Berkeley Pascal PX Implementation Notes
Version 2.0 - January, 1979
William N. Joy+
M. Kirk McKusick*
Computer Science Division
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720
ABSTRACT
Berkeley Pascal is designed for interactive
instructional use and runs on the VAX 11/780. The
interpreter px executes the Pascal binaries gen-
erated by the Pascal translator pi.
The PX Implementation Notes describe the gen-
eral organization of px, detail the various opera-
tions of the interpreter, and describe the file
input/output structure. Conclusions are given on
the viability of an interpreter based approach to
language implementation for an instructional
environment.
April 3, 2017
Berkeley Pascal PX Implementation Notes
Version 2.0 - January, 1979
William N. Joy+
M. Kirk McKusick*
Computer Science Division
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720
Introduction
These PX Implementation Notes have been updated from
the original PDP 11/70 implementation notes to reflect the
interpreter that runs on the VAX 11/780. These notes consist
of four major parts. The first part outlines the general
organization of px. Section 2 describes the operations
(instructions) of the interpreter while section 3 focuses on
input/output related activity. A final section gives conclu-
sions about the viability of an interpreter based approach
to language implementation for instruction.
Related Berkeley Pascal documents
The PXP Implementation Notes give details of the inter-
nals of the execution profiler pxp; parts of the interpreter
related to pxp are discussed in section 2.10. A paper
describing the syntactic error recovery mechanism used in pi
was presented at the ACM Conference on Compiler Construction
in Boulder Colorado in August, 1979.
Acknowledgements
This version of px is a PDP 11/70 to VAX 11/780 opcode
mapping of the original px that was designed and implemented
by Ken Thompson, with extensive modifications and additions
by William Joy and Charles Haley. Without their work, this
Berkeley Pascal system would never have existed. These notes
were first written by William Joy for the PDP 11/70 imple-
mentation. We would also like to thank our faculty advisor
Susan L. Graham for her encouragement, her helpful comments
and suggestions relating to Berkeley Pascal and her excel-
lent editorial assistance.
_________________________
+ The financial support of the National Science Founda-
- 2 -
1. Organization
Most of px is written in the VAX 11/780 assembly
language, using the UNIX- assembler as. Portions of px are
also written in the UNIX systems programming language C. Px
consists of a main procedure that reads in the interpreter
code, a main interpreter loop that transfers successively to
various code segments implementing the abstract machine
operations, built-in procedures and functions, and several
routines that support the implementation of the Pascal
input-output environment.
The interpreter runs at a fraction of the speed of
equivalent compiled C code, with this fraction varying from
1/5 to 1/15. The interpreter occupies 18.5K bytes of
instruction space, shared among all processes executing Pas-
cal, and has 4.6K bytes of data space (constants, error mes-
sages, etc.) a copy of which is allocated to each executing
process.
1.1. Format of the object file
Px normally interprets the code left in an object file
by a run of the Pascal translator pi. The file where the
translator puts the object originally, and the most commonly
interpreted file, is called obj. In order that all persons
using px share a common text image, this executable file is
a small process that coordinates with the interpreter to
start execution. The interpreter code is placed at the end
of a special ``header'' file and the size of the initialized
data area of this header file is expanded to include this
code, so that during execution it is located at an easily
determined address in its data space. When executed, the
object process creates a pipe, creates another process by
doing a fork, and arranges that the resulting parent process
becomes an instance of px. The child process then writes the
interpreter code through the pipe that it has to the inter-
preter process parent. When this process is complete, the
child exits.
The real advantage of this approach is that it does not
require modifications to the shell, and that the resultant
objects are ``true objects'' not requiring special treat-
ment. A simpler mechanism would be to determine the name of
_________________________
tion under grants MCS74-07644-A03 and MCS78-07291 and
of an IBM Graduate Fellowship are gratefully ack-
nowledged.
* The financial support of a Howard Hughes Graduate
Fellowship is gratefully acknowledged.
- UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Labora-
tories in the USA and other countries.
- 3 -
the file that was executed and pass this to the interpreter.
However it is not possible to determine this name in all
cases.*
1.2. General features of object code
Pascal object code is relocatable as all addressing
references for control transfers within the code are rela-
tive. The code consists of instructions interspersed with
inline data. All instructions have a length that is an even
number of bytes. No variables are kept in the object code
area.
The first byte of a Pascal interpreter instruction con-
tains an operation code. This allows a total of 256 major
operation codes, and 232 of these are in use in the current
px. The second byte of each interpreter instruction is
called the ``sub-operation code'', or more commonly the
sub-opcode. It contains a small integer that may, for exam-
ple, be used as a block-structure level for the associated
operation. If the instruction can take a longword constant,
this constant is often packed into the sub-opcode if it fits
into 8 bits and is not zero. A sub-opcode value of zero
specifies that the constant would not fit and therefore fol-
lows in the next word. This is a space optimization, the
value of zero for flagging the longer case being convenient
because it is easy to test.
Other instruction formats are used. The branching
instructions take an offset in the following word, operators
that load constants onto the stack take arbitrarily long
inline constant values, and many operations deal exclusively
with data on the interpreter stack, requiring no inline
data.
1.3. Stack structure of the interpreter
The interpreter emulates a stack-structured Pascal
machine. The ``load'' instructions put values onto the
stack, where all arithmetic operations take place. The
_________________________
* For instance, if the pxref program is placed in the
directory `/usr/bin' then when the user types ``pxref
program.p'' the first argument to the program, nominal-
ly the programs name, is ``pxref.'' While it would be
possible to search in the standard place, i.e. the
current directory, and the system directories `/bin'
and `/usr/bin' for a corresponding object file, this
would be expensive and not guaranteed to succeed.
Several shells exist that allow other directories to be
searched for commands, and there is, in general, no way
to determine what these directories are.
- 4 -
``store'' instructions take values off the stack and place
them in an address that is also contained on the stack. The
only way to move data or to compute in the machine is with
the stack.
To make the interpreter operations more powerful and to
thereby increase the interpreter speed, the arithmetic
operations in the interpreter are ``typed''. That is, length
conversion of arithmetic values occurs when they are used in
an operation. This eliminates interpreter cycles for length
conversion and the associated overhead. For example, when
adding an integer that fits in one byte to one that requires
four bytes to store, no ``conversion'' operators are
required. The one byte integer is loaded onto the stack,
followed by the four byte integer, and then an adding opera-
tor is used that has, implicit in its definition, the sizes
of the arguments.
1.4. Data types in the interpreter
The interpreter deals with several different fundamen-
tal data types. In the memory of the machine, 1, 2, and 4
byte integers are supported, with only 2 and 4 byte integers
being present on the stack. The interpreter always converts
to 4 byte integers when there is a possibility of overflow-
ing the shorter formats. This corresponds to the Pascal
language definition of overflow in arithmetic operations
that requires that the result be correct if all partial
values lie within the bounds of the base integer type: 4
byte integer values.
Character constants are treated similarly to 1 byte
integers for most purposes, as are Boolean values. All
enumerated types are treated as integer values of an
appropriate length, usually 1 byte. The interpreter also has
real numbers, occupying 8 bytes of storage, and sets and
strings of varying length. The appropriate operations are
included for each data type, such as set union and intersec-
tion and an operation to write a string.
No special packed data formats are supported by the
interpreter. The smallest unit of storage occupied by any
variable is one byte. The built-ins pack and unpack thus
degenerate to simple memory to memory transfers with no spe-
cial processing.
1.5. Runtime environment
The interpreter runtime environment uses a stack data
area and a heap data area, that are kept at opposite ends of
memory and grow towards each other. All global variables and
variables local to procedures and functions are kept in the
stack area. Dynamically allocated variables and buffers for
- 5 -
input/output are allocated in the heap.
The addressing of block structured variables is done by
using a fixed display that contains the address of its stack
frame for each statically active block.+ This display is
referenced by instructions that load and store variables and
maintained by the operations for block entry and exit, and
for non-local goto statements.
1.6. Dp, lc, loop
Three ``global'' variables in the interpreter, in addi-
tion to the ``display'', are the dp, lc, and the loop. The
dp is a pointer to the display entry for the current block;
the lc is the abstract machine location counter; and the
loop is a register that holds the address of the main inter-
preter loop so that returning to the loop to fetch the next
instruction is a fast operation.
1.7. The stack frame structure
Each active block has a stack frame consisting of three
parts: a block mark, local variables, and temporary storage
for partially evaluated expressions. The stack in the inter-
preter grows from the high addresses in memory to the low
addresses, so that those parts of the stack frame that are
``on the top'' of the stack have the most negative offsets
from the display entry for the block. The major parts of the
stack frame are represented in Figure 1.1. Note that the
local variables of each block have negative offsets from the
corresponding display entry, the ``first'' local variable
having offset `-2'.
1.8. The block mark
The block mark contains the saved information necessary
to restore the environment when the current block exits. It
consists of two parts. The first and top-most part is saved
by the CALL instruction in the interpreter. This information
is not present for the main program as it is never
``called''. The second part of the block mark is created by
the BEG begin block operator that also allocates and clears
the local variable storage. The format of these blocks is
represented in Figure 1.2.
The data saved by the CALL operator includes the line
number lino of the point of call, that is printed if the
program execution ends abnormally; the location counter lc
_________________________
+ Here ``block'' is being used to mean any procedure,
function or the main program.
- 6 -
Base of stack frame
_____________________
| |
| Block mark | Positive offsets
| |
|____________________| <- Display entry points here
| |
| Local |
| variables |
| |
|____________________| Negative offsets
| Temporary |
| expression |
| space |
| |
|____________________|
Top of stack frame
Figure 1.1 - Structure of stack frame
________________________
| | Created by CALL
| Saved lino |
| |
| Saved lc |
| |
| Saved dp |
| |
|_______________________|
| | Created by BEG
| Saved dp contents |
| |
| Pointer to current |
| entry line and |
| section name |
| |
| Current file name |
| and buffer |
| |
| Top of stack reference|
| |
|_______________________|
Figure 1.2 - Block mark structure
- 7 -
giving the return address; and the current display entry
address dp at the time of call.
The BEG begin operator saves the previous display con-
tents at the level of this block, so that the display can be
restored on block exit. A pointer to the beginning line
number and the name of this block is also saved. This infor-
mation is stored in the interpreter object code in-line
after the BEG operator. It is used in printing a post-mortem
backtrace. The saved file name and buffer reference are
necessary because of the input/output structure (this is
discussed in detail in sections 3.3 and 3.4). The top of
stack reference gives the value the stack pointer should
have when there are no expression temporaries on the stack.
It is used for a consistency check in the LINO line number
operators in the interpreter, that occurs before each state-
ment executed. This helps to catch bugs in the interpreter,
that often manifest themselves by leaving the stack non-
empty between statements.
Note that there is no explicit static link here. Thus
to set up the display correctly after a non-local goto
statement one must ``unwind'' through all the block marks on
the stack to rebuild the display.
1.9. Arguments and return values
A function returns its value into a space reserved by
the calling block. Arguments to a function are placed on top
of this return area. For both procedure and function calls,
arguments are placed at the end of the expression evaluation
area of the caller. When a function completes, expression
evaluation can continue after popping the arguments to the
function off the stack, exactly as if the function value had
been ``loaded''. The arguments to a procedure are also
popped off the stack by the caller after its execution ends.
- 8 -
As a simple example consider the following stack struc-
ture for a call to a function f, of the form ``f(a)''.
______________________
| Space for |
| value returned |
| from f |
|_____________________|
| Value of a |
|_____________________|
| |
| Block Mark |
| |
|_____________________|
Figure 1.3 - Stack structure on function call `f(a)'
If we suppose that f returns a real and that a is an
integer, the calling sequence for this function would be:
PUSH -8
RV4:l a
CALL:l f
POP 4
Here we use the operator PUSH to clear space for the
return value, load a on the stack with a ``right value''
operator, call the function, pop off the argument a, and can
then complete evaluation of the containing expression. The
operations used here will be explained in section 2.
If the function f were given by
10 function f(i: integer): real;
11 begin
12 f := i
13 end;
then f would have code sequence:
- 9 -
BEG:2 0
11
"f"
LV:l 40
RV4:l 32
AS48
END
Here the BEG operator takes 9 bytes of inline data. The
first byte specifies the length of the function name. The
second longword specifies the amount of local variable
storage, here none. The succeeding two lines give the line
number of the begin and the name of the block for error
traceback. The BEG operator places a name pointer in the
block mark. The body of the function first takes an address
of the function result variable f using the address of
operator LV a. The next operation in the interpretation of
this function is the loading of the value of i. I is at the
level of the function f, here symbolically l, and the first
variable in the local variable area. The function completes
by assigning the 4 byte integer on the stack to the 8 byte
return location, hence the AS48 assignment operator, and
then uses the END operator to exit the current block.
1.10. The main interpreter loop
The main interpreter loop is simply:
iloop:
caseb (lc)+,$0,$255
<table of opcode interpreter addresses>
The main opcode is extracted from the first byte of the
instruction and used to index into the table of opcode
interpreter addresses. Control is then transferred to the
specified location. The sub-opcode may be used to index the
display, as a small constant, or to specify one of several
relational operators. In the cases where a constant is
needed, but it is not small enough to fit in the byte sub-
operator, a zero is placed there and the constant follows in
the next word. Zero is easily tested for, as the instruction
that fetches the sub-opcode sets the condition code flags. A
construction like:
_OPER:
cvtbl (lc)+,r0
bneq L1
cvtwl (lc)+,r0
L1: ...
- 10 -
is all that is needed to effect this packing of data. This
technique saves space in the Pascal obj object code.
The address of the instruction at iloop is always con-
tained in the register variable loop. Thus a return to the
main interpreter is simply:
jmp (loop)
that is both quick and occupies little space.
1.11. Errors
Errors during interpretation fall into three classes:
1) Interpreter detected errors.
2) Hardware detected errors.
3) External events.
Interpreter detected errors include I/O errors and
built-in function errors. These errors cause a subroutine
call to an error routine with a single parameter indicating
the cause of the error. Hardware errors such as range errors
and overflows are fielded by a special routine that deter-
mines the opcode that caused the error. It then calls the
error routine with an appropriate error parameter. External
events include interrupts and system limits such as avail-
able memory. They generate a call to the error routine with
an appropriate error code. The error routine processes the
error condition, printing an appropriate error message and
usually a backtrace from the point of the error.
2. Operations
2.1. Naming conventions and operation summary
Table 2.1 outlines the opcode typing convention. The
expression ``a above b'' means that `a' is on top of the
stack with `b' below it. Table 2.3 describes each of the
opcodes. The character `*' at the end of a name specifies
that all operations with the root prefix before the `*' are
summarized by one entry. Table 2.2 gives the codes used to
describe the type inline data expected by each instruction.
- 11 -
_______________________________________________
| Table 2.1 - Operator Suffixes |
|_______________________________________________|
| |
| Unary operator suffixes |
| |
| Suffix Example Argument type |
| 2 NEG2 Short integer (2 bytes) |
| 4 SQR4 Long integer (4 bytes) |
| 8 ABS8 Real (8 bytes) |
| |
|______________________________________________|
| |
| Binary operator suffixes |
| |
| Suffix Example Argument type |
| 2 ADD2 Two short integers |
| 24 MUL24 Short above long integer |
| 42 REL42 Long above short integer |
| 4 DIV4 Two long integers |
| 28 DVD28 Short integer above real |
| 48 REL48 Long integer above real |
| 82 SUB82 Real above short integer |
| 84 MUL84 Real above long integer |
| 8 ADD8 Two reals |
| |
|______________________________________________|
| |
| Other Suffixes |
| |
| Suffix Example Argument types |
| T ADDT Sets |
| G RELG Strings |
| |
|______________________________________________|
- 12 -
_________________________________________
| Table 2.2 - Inline data type codes |
|_____|__________________________________|
| Code| Description |
|______|___________________________________|
| a | An address offset is given in |
| | the word following the in- |
| | struction. |
|_____|__________________________________|
| A | An address offset is given in |
| | the four bytes following the |
| | instruction. |
|_____|__________________________________|
| l | An index into the display is |
| | given in the sub-opcode. |
|_____|__________________________________|
| r | A relational operator is en- |
| | coded in the sub-opcode. (see |
| | section 2.3) |
|_____|__________________________________|
| s | A small integer is placed in |
| | the sub-opcode, or in the next |
| | word if it is zero or too |
| | large. |
|_____|__________________________________|
| v | Variable length inline data. |
|_____|__________________________________|
| w | A word value in the following |
| | word. |
|_____|__________________________________|
| W | A long value in the following |
| | four bytes. |
|_____|__________________________________|
| " | An inline constant string. |
|_____|__________________________________|
- 13 -
____________________________________________________________________________________
| Table 2.3 - Machine operations |
|______________|______________|____________________________________________________|
|Mnemonic | Reference | Description |
_|_______________|_______________|_____________________________________________________|
|ABS* | 2.7 | Absolute value |
|ADD* | 2.7 | Addition |
|AND | 2.4 | Boolean and |
|ARGC | 2.14 | Returns number of arguments to current process |
|ARGV | 2.14 | Copy specified process argument into char array |
|AS* | 2.5 | Assignment operators |
|ASRT | 2.12 | Assert true to continue |
|ATAN | 2.13 | Returns arctangent of argument |
|BEG s,W,w," | 2.2,1.8 | Write second part of block mark, enter block |
|BUFF | 3.11 | Specify buffering for file "output" |
|CALL l,A | 2.2,1.8 | Procedure or function call |
|CARD s | 2.11 | Cardinality of set |
|CASEOP* | 2.9 | Case statements |
|CHR* | 2.15 | Returns integer to ascii mapping of argument |
|CLCK | 2.14 | Returns user time of program |
|CON* v | 2.5 | Load constant operators |
|COS | 2.13 | Returns cos of argument |
|COUNT w | 2.10 | Count a statement count point |
|CTTOT s,w,w | 2.11 | Construct set |
|DATE | 2.14 | Copy date into char array |
|DEFNAME | 3.11 | Attach file name for program statement files |
|DISPOSE | 2.15 | Dispose of a heap allocation |
|DIV* | 2.7 | Fixed division |
|DVD* | 2.7 | Floating division |
|END | 2.2,1.8 | End block execution |
|EOF | 3.10 | Returns true if end of file |
|EOLN | 3.10 | Returns true if end of line on input text file |
|EXP | 2.13 | Returns exponential of argument |
|EXPO | 2.13 | Returns machine representation of real exponent |
|FILE | 3.9 | Push descriptor for active file |
|FLUSH | 3.11 | Flush a file |
|FNIL | 3.7 | Check file initialized, not eof, synced |
|FOR* a | 2.12 | For statements |
|GET | 3.7 | Get next record from a file |
|GOTO l,A | 2.2,1.8 | Non-local goto statement |
|HALT | 2.2 | Produce control flow backtrace |
|IF a | 2.3 | Conditional transfer |
|IN s,w,w | 2.11 | Set membership |
|INCT | 2.11 | Membership in a constructed set |
|IND* | 2.6 | Indirection operators |
|INX* s,w,w | 2.6 | Subscripting (indexing) operator |
|ITOD | 2.12 | Convert integer to real |
|ITOS | 2.12 | Convert integer to short integer |
|LINO s | 2.2 | Set line number, count statements |
|LLIMIT | 2.14 | Set linelimit for output text file |
|LLV l,W | 2.6 | Address of operator |
|LN | 2.13 | Returns natural log of argument |
|LRV* l,A | 2.5 | Right value (load) operators |
|______________|______________|____________________________________________________|
- 14 -
____________________________________________________________________________________
| Table 2.3 - Machine operations |
|______________|______________|____________________________________________________|
|Mnemonic | Reference | Description |
_|_______________|_______________|_____________________________________________________|
|LV l,w | 2.6 | Address of operator |
|MAX s,w | 3.8 | Maximum of top of stack and w |
|MESSAGE | 3.6 | Write to terminal |
|MIN s | 3.8 | Minimum of top of stack and s |
|MOD* | 2.7 | Modulus |
|MUL* | 2.7 | Multiplication |
|NAM A | 3.8 | Convert enumerated type value to print format |
|NEG* | 2.7 | Negation |
|NEW s | 2.15 | Allocate a record on heap, set pointer to it |
|NIL | 2.6 | Assert non-nil pointer |
|NODUMP s,W,w,"| 2.2 | BEG main program, suppress dump |
|NOT | 2.4 | Boolean not |
|ODD* | 2.15 | Returns true if argument is odd, false if even |
|OFF s | 2.5 | Offset address, typically used for field reference|
|OR | 2.4 | Boolean or |
|PACK s,w,w,w | 2.15 | Convert and copy from unpacked to packed |
|PAGE | 3.8 | Output a formfeed to a text file |
|POP s | 2.2,1.9 | Pop (arguments) off stack |
|PRED* | 2.7 | Returns predecessor of argument |
|PUSH s | 2.2,1.9 | Clear space (for function result) |
|PUT | 3.8 | Output a record to a file |
|PXPBUF w | 2.10 | Initialize pxp count buffer |
|RANDOM | 2.13 | Returns random number |
|RANG* v | 2.8 | Subrange checking |
|READ* | 3.7 | Read a record from a file |
|REL* r | 2.3 | Relational test yielding Boolean result |
|REMOVE | 3.11 | Remove a file |
|RESET | 3.11 | Open file for input |
|REWRITE | 3.11 | Open file for output |
|ROUND | 2.13 | Returns TRUNC(argument + 0.5) |
|RV* l,a | 2.5 | Right value (load) operators |
|SCLCK | 2.14 | Returns system time of program |
|SDUP | 2.2 | Duplicate top stack word |
|SEED | 2.13 | Set random seed, return old seed |
|SIN | 2.13 | Returns sin of argument |
|SQR* | 2.7 | Squaring |
|SQRT | 2.13 | Returns square root of argument |
|STLIM | 2.14 | Set program statement limit |
|STOD | 2.12 | Convert short integer to real |
|STOI | 2.12 | Convert short to long integer |
|SUB* | 2.7 | Subtraction |
|SUCC* | 2.7 | Returns successor of argument |
|TIME | 2.14 | Copy time into char array |
|TRA a | 2.2 | Short control transfer (local branching) |
|TRA4 A | 2.2 | Long control transfer |
|TRACNT w,A | 2.10 | Count a procedure entry |
|TRUNC | 2.13 | Returns integer part of argument |
|UNDEF | 2.15 | Returns false |
|______________|______________|____________________________________________________|
- 15 -
____________________________________________________________________________________
| Table 2.3 - Machine operations |
|______________|______________|____________________________________________________|
|Mnemonic | Reference | Description |
_|_______________|_______________|_____________________________________________________|
|UNIT* | 3.10 | Set active file |
|UNPACK s,w,w,w| 2.15 | Convert and copy from packed to unpacked |
|WCLCK | 2.14 | Returns current time stamp |
|WRITEC | 3.8 | Character unformatted write |
|WRITEF l | 3.8 | General formatted write |
|WRITES l | 3.8 | String unformatted write |
|WRITLN | 3.8 | Output a newline to a text file |
|______________|______________|____________________________________________________|
- 16 -
2.2. Basic control operations
HALT
Corresponds to the Pascal procedure halt; causes execu-
tion to end with a post-mortem backtrace as if a run-
time error had occurred.
BEG s,W,w,"
Causes the second part of the block mark to be created,
and W bytes of local variable space to be allocated and
cleared to zero. Stack overflow is detected here. w is
the first line of the body of this section for error
traceback, and the inline string (length s) the charac-
ter representation of its name.
NODUMP s,W,w,"
Equivalent to BEG, and used to begin the main program
when the ``p'' option is disabled so that the post-
mortem backtrace will be inhibited.
END
Complementary to the operators CALL and BEG, exits the
current block, calling the procedure pclose to flush
buffers for and release any local files. Restores the
environment of the caller from the block mark. If this
is the end for the main program, all files are flushed,
and the interpreter is exited.
CALL l,A
Saves the current line number, return address, and
active display entry pointer dp in the first part of
the block mark, then transfers to the entry point given
by the relative address A, that is the beginning of a
procedure or function at level l.
PUSH s
Clears s bytes on the stack. Used to make space for the
return value of a function just before calling it.
POP s
Pop s bytes off the stack. Used after a function or
procedure returns to remove the arguments from the
stack.
- 17 -
TRA a
Transfer control to relative address a as a local goto
or part of a structured statement.
TRA4 A
Transfer control to an absolute address as part of a
non-local goto or to branch over procedure bodies.
LINO s
Set current line number to s. For consistency, check
that the expression stack is empty as it should be (as
this is the start of a statement.) This consistency
check will fail only if there is a bug in the inter-
preter or the interpreter code has somehow been dam-
aged. Increment the statement count and if it exceeds
the statement limit, generate a fault.
GOTO l,A
Transfer control to address A that is in the block at
level l of the display. This is a non-local goto.
Causes each block to be exited as if with END, flushing
and freeing files with pclose, until the current
display entry is at level l.
SDUP*
Duplicate the word or long on the top of the stack.
This is used mostly for constructing sets. See section
2.11.
2.3. If and relational operators
IF a
The interpreter conditional transfers all take place
using this operator that examines the Boolean value on
the top of the stack. If the value is true, the next
code is executed, otherwise control transfers to the
specified address.
REL* r
These take two arguments on the stack, and the sub-
operation code specifies the relational operation to be
done, coded as follows with `a' above `b' on the stack:
- 18 -
Code Operation
________________
0 a = b
2 a <> b
4 a < b
6 a > b
8 a <= b
10 a >= b
Each operation does a test to set the condition code
appropriately and then does an indexed branch based on
the sub-operation code to a test of the condition here
specified, pushing a Boolean value on the stack.
Consider the statement fragment:
if a = b then
If a and b are integers this generates the following
code:
RV4:l a
RV4:l b
REL4 =
IF Else part offset
... Then part code ...
2.4. Boolean operators
The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT manipulate
values on the top of the stack. All Boolean values are kept
in single bytes in memory, or in single words on the stack.
Zero represents a Boolean false, and one a Boolean true.
2.5. Right value, constant, and assignment operators
LRV* l,A
RV* l,a
The right value operators load values on the stack.
They take a block number as a sub-opcode and load the
appropriate number of bytes from that block at the
offset specified in the following word onto the stack.
As an example, consider LRV4:
- 19 -
_LRV4:
cvtbl (lc)+,r0 #r0 has display index
addl3 _display(r0),(lc)+,r1 #r1 has variable address
pushl (r1) #put value on the stack
jmp (loop)
Here the interpreter places the display level in r0. It
then adds the appropriate display value to the inline
offset and pushes the value at this location onto the
stack. Control then returns to the main interpreter
loop. The RV* operators have short inline data that
reduces the space required to address the first 32K of
stack space in each stack frame. The operators RV14 and
RV24 provide explicit conversion to long as the data is
pushed. This saves the generation of STOI to align
arguments to C subroutines.
CON* r
The constant operators load a value onto the stack from
inline code. Small integer values are condensed and
loaded by the CON1 operator, that is given by
_CON1:
cvtbw (lc)+,-(sp)
jmp (loop)
Here note that little work was required as the required
constant was available at (lc)+. For longer constants,
lc must be incremented before moving the constant. The
operator CON takes a length specification in the sub-
opcode and can be used to load strings and other vari-
able length data onto the stack. The operators CON14
and CON24 provide explicit conversion to long as the
constant is pushed.
AS*
The assignment operators are similar to arithmetic and
relational operators in that they take two operands,
both in the stack, but the lengths given for them
specify first the length of the value on the stack and
then the length of the target in memory. The target
address in memory is under the value to be stored. Thus
the statement
i := 1
where i is a full-length, 4 byte, integer, will
- 20 -
generate the code sequence
LV:l i
CON1:1
AS24
Here LV will load the address of i, that is really
given as a block number in the sub-opcode and an offset
in the following word, onto the stack, occupying a sin-
gle word. CON1, that is a single word instruction, then
loads the constant 1, that is in its sub-opcode, onto
the stack. Since there are not one byte constants on
the stack, this becomes a 2 byte, single word integer.
The interpreter then assigns a length 2 integer to a
length 4 integer using AS24. The code sequence for AS24
is given by:
_AS24:
incl lc
cvtwl (sp)+,*(sp)+
jmp (loop)
Thus the interpreter gets the single word off the
stack, extends it to be a 4 byte integer gets the tar-
get address off the stack, and finally stores the value
in the target. This is a typical use of the constant
and assignment operators.
2.6. Addressing operations
LLV l,W
LV l,w
The most common operation done by the interpreter is
the ``left value'' or ``address of'' operation. It is
given by:
_LLV:
cvtbl (lc)+,r0 #r0 has display index
addl3 _display(r0),(lc)+,-(sp) #push address onto the stack
jmp (loop)
It calculates an address in the block specified in the
sub-opcode by adding the associated display entry to
the offset that appears in the following word. The LV
operator has a short inline data that reduces the space
required to address the first 32K of stack space in
each call frame.
- 21 -
OFF s
The offset operator is used in field names. Thus to get
the address of
p^.f1
pi would generate the sequence
RV:l p
OFF f1
where the RV loads the value of p, given its block in
the sub-opcode and offset in the following word, and
the interpreter then adds the offset of the field f1 in
its record to get the correct address. OFF takes its
argument in the sub-opcode if it is small enough.
NIL
The example above is incomplete, lacking a check for a
nil pointer. The code generated would be
RV:l p
NIL
OFF f1
where the NIL operation checks for a nil pointer and
generates the appropriate runtime error if it is.
LVCON s,"
A pointer to the specified length inline data is pushed
onto the stack. This is primarily used for printf type
strings used by WRITEF. (see sections 3.6 and 3.8)
INX* s,w,w
The operators INX2 and INX4 are used for subscripting.
For example, the statement
a[i] := 2.0
with i an integer and a an ``array [1..1000] of real''
would generate
- 22 -
LV:l a
RV4:l i
INX4:8 1,999
CON8 2.0
AS8
Here the LV operation takes the address of a and places
it on the stack. The value of i is then placed on top
of this on the stack. The array address is indexed by
the length 4 index (a length 2 index would use INX2)
where the individual elements have a size of 8 bytes.
The code for INX4 is:
_INX4:
cvtbl (lc)+,r0
bneq L1
cvtwl (lc)+,r0 #r0 has size of records
L1:
cvtwl (lc)+,r1 #r1 has lower bound
movzwl (lc)+,r2 #r2 has upper-lower bound
subl3 r1,(sp)+,r3 #r3 has base subscript
cmpl r3,r2 #check for out of bounds
bgtru esubscr
mull2 r0,r3 #calculate byte offset
addl2 r3,(sp) #calculate actual address
jmp (loop)
esubscr:
movw $ESUBSCR,_perrno
jbr error
Here the lower bound is subtracted, and range checked
against the upper minus lower bound. The offset is then
scaled to a byte offset into the array and added to the
base address on the stack. Multi-dimension subscripts
are translated as a sequence of single subscriptings.
IND*
For indirect references through var parameters and
pointers, the interpreter has a set of indirection
operators that convert a pointer on the stack into a
value on the stack from that address. different IND
operators are necessary because of the possibility of
different length operands. The IND14 and IND24 opera-
tors do conversions to long as they push their data.
- 23 -
2.7. Arithmetic operators
The interpreter has many arithmetic operators. All
operators produce results long enough to prevent overflow
unless the bounds of the base type are exceeded. The basic
operators available are
Addition: ADD*, SUCC*
Subtraction: SUB*, PRED*
Multiplication: MUL*, SQR*
Division: DIV*, DVD*, MOD*
Unary: NEG*, ABS*
2.8. Range checking
The interpreter has several range checking operators.
The important distinction among these operators is between
values whose legal range begins at zero and those that do
not begin at zero, for example a subrange variable whose
values range from 45 to 70. For those that begin at zero, a
simpler ``logical'' comparison against the upper bound suf-
fices. For others, both the low and upper bounds must be
checked independently, requiring two comparisons. On the VAX
11/780 both checks are done using a single index instruction
so the only gain is in reducing the inline data.
2.9. Case operators
The interpreter includes three operators for case
statements that are used depending on the width of the case
label type. For each width, the structure of the case data
is the same, and is represented in figure 2.4.
The CASEOP case statement operators do a sequential
search through the case label values. If they find the label
value, they take the corresponding entry from the transfer
table and cause the interpreter to branch to the specified
statement. If the specified label is not found, an error
results.
The CASE operators take the number of cases as a sub-
opcode if possible. Three different operators are needed to
handle single byte, word, and long case transfer table
values. For example, the CASEOP1 operator has the following
code sequence:
- 24 -
_________________
| CASEOP |
|________________|
| No. of cases |
|________________|
| |
| Case |
| transfer |
| table |
| |
|________________|
| |
| Array of case |
| label values |
| |
|________________|
Figure 2.4 - Case data structure
_CASEOP1:
cvtbl (lc)+,r0
bneq L1
cvtwl (lc)+,r0 #r0 has length of case table
L1:
movaw (lc)[r0],r2 #r2 has pointer to case labels
movzwl (sp)+,r3 #r3 has the element to find
locc r3,r0,(r2) #r0 has index of located element
beql caserr #element not found
mnegl r0,r0 #calculate new lc
cvtwl (r2)[r0],r1 #r1 has lc offset
addl2 r1,lc
jmp (loop)
caserr:
movw $ECASE,_perrno
jbr error
Here the interpreter first computes the address of the
beginning of the case label value area by adding twice the
number of case label values to the address of the transfer
table, since the transfer table entries are 2 byte address
offsets. It then searches through the label values, and gen-
erates an ECASE error if the label is not found. If the
label is found, the index of the corresponding entry in the
transfer table is extracted and that offset is added to the
interpreter location counter.
2.10. Operations supporting pxp
The following operations are defined to do execution
- 25 -
profiling.
PXPBUF w
Causes the interpreter to allocate a count buffer with
w four byte counters and to clear them to zero. The
count buffer is placed within an image of the pmon.out
file as described in the PXP Implementation Notes. The
contents of this buffer are written to the file
pmon.out when the program ends.
COUNT w
Increments the counter specified by w.
TRACNT w,A
Used at the entry point to procedures and functions,
combining a transfer to the entry point of the block
with an incrementing of its entry count.
2.11. Set operations
The set operations: union ADDT, intersection MULT, ele-
ment removal SUBT, and the set relationals RELT are
straightforward. The following operations are more interest-
ing.
CARD s
Takes the cardinality of a set of size s bytes on top
of the stack, leaving a 2 byte integer count. CARD uses
the ffs opcode to successively count the number of set
bits in the set.
CTTOT s,w,w
Constructs a set. This operation requires a non-trivial
amount of work, checking bounds and setting individual
bits or ranges of bits. This operation sequence is
slow, and motivates the presence of the operator INCT
below. The arguments to CTTOT include the number of
elements s in the constructed set, the lower and upper
bounds of the set, the two w values, and a pair of
values on the stack for each range in the set, single
elements in constructed sets being duplicated with SDUP
to form degenerate ranges.
IN s,w,w
The operator in for sets. The value s specifies the
size of the set, the two w values the lower and upper
bounds of the set. The value on the stack is checked to
- 26 -
be in the set on the stack, and a Boolean value of true
or false replaces the operands.
INCT
The operator in on a constructed set without construct-
ing it. The left operand of in is on top of the stack
followed by the number of pairs in the constructed set,
and then the pairs themselves, all as single word
integers. Pairs designate runs of values and single
values are represented by a degenerate pair with both
value equal. This operator is generated in grammatical
constructs such as
if character in [`+', '-', `*', `/']
or
if character in [`a'..`z', `$', `_']
These constructs are common in Pascal, and INCT makes
them run much faster in the interpreter, as if they
were written as an efficient series of if statements.
2.12. Miscellaneous
Other miscellaneous operators that are present in the
interpreter are ASRT that causes the program to end if the
Boolean value on the stack is not true, and STOI, STOD,
ITOD, and ITOS that convert between different length arith-
metic operands for use in aligning the arguments in pro-
cedure and function calls, and with some untyped built-ins,
such as SIN and COS.
Finally, if the program is run with the run-time test-
ing disabled, there are special operators for for statements
and special indexing operators for arrays that have indivi-
dual element size that is a power of 2. The code can run
significantly faster using these operators.
2.13. Mathematical Functions
The transcendental functions SIN, COS, ATAN, EXP, LN,
SQRT, SEED, and RANDOM are taken from the standard UNIX
mathematical package. These functions take double precision
floating point values and return the same.
The functions EXPO, TRUNC, and ROUND take a double pre-
cision floating point number. EXPO returns an integer
representing the machine representation of its argument's
exponent, TRUNC returns the integer part of its argument,
- 27 -
and ROUND returns the rounded integer part of its argument.
2.14. System functions and procedures
LLIMIT
A line limit and a file pointer are passed on the
stack. If the limit is non-negative the line limit is
set to the specified value, otherwise it is set to
unlimited. The default is unlimited.
STLIM
A statement limit is passed on the stack. The statement
limit is set as specified. The default is 500,000. No
limit is enforced when the ``p'' option is disabled.
CLCK
SCLCK
CLCK returns the number of milliseconds of user time
used by the program; SCLCK returns the number of mil-
liseconds of system time used by the program.
WCLCK
The number of seconds since some predefined time is
returned. Its primary usefulness is in determining
elapsed time and in providing a unique time stamp.
The other system time procedures are DATE and TIME that copy
an appropriate text string into a pascal string array. The
function ARGC returns the number of command line arguments
passed to the program. The procedure ARGV takes an index on
the stack and copies the specified command line argument
into a pascal string array.
2.15. Pascal procedures and functions
PACK s,w,w,w
UNPACK s,w,w,w
They function as a memory to memory move with several
semantic checks. They do no ``unpacking'' or ``pack-
ing'' in the true sense as the interpreter supports no
packed data types.
NEW s
DISPOSE s
An LV of a pointer is passed. NEW allocates a record of
a specified size and puts a pointer to it into the
- 28 -
pointer variable. DISPOSE deallocates the record
pointed to by the pointer and sets the pointer to NIL.
The function CHR* converts a suitably small integer into an
ascii character. Its primary purpose is to do a range check.
The function ODD* returns true if its argument is odd and
returns false if its argument is even. The function UNDEF
always returns the value false.
3. Input/output
3.1. The files structure
Each file in the Pascal environment is represented by a
pointer to a files structure in the heap. At the location
addressed by the pointer is the element in the file's window
variable. Behind this window variable is information about
the file, at the following offsets:
-108 FNAME Text name of associated UNIX file
-30 LCOUNT Current count of lines output
-26 LLIMIT Maximum number of lines permitted
-22 FBUF UNIX FILE pointer
-18 FCHAIN Chain to next file
-14 FLEV Pointer to associated file variable
-10 PFNAME Pointer to name of file for error messages
-6 FUNIT File status flags
-4 FSIZE Size of elements in the file
0 File window element
Here FBUF is a pointer to the system FILE block for the
file. The standard system I/O library is used that provides
block buffered input/output, with 1024 characters normally
transferred at each read or write.
The files in the Pascal environment, are all linked
together on a single file chain through the FCHAIN links.
For each file the FLEV pointer gives its associated file
variable. These are used to free files at block exit as
described in section 3.3 below.
The FNAME and PFNAME give the associated file name for
the file and the name to be used when printing error diag-
nostics respectively. Although these names are usually the
same, input and output usually have no associated file name
so the distinction is necessary.
The FUNIT word contains a set of flags. whose represen-
tations are:
EOF 0x0100 At end-of-file
- 29 -
EOLN 0x0200 At end-of-line (text files only)
SYNC 0x0400 File window is out of sync
TEMP 0x0800 File is temporary
FREAD 0x1000 File is open for reading
FWRITE 0x2000 File is open for writing
FTEXT 0x4000 File is a text file; process EOLN
FDEF 0x8000 File structure created, but file not opened
The EOF and EOLN bits here reflect the associated
built-in function values. TEMP specifies that the file has a
generated temporary name and that it should therefore be
removed when its block exits. FREAD and FWRITE specify that
reset and rewrite respectively have been done on the file so
that input or output operations can be done. FTEXT specifies
the file is a text file so that EOLN processing should be
done, with newline characters turned into blanks, etc.
The SYNC bit, when true, specifies that there is no
usable image in the file buffer window. As discussed in the
Berkeley Pascal User's Manual, the interactive environment
necessitates having ``input^'' undefined at the beginning of
execution so that a program may print a prompt before the
user is required to type input. The SYNC bit implements
this. When it is set, it specifies that the element in the
window must be updated before it can be used. This is never
done until necessary.
3.2. Initialization of files
All the variables in the Pascal runtime environment are
cleared to zero on block entry. This is necessary for simple
processing of files. If a file is unused, its pointer will
be nil. All references to an inactive file are thus refer-
ences through a nil pointer. If the Pascal system did not
clear storage to zero before execution it would not be pos-
sible to detect inactive files in this simple way; it would
probably be necessary to generate (possibly complicated)
code to initialize each file on block entry.
When a file is first mentioned in a reset or rewrite
call, a buffer of the form described above is associated
with it, and the necessary information about the file is
placed in this buffer. The file is also linked into the
active file chain. This chain is kept sorted by block mark
address, the FLEV entries.
3.3. Block exit
When block exit occurs the interpreter must free the
files that are in use in the block and their associated
buffers. This is simple and efficient because the files in
the active file chain are sorted by increasing block mark
- 30 -
address. This means that the files for the current block
will be at the front of the chain. For each file that is no
longer accessible the interpreter first flushes the files
buffer if it is an output file. The interpreter then returns
the file buffer and the files structure and window to the
free space in the heap and removes the file from the active
file chain.
3.4. Flushing
Flushing all the file buffers at abnormal termination,
or on a call to the procedure flush or message is done by
flushing each file on the file chain that has the FWRITE bit
set in its flags word.
3.5. The active file
For input-output, px maintains a notion of an active
file. Each operation that references a file makes the file
it will be using the active file and then does its opera-
tion. A subtle point here is that one may do a procedure
call to write that involves a call to a function that refer-
ences another file, thereby destroying the active file set
up before the write. Thus the active file is saved at block
entry in the block mark and restored at block exit.+
3.6. File operations
Files in Pascal can be used in two distinct ways: as
the object of read, write, get, and put calls, or indirectly
as though they were pointers. The second use as pointers
must be careful not to destroy the active file in a refer-
ence such as
write(output, input^)
or the system would incorrectly write on the input device.
The fundamental operator related to the use of a file
is FNIL. This takes the file variable, as a pointer, insures
that the pointer is not nil, and also that a usable image is
in the file window, by forcing the SYNC bit to be cleared.
A simple example that demonstrates the use of the file
operators is given by
writeln(f)
_________________________
+ It would probably be better to dispense with the no-
tion of active file and use another mechanism that did
not involve extra overhead on each procedure and func-
tion call.
- 31 -
that produces
RV:l f
UNIT
WRITLN
3.7. Read operations
GET
Advance the active file to the next input element.
FNIL
A file pointer is on the stack. Insure that the associ-
ated file is active and that the file is synced so that
there is input available in the window.
READ*
If the file is a text file, read a block of text and
convert it to the internal type of the specified
operand. If the file is not a text file then do an
unformatted read of the next record. The procedure
READLN reads upto and including the next end of line
character.
READE A
The operator READE reads a string name of an enumerated
type and converts it to its internal value. READE takes
a pointer to a data structure as shown in figure 3.2.
See the description of NAM in the next section for an
example.
3.8. Write operations
PUT
Output the element in the active file window.
WRITEF s
The argument(s) on the stack are output by the fprintf
standard I/O library routine. The sub-opcode s speci-
fies the number of longword arguments on the stack.
WRITEC
The character on the top of the stack is output without
- 32 -
_________________
| No. of cases |
|________________|
| |
| offsets |
| of element |
| names |
| |
|________________|
| |
| Array of |
| null terminated|
| element names |
| |
|________________|
Figure 3.2 - Enumerated type conversion structure
formatting. Formatted characters must be output with
WRITEF.
WRITES
The string specified by the pointer on the top of the
stack is output by the fwrite standard I/O library rou-
tine. All characters including nulls are printed.
WRITLN
A linefeed is output to the active file. The line-count
for the file is incremented and checked against the
line limit.
PAGE
A formfeed is output to the active file.
NAM A
The value on the top of the stack is converted to a
pointer to an enumerated type string name. The address
A points to an enumerated type structure identical to
that used by READE. An error is raised if the value is
out of range. The form of this structure for the prede-
fined type boolean is shown in figure 3.3. The code for
NAM is
- 33 -
_________________
bool:| 2 |
| ________________|
| 6 |
| ________________|
| 12 |
| ________________|
| 17 |
| ________________|
| "false" |
| ________________|
| "true" |
| ________________|
Figure 3.3 - Boolean type conversion structure
_NAM:
incl lc
addl3 (lc)+,ap,r6 #r6 points to scalar name list
movl (sp)+,r3 #r3 has data value
cmpw r3,(r6)+ #check value out of bounds
bgequ enamrng
movzwl (r6)[r3],r4 #r4 has string index
pushab (r6)[r4] #push string pointer
jmp (loop)
enamrng:
movw $ENAMRNG,_perrno
jbr error
The address of the table is calculated by adding the
base address of the interpreter code, ap to the offset
pointed to by lc. The first word of the table gives the
number of records and provides a range check of the
data to be output. The pointer is then calculated as
tblbase = ap + A;
size = *tblbase++;
return(tblbase + tblbase[value]);
MAX s,w
The sub-opcode s is subtracted from the integer on the
top of the stack. The maximum of the result and the
second argument, w, replaces the value on the top of
the stack. This function verifies that variable speci-
fied width arguments are non-negative, and meet certain
minimum width requirements.
- 34 -
MIN s
The minimum of the value on the top of the stack and
the sub-opcode replaces the value on the top of the
stack.
The uses of files and the file operations are summarized in
an example which outputs a real variable (r) with a variable
width field (i).
writeln('r =',r:i,' ',true);
that generates the code
UNITOUT
FILE
CON14:1
CON14:3
LVCON:4 "r ="
WRITES
RV8:l r
RV4:l i
MAX:8 1
RV4:l i
MAX:1 1
LVCON:8 " %*.*E"
FILE
WRITEF:6
CONC4 ' '
WRITEC
CON14:1
NAM bool
LVCON:4 "%s"
FILE
WRITEF:3
WRITLN
Here the operator UNITOUT is an abbreviated form of the
operator UNIT that is used when the file to be made active
is output. A file descriptor, record count, string size, and
a pointer to the constant string ``r ='' are pushed and then
output by WRITES. Next the value of r is pushed on the stack
and the precision size is calculated by taking seven less
than the width, but not less than one. This is followed by
the width that is reduced by one to leave space for the
required leading blank. If the width is too narrow, it is
expanded by fprintf. A pointer to the format string is
pushed followed by a file descriptor and the operator WRITEF
that prints out r. The value of six on WRITEF comes from two
- 35 -
longs for r and a long each for the precision, width, format
string pointer, and file descriptor. The operator CONC4
pushes the blank character onto a long on the stack that is
then printed out by WRITEC. The internal representation for
true is pushed as a long onto the stack and is then replaced
by a pointer to the string ``true'' by the operator NAM
using the table bool for conversion. This string is output
by the operator WRITEF using the format string ``%s''.
Finally the operator WRITLN appends a newline to the file.
3.9. File activation and status operations
UNIT*
The file pointed to by the file pointer on the top of
the stack is converted to be the active file. The
opcodes UNITINP and UNITOUT imply standard input and
output respectively instead of explicitly pushing their
file pointers.
FILE
The standard I/O library file descriptor associated
with the active file is pushed onto the stack.
EOF
The file pointed to by the file pointer on the top of
the stack is checked for end of file. A boolean is
returned with true indicating the end of file condi-
tion.
EOLN
The file pointed to by the file pointer on the top of
the stack is checked for end of line. A boolean is
returned with true indicating the end of line condi-
tion. Note that only text files can check for end of
line.
3.10. File housekeeping operations
DEFNAME
Four data items are passed on the stack; the size of
the data type associated with the file, the maximum
size of the file name, a pointer to the file name, and
a pointer to the file variable. A file record is
created with the specified window size and the file
variable set to point to it. The file is marked as
defined but not opened. This allows program statement
association of file names with file variables before
their use by a RESET or a REWRITE.
- 36 -
BUFF s
The sub-opcode is placed in the external variable
_bufopt to specify the amount of I/O buffering that is
desired. The current options are:
0 - character at a time buffering
1 - line at a time buffering
2 - block buffering
The default value is 1.
RESET
REWRITE
Four data items are passed on the stack; the size of
the data type associated with the file, the maximum
size of the name (possibly zero), a pointer to the file
name (possibly null), and a pointer to the file vari-
able. If the file has never existed it is created as in
DEFNAME. If no file name is specified and no previous
name exists (for example one created by DEFNAME ) then
a system temporary name is created. RESET then opens
the file for input, while REWRITE opens the file for
output.
The three remaining file operations are FLUSH that
flushes the active file, REMOVE that takes the pointer to a
file name and removes the specified file, and MESSAGE that
flushes all the output files and sets the standard error
file to be the active file.
4. Conclusions
It is appropriate to consider, given the amount of time
invested in rewriting the interpreter, whether the time was
well spent, or whether a code-generator could have been
written with an equivalent amount of effort. The Berkeley
Pascal system is being modified to interface to the code
generator of the portable C compiler with not much more work
than was involved in rewritting px. However this compiler
will probably not supercede the interpreter in an instruc-
tional environment as the necessary loading and assembly
processes will slow the compilation process to a noticeable
degree. This effect will be further exaggerated because stu-
dent users spend more time in compilation than in execution.
Measurements over the course of a quarter at Berkeley with a
mixture of students from beginning programming to upper
division compiler construction show that the amount of time
in compilation exceeds the amount of time spent in the
interpreter, the ratio being approximately 60/40.
- 37 -
A more promising approach might have been a throw-away
code generator such as was done for the WATFIV system. How-
ever the addition of high-quality post-mortem and interac-
tive debugging facilities become much more difficult to pro-
vide than in the interpreter environment.
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