54 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
54 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
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---
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layout: news
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author: Torsten
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---
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After almost a year of rewrite: **Hello World** is back.
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**Working executables again**
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So much has changed in the last year it is almost impossible to recap.
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Still a little summary:
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### Register Machine
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The whole layer of the [Register Machine](/2014/09/30/a-better-register-machine.html) as an
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abstraction was not there. Impossible is was to see what was happening.
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### Passes
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In the beginning i was trying to *just do it*. Just compile the vm down to arm instructions.
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But the human brain (or possibly just mine) is not made to think in terms of process.
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I think much better in terms of Structure. So i made vm and register instructions and
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[implemented Passes](/2014/07/05/layers-vs-passes.html) to go between them.
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### The virtual machine design
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Thinking about what objects makes up a virtual machine has brought me to a clear understanding
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of the [objects needed](/2014/09/12/register-allocation-reviewed.html).
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In fact things got even simpler as stated in that post, as i have
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[stopped using the machine stack](/2014/06/27/an-exceptional-thought.html)
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altogether and am using a linked list instead.
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Recently is has occurred to me that that linked list
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[doesn't even change](/06/20/the-static-call-chain.html), so it is very simple indeed.
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### Smaller, though not small, changes
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- The [Salma Object File](/2014/08/19/object-storage.html) format was created.
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- The [Book](http://dancinglightning.gitbooks.io/the-object-machine/content/) was started
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- I gave lightning talks at Frozen Rails 2014, Helsinki and Bath Ruby 2015
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- I presented at Munich and Zurich user groups, lots to take home from all that
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### Future
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The mountain is still oh so high, but at last there is hope again. The second dip into arm
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(gdb) debugging has made it very clear that a debugger is needed. Preferably visual, possibly 3d,
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definitely browser based. So either Opal or even Volt.
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Already more clarity in upcoming fields has arrived:
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- inlining is high on the list, to code in higher language
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- the difference between [statement and expression](/2015/05/20/expression-is-slot.html) helped
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to structure code.
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- hopefully the debugger / interpreter will help to write better tests too.
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