RFC regarding WAM
- by Noctis Skytower
Request For Comment regarding Whitespace's Assembly Mnemonics
What follows in a first generation attempt at creating mnemonics for a whitespace assembly language.
STACK
=====
push number
copy
copy number
swap
away
away number
MATH
====
add
sub
mul
div
mod
HEAP
====
set
get
FLOW
====
part label
call label
goto label
zero label
less label
back
exit
I/O
===
ochr
oint
ichr
iint
In the interest of making improvements to this small and simple instruction set, this is a second attempt.
hold N Push the number onto the stack
copy Duplicate the top item on the stack
copy N Copy the nth item on the stack (given by the argument) onto the top of the stack
swap Swap the top two items on the stack
drop Discard the top item on the stack
drop N Slide n items off the stack, keeping the top item
add Addition
sub Subtraction
mul Multiplication
div Integer Division
mod Modulo
save Store
load Retrieve
L: Mark a location in the program
call L Call a subroutine
goto L Jump unconditionally to a label
if=0 L Jump to a label if the top of the stack is zero
if<0 L Jump to a label if the top of the stack is negative
return End a subroutine and transfer control back to the caller
exit End the program
print chr Output the character at the top of the stack
print int Output the number at the top of the stack
input chr Read a character and place it in the location given by the top of the stack
input int Read a number and place it in the location given by the top of the stack
What do you think of the following revised list for Whitespace's assembly instructions? I'm still thinking outside of the box somewhat and trying to come up with a better mnemonic set than last time. When the previous interpreter was written, it was completed over two contiguous, rushed evenings.
This rewrite deserves significantly more time now that it is the summer. Of course, the next version of Whitespace (0.4) may have its instructions revised even more, but this is just a redesign of what originally was done in a very short amount of time.
Hopefully, the instructions make more sense once someone new to programmings thinks about them.
