This file is messy and confusing, and makes sense to nobody but me - so don't worry about understanding it too much - better docs will come later. === SECD = State, Environment, Control, Dump The idea of "Landin's SECD Machine" is to store the working memory in S, the variable-value bindings in E, the code/instructions in C, and the program stack in D. Notes: DEFINE = DECLARE + SET The environment, denoted with an E, is created on routine start, and destroyed on routine end - however, it uses the parent routine's environment as the starting point for it's creation, so closures work as expected unlike version 1, identifiers are not a valid datatype - they're just an index representing a symbol, like "standard::clock" meta opcodes - EOF, PASS, ERROR, a "value" can be of any valid datatype, and may point to various parts of memory to define it's value Symbols will be awkward... I suspect the symbol table might need to be rebuilt on startup, as the order of the modules will not necessarily be the same each time The various instances of S could be the same array in memory, simply marked as "unused"? You could stick C on there as a value before "pushing" for a new routine Things to consider later: type cast? rest parameter? index access and assign? === //variable instructions READ read one value from C onto S LOAD read one value from .data onto S DECLARE read two words from C, create a new entry in E with the key E[SYMBOL(word1)], the type defined by word2, the value 'null' DEFINE read one word from C, saves the pre-existing key E[SYMBOL(word)] to the value S(0), popping S(0) ACCESS read one word from C, finds the pre-existing value of E[SYMBOL(word)], leaves the value on S //arithmetic instructions ADD performs the specified operation on S(-1) and S(0), popping both, leaving the result on S SUBTRACT performs the specified operation on S(-1) and S(0), popping both, leaving the result on S MULTIPLY performs the specified operation on S(-1) and S(0), popping both, leaving the result on S DIVIDE performs the specified operation on S(-1) and S(0), popping both, leaving the result on S MODULO performs the specified operation on S(-1) and S(0), popping both, leaving the result on S //comparison instructions COMPARE_EQUAL pops S(-1) and S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on equality COMPARE_LESS pops S(-1) and S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on comparison COMPARE_LESS_EQUAL pops S(-1) and S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on comparison COMPARE_GREATER pops S(-1) and S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on comparison COMPARE_GREATER_EQUAL pops S(-1) and S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on comparison //logical instructions AND pops S(-1) and S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on truthiness OR pops S(-1) and S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on truthiness TRUTHY pops S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on truthiness NEGATE pops S(0), replacing it with TRUE or FALSE, depending on truthiness //control instructions JUMP read one value from C, and move the program counter to that location (relative to the current position) JUMP_IF_FALSE read one value from C, pops S(0), and move the program counter to that location (relative to the current position) if the popped value is falsy FN_CALL *read a list of arguments specified in C into 'A', store (S, E, C, D) as D, push S, move the stack pointer to the specified routine, push a new E based on the contents of 'A' FN_RETURN *read a list of return values specified in C into 'R', pop S, restore (S, E, C, D) from D(0) popping it, store the contents of 'R' in E or S based on the next few parts of C //bespoke utility instructions ASSERT if S(-1) is falsy, print S(0) and exit PRINT pop S(0), and print the output IMPORT //invoke an external library into the current scope CONCAT //combine two strings SCOPE_BEGIN //push an inner environment to E, which should be automatically popped at the routine's end SCOPE_END //pop an inner environment from E, only if it was created with SCOPE_BEGIN === FN_CALL read word: read the following N arguments for 0 to N do: read word as match: # this allows literals and identifiers as arguments stack: then pop S(0) into 'A' **env: then read word, load E[SYMBOL(word)] into 'A' read word: determine where the routine is (is it new or is it a value?) and hold it for a moment push E and C into a frame marker on S jump C to the routine read word: read the following N parameter names, storing each member of 'A' as their value in E[SYMBOL(name)] continue FN_RETURN read word: read the following N return values for 0 to N do: read word as match: # this allows literals and identifiers as arguments stack: then pop S(0) into 'R' **env: then read word, load E[SYMBOL(word)] into 'R' pop E and S extract and restore E and C from the frame marker on S read word: read the following N storage locations for the values within `R` for 0 to N do: read word as match: # you're effectively reversing the prior reads stack: then push from 'R' onto S **env: then read word, save 'R' into E[SYMBOL(word)] **This could work by listing the sources as e.g. "SSSExS" - three stacks and one environment variable loaded onto the stack, then one more stack for a total of four values Notes: the bytecode of a funtion call would look like: FN_CALL N [stack|env word]... N [stack|env word]... the value of C stored in D points to the second N, while it waits to pick up where it left off ===