Bugs Strike Again
+=== Language semantics
-While not technically a bug, there's a 'feature' of this TinyC that lies in wait for unsuspecting victims...
+* Pointer arithmetic doesn't scale by element size: int *p; p + 1 adds 1 byte, not 3.
+* sizeof would be needed to write portable code; absent.
+* Char arithmetic doesn't promote to int per C rules.
+* No automatic conversions, casts, or type coercion.
-    while (condition) {
+== Roadmap
-        ....
+This is not a roadmap.
-        int c = msg[i];
-        ....
-    }
-This emits ''SUB SP, #2'' every iteration. On a bigger loop it will destroy the stack. The solution is found in K&R C. You must declare your variables at the start of the function. I mean, I always believed that was good programming style, but it's interesting that there are historical and technical reasons for it too. I never knew.
+=== Easy
+* Bitwise operators.
+* ++/-- and compound assignment.
+* % operator; opcode already exists in the CPU, just needs parser.
+* Pre-processor. Separate pass before lexing; probably harder than it sounds.
-== break/continue notes
+=== Medium
-# PUSH outer break count (2 bytes)
+* &&/|| with short-circuit. Needs branch generation.
-# PUSH outer loop top (3 bytes)
+* Local arrays. int arr[10] allocates 30 bytes on stack, needs frame offset adjustment and array-as-pointer-decay.
-# PUSH loop_top for JMP back (3 bytes)
-# PUSH patch_exit (3 bytes)
-# POP patch_exit for JMP emit, re-push
-# POP loop_top into ILY
-# POP patch_exit for backpatch
-# POP outer loop top, restore
-# POP outer break count, restore
+=== Hard/Time-consuming/Don't know
+* Initialized globals. This is, unfortunately, non-trivial :( It requires either an init phase before main or compile-time init.
+* Standard library subset -- strlen, strcmp, memcpy, printf (formatted output is a project of its own).
+* Type checking. Proper type expression evaluation, conversion rules.
+* Structs. Type representation grows from 1 byte to multi-byte type descriptor.