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+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | Amiga E v2.1b | | Compiler for The E Language | | By Wouter van Oortmerssen | | | | Language Reference | | | +-----------------------------------------------+ Contents: 1. format A. tabs,lf etc. B. comments C. identifiers and types 2. immediate values A. decimal (1) B. hexadecimal ($1) C. binary (%1) D. float (1.0) E. character ("a") F. strings ('bla') G. lists ([1,2,3]) and typed lists 3. expressions A. format B. precedence and grouping C. types of expressions D. function calls 4. operators A. math (+ - * /) B. comparison (= <> > < >= <=) C. logical and bitwise (AND OR) D. unary (SIZEOF ` ^ {} ++ -- -) E. triple (IF THEN ELSE) F. structure (.) G. array ([]) H. float operator (|) I. assignments expressions (:=) J. sequencing (BUT) 5. statements A. format (;) B. statement labels and gotos (JUMP) C. assignment (:=) D. assembly mnemonics E. conditional statement (IF) F. for-statement (FOR) G. while-statement (WHILE) H. repeat-statement (REPEAT) I. loop-statement (LOOP) J. select-case-statement (SELECT) K. increase statement (INC/DEC) L. void expressions (VOID) 6. function definitions and declarations A. proc definition and arguments (PROC) B. local and global definitions: scope (DEF) C. endproc/return D. the "main" function E. built-in system variables 7. declaration of constants A. const (CONST) B. enumerations (ENUM) C. sets (SET) D. built-in constants 8. types A. about the "type" system B. the basic type (LONG/PTR) C. the simple type (CHAR/INT/LONG) D. the array type (ARRAY) E. the complex type (STRING/LIST) F. the compound type (OBJECT) G. initialisation 9. built-in functions A. io functions B. strings and string functions C. lists and list functions D. intuition support functions E. graphics support functions F. system support functions G. math and other functions H. string and list linking functions 10. library functions and modules A. built-in library calls B. interfacing to the amiga system with the 2.04 modules 11. quoted expressions A. quoting and scope B. Eval() C. built-in functions 12. floating point support A. using floats and float operator overloading B. float expressions and conversion 13. Exception handling A. defining exception handlers (HANDLE/EXCEPT) B. using the Raise() function C. defining exceptions for built-in functions (RAISE/IF) D. use of exception-ID's 14. OO programming 15. inline assembly A. identifier sharing B. the inline assembler compared to a macro assembler C. ways using binary data (INCBIN/CHAR..) D. OPT ASM 16. implementation issues A. the OPT keyword B. small/large model C. stack organisation D. hardcoded limits E. error messages, warnings and the unreferenced check F. compiler buffer organisation and allocation G. a brief history +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 1. FORMAT | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 1A. tabs,lf etc. ---------------- E-sources are pure ascii format files, with the linefeed <lf> and semicolon ";" being the separators for two statements. Statements that have particulary many arguments, separated by commas ",", may be spread over several lines by ending a line with a comma, thus ignoring the following <lf>. Any lexical element in a source code file may be separated from another by any number of spaces, tabs etc. 1B. comments ------------ comments may be placed anywhere in a source file where normally a space would have been correct. They start with '/*' and end with '*/' and may be nested infinitely. 1C. identifiers and types ------------------------- identifiers are strings that the programmer uses to denote certain objects, in most cases variables, or even keywords or function names predefined by the compiler. An identifier may consist of: - upper and lowercase characters - "0" .. "9" (except as first character) - "_" (the underscore) All characters are significant, but the compiler just looks at the first two to identify the type of identifier it is dealing with: both uppercase: - keyword like IF, PROC etc. - constant, like MAX_LENGTH - assembly mnemonic, like MOVE first lowercase: - identifier of variable/label/object etc. first upper and second lower: - E system function like: WriteF() - library call: OpenWindow() Note that all identifiers obey this syntax, for example: WBenchToFront() becomes WbenchToFront() +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2. IMMEDIATE VALUES | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Immediate values in E all evaluate to a 32bit result; the only difference among these values (A-G) is either their internal representation, or the fact that they return a pointer rather than a value. 2A. decimal (1) --------------- A decimal value is a sequence of characters "0" .. "9", possibly preceded by a minus "-" sign to denote negative numbers. examples: 1, 100, -12, 1024 2B. hexadecimal ($1) -------------------- A hexadecimal value uses the additional characters "A" .. "F" (or "a" .. "f") and is preceded by a "$" character. Examples: $FC, $DFF180, -$ABCD 2C. binary (%1) --------------- Binary numbers start with a "%" character and use only "1" and "0" to form a value. Examples: %111, %1010100001, -%10101 2D. float (1.0) --------------- Floats differ only from normal decimal numbers in that they have a "." to separate their two parts. Either one may be omitted, not both. Note that floats have a different internal 32bit (FFP) representation. See chapter 12 for more information on floats. Examples: 3.14159, .1 (=0.1), 1. (=1.0) 2E. character ("a") ------------------- The value of a character (enclosed in double "" quotes) is their ascii value, i.e. "A" = 65. In E, character immediate values may be a short string up to 4 characters, for example "FORM", where the first character "F" will be the MSB of the 32bit representation, and "M" the LSB (least significant byte). 2F. string ('bla') ------------------ Strings are any ascii representation, enclosed in single '' quotes. The value of such a string is a pointer to the first character of it. More specific: 'bla' yields a 32bit pointer to a memory area where we find the bytes "b", "l" and "a". ALL strings in E are terminated by a zero 0 byte. Strings may contain format signs introduced by a slash "\", either to introduce characters to the string that are for some reason not displayable, or for use with string formatting functions like WriteF(), TextF() and StringF(), or kick2 Vprintf(). \n a linefeed (ascii 10) \a or '' an apostrophe ' (the one used for enclosing the string) \e escape (ascii 27) \t tab (ascii 9) \\ a backslash \0 a zero byte. Of rare use, as ALL strings are 0-terminated \b a carriage return (ascii 13) Additionally, when used with formatting functions: \d print a decimal number \h print a hexadecimal \s print a string \c print a character \z set fill byte to '0' character \l format to left of field \r format to right of field Field specifiers may follow the \d,\h and \s codes: [x] specify exact field width x (x,y) specify minimum x and maximum y (strings only) Example: print a hexadecimal number with 8 positions and leading zeroes: WriteF('\z\h[8]\n',num) A string may be extended over several lines by trailing them with a "+" sign and a <lf>: 'this specifically long string ' + 'is separated over two lines' 2G. lists ([1,2,3]) and typed lists ----------------------------------- An immediate list is the constant counterpart of the LIST datatype, just as a 'string' is the constant counterpart for the STRING or ARRAY OF CHAR datatype. Example: [3,2,1,4] is an expression that has as value a PTR to an already initialised list, a list as a representation in memory is compatible with an ARRAY OF LONG, with some extra length information at a negative offset. You may use these immediate lists anywhere a function expects a PTR to an array of 32bits values, or a list. Examples: ['string',1.0,2.1] [WA_FLAGS,1,WA_IDCMP,$200,WA_WIDTH,120,WA_HEIGHT,150,TAG_DONE] See the part on list-functions for a discussion on typed-immediate lists and detailed information. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 3. EXPRESSIONS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 3A. format ---------- An expression is a piece of code held together by operators, functions and brackets to form a value. They mostly consist of: - immediate values as discussed in chapter 2 - operators as discussed in chapter 4 - function calls as discussed in chapter 3D - brackets () as discussed in chapter 3B - variables or variable-expressions (see 3C) examples of expressions: 1 'hello' $ABCD+(2*6)+Abs(a) (a<1) OR (b>=100) 3B. precedence and grouping --------------------------- The E language has _no_ precedence whatsoever. This means that expressions are evaluated left to right. You may change precedence by bracketing some (sub-)expression: 1+2*3 /* =9 */ 1+(2*3) /* =7 */ 2*3+1 /* =7 */ 3C. types of expressions ------------------------ There are three types of expressions that may be used for different purposes; - <var>, consisting of just a variable - <varexp>, consisting of a variable, possibly with unary operators with it, like ++ (increment) or [] (array operator). For those, see chapter 4D and 4G. It denotes a modifiable expression, like Lvalues in C. Note that those (unary) operators are not part of any precedence. - <exp>. This includes <var> and <varexp>, and any other expression. 3D. function calls ------------------ A function call is a temporary suspension of the current code for a jump to a function, this may be either a self-written function (PROC), or a function provided by the system. The format of a function call is the name of the function, followed by two brackets () enclosing zero to unlimited arguments, separated by commas ",". Note that arguments to functions are again expressions. See chapter 6 on how to make your own functions, and chapters 9 and 10 on built-in functions. Examples: foo(1,2) Gadget(buffer,glist,2,0,40,80+offset,100,'Cancel') Close(handle) +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 4. OPERATORS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 4A. math (+ - * /) ------------------ These infix operators combine an expression with another value to yield a new value. Examples: 1+2, MAX-1*5 see chapter 12 on how to overload these operators for use with floats. "-" may be used as the first part of an expression, with an implied 0, i.e. -a or -b+1 is legal. Note that * and / are by default 16bit operators: see Mul() 4B. comparison (= <> > < >= <=) ------------------------------- Equal to math operators, with the difference that they result in either TRUE (32bit value -1), or FALSE. These can also be overloaded for floats. 4C. logical and bitwise (AND OR) -------------------------------- These operators either combine truth values to new ones, or perform bitwise AND and OR operations. Examples: (a>1) AND ((b=2) OR (c>=3)) /* logical */ a:=b AND $FF /* bitwise */ 4D. unary (SIZEOF ^ {} ++ -- `) --------------------------------- - SIZEOF <objectident> simply returns the size of a certain object. Example: SIZEOF newscreen - {<var>} Returns the address of a variable or label. This is the operator you would use to give a variable as argument to a function by reference, instead of by value, which is default in E. See "^". Example: Val(input,{x}) - ^<var> The counterpart of {}, writes or reads variables that were given by reference, examples: ^a:=1 b:=^a it may also be used to plainly "peek" or "poke" LONG values from memory, if <var> is pointer to such a value. Example for {} and ^: write your own assignment function; PROC set(var,exp) ^var:=exp ENDPROC and call it with: set({a},1) /* equals a:=1 */ - <varexp>++ and <varexp>-- Increases (++) or decreases (--) the pointer that is denoted by <varexp> by the size of the data it points to. This has the effect that that pointer points to the next or previous item. When used on variables that are not pointers, these will simply be changed by one. Note that ++ always takes effect _after_ the calculation of <varexp>, -- always _before_. Examples: a++ /* return value of a, then increase by one */ sp[]-- /* decrease pointer sp by 4 (if it were an array of long), and read value pointed at by sp */ - `<exp> This is called a quoted expression, from LISP. <exp> is not evaluated, but instead returns the address of the expression, which can later be evaluated when required. More on this special feature in chapter 11 4E. triple (IF THEN ELSE) ------------------------- The IF operator has quite the same function as the IF statement, only it selects between two expressions instead of two statements or blocks of statements. It equals the x?y:z operator in C. IF <boolexp> THEN <exp1> ELSE <exp2> returns exp1 or exp2, according to boolexp. For example, instead of: IF a<1 THEN b:=2 ELSE b:=3 IF x=3 THEN WriteF('x is 3\n') ELSE WriteF('x is something else\n') write: b:=IF a<1 THEN 2 ELSE 3 WriteF(IF x=3 THEN 'x is 3\n' ELSE 'x is something else\n') 4F. structure (.) ----------------- <ptr2object>.<memberofobject> builds a <varexp> The pointer has to be declared as PTR TO <object> or ARRAY OF <object> (see chapter 8 for these), and the member has to be a legal object identifier. Note that reading a subobject in an object this way results in a pointer to that object. Examples: thistask.userdata:=1 rast:=myscreen.rastport 4G. array ([]) -------------- <var>[<indexexp>] (is a <varexp>) This operator reads the value from the array <var> points to, with index <indexexp>. The index may be just about any expression, with little limitations that it should not contain function calls and the like when used on the left-hand side of an assignment. Note1: "[]" is a shortcut for "[0]" Note2: with an array of n elements, the index may be 0 .. n-1 Examples: a[1]:=10 /* sets second element to 10 */ x:=table[y*4+1] /* reads from array */ 4H. float operator (|) ---------------------- <exp>|<exp> Converts expressions from integer to float and back, and overloads operators + - * / = <> < > <= >= with float equivalents. See chapter 12 to read all about floats and this operator. 4I. assignments expressions (:=) -------------------------------- Assignments (setting a variable to a value) exist as statement and as expression. The only difference is that the statement version has the form <varexp>:=<exp> and the expression <var>:=<exp>. The latter has the value of <exp> as result. Note that as <var>:= takes on an expression, you will often need parentheses to force correct interpretation, like: IF mem:=New(100)=NIL THEN error() is interpreted like: IF mem:=(New(100)=NIL) THEN error() which is not what you mean: mem should be a pointer, not a boolean. but you should write: IF (mem:=New(100))=NIL THEN error() 4J. sequencing (BUT) -------------------- The sequencing operator "BUT" allows two expressions to be written in a construction that allows for only one. Often in writing complex expressions/function calls, one would like to do a second thing on the spot, like an assignment. Syntax: <exp1> BUT <exp1> this says: evaluate exp1, but return the value of exp2. Example: myfunc((x:=2) BUT x*x) assign 2 to x and then calls myfunc with x*x. The () around the assignment are again needed to prevent the := operator from taking (2 BUT x*x) as an expression. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 5. STATEMENTS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 5A. format (;) -------------- As suggested in chapter 1A, a statement generally stands in its own line, but several of them may be put together on one line by separating them with semicolon, or one may be spread over more than one line by ending each line in a comma ",". Examples: a:=1; WriteF('hello!\n') DEF a,b,c,d, /* too many args for one line (faked) */ e,f,g statements may be: - assignments - conditional statements, for statements and the like, see chapters 5E-5K - void expressions - labels - assembly instructions The comma is the primary character to show that you do not wish to end the statement with the next linefeed, but the following characters also signal a continuation of a statement on the next line: + - * / = > < <> >= <= AND OR BUT THEN 5B. statement labels and gotos (JUMP) ------------------------------------- Labels are global-scoped identifiers with a ':' added to it, as in: mylabel: they may be used by instructions such as JUMP, and to reference static data. They may be used to jump out of all types of loops (although this technique is not encouraged), but not out of procedures. In normal E programs they are mostly used with inline assembly. Labels are always globally visible. Usage of JUMP: JUMP <label> continues execution at <label>. You are not encouraged to use this instruction, it's there for situations that would otherwise increase the complexity of the program. Example: IF Mouse()=1 THEN JUMP stopnow /* other parts of program */ stopnow: 5C. assignment (:=) ------------------- The basic format of an assignment is: <var> := <exp> Examples: a:=1, a:=myfunc(), a:=b*3 5D. assembly mnemonics ---------------------- In E, inline assembly is a true part of the language, they need not be enclosed in special "ASM" blocks or the like, as is usual in other languages, nor are separate assemblers necessary to assemble the code. This also means that it obeys the E syntax rules, etc. See chapter 15 to read all about the inline assembler. Example: DEF a,b b:=2 MOVEQ #1,D0 /* just use some assembly statements */ MOVE.L D0,a /* a:=1+b */ ADD.L b,a WriteF('a=\d\n',a) /* a will be 3 */ 5E. conditional statement (IF) ------------------------------ IF, THEN, ELSE, ELSEIF, ENDIF syntax: IF <exp> THEN <statement> [ ELSE <statement> ] or: IF <exp> <statements> [ ELSEIF <exp> /* multiple elseifs may occur */ <statements> ] [ ELSE ] <statements> ENDIF builds a conditional block. Note that there are two general forms of this statement, a single-line and a multiple-line version. 5F. for-statement (FOR) ----------------------- FOR, TO, STEP, DO, ENDFOR syntax: FOR <var> := <exp> TO <exp> STEP <step> DO <statement> or: FOR <var> := <exp> TO <exp> STEP <step> <statements> ENDFOR builds a for-block, note the two general forms. <step> may be any positive or negative constant, excluding 0. Example: FOR a:=1 TO 10 DO WriteF('\d\n',a) 5G. while-statement (WHILE) --------------------------- WHILE, DO, ENDWHILE syntax: WHILE <exp> DO <statement> or: WHILE <exp> <statements> ENDWHILE builds a while-loop, which is repeated as long as <exp> is TRUE. Note the one-line/one-statement version and the multiple line version. 5H. repeat-statement (REPEAT) ----------------------------- REPEAT, UNTIL syntax: REPEAT UNTIL <exp> builds a repeat-until block: it will continue to loop this block until <exp>=TRUE. Example: REPEAT WriteF('Do you really, really wish to exit this program?\n') ReadStr(stdout,s) UNTIL StrCmp(s,'yes please!') 5I. loop-statement (LOOP) ------------------------- LOOP, ENDLOOP syntax: LOOP <statements> ENDLOOP builds an infinite loop. 5J. select-case-statement (SELECT) --------------------------------- SELECT, CASE, DEFAULT, ENDSELECT syntax: SELECT <var> [ CASE <exp> <statements> ] [ CASE <exp> <statements> ] /* any number of these blocks */ [ DEFAULT <statements> ] ENDSELECT builds a select-case block. Various expressions will be matched against the variable, and only the first matching block executed. If nothing matches, a default block may be executed. SELECT character CASE 10 WriteF('Gee, I just found a linefeed\n') CASE 9 WriteF('Wow, this must be a tab!\n') DEFAULT WriteF('Do you know this one: \c ?\n',character) ENDSELECT 5K. increase statement (INC/DEC) -------------------------------- INC, DEC syntax: INC <var> DEC <var> short for <var>:=<var>+1 and <var>:=<var>-1. Only difference with var++ and var-- is that these are statements, and do not return a value, and are thus more optimal. 5L. void expressions (VOID) --------------------------- VOID syntax: VOID <exp> calculates the expression without the result going anywhere. Only useful for a clearer syntax, as expressions may be used as statements without VOID in E anyway. This may cause subtle bugs though, as "a:=1" assigns a the value 1, but "a=1" as a statement will do nothing. E will give you a warning if this happens. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 6. FUNCTION DEFINITIONS AND DECLARATIONS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 6A. proc definition and arguments (PROC) ---------------------------------------- You may use PROC and ENDPROC to collect statements into your own functions. Such a function may have any number of arguments, and one return value. PROC, ENDPROC syntax: PROC <label> ( <args> , ... ) ENDPROC <returnvalue> defines a procedure with any number of arguments. Arguments are of type LONG or optionally of type PTR TO <type> (see chapter 8) and need no further declaration. The end of a procedure is designated by ENDPROC. If no return value is given, 0 is returned. Example: write a function that returns the sum of two arguments: PROC add(x,y) /* x and y are local variables */ ENDPROC x+y /* return the result */ 6B. local and global definitions: scope (DEF) --------------------------------------------- You may define additional local variables besides those which are arguments with the DEF statement. The easiest way is simply like: DEF a,b,c declares the identifiers a, b and c as variables of your function. Note that such declarations should be at the start of your function. DEF syntax: DEF <declarations>,... description: declares variables. A declaration has one of the forms: <var> <var>:<type> where <type>=LONG,<objectident> <var>[<size>]:<type> where <type>=ARRAY,STRING,LIST See chapter 8 for more examples, as that is where the types are introduced. For now, we'll use the <var> form. Arguments to functions are restricted to basic types; see chapter 8B. A declaration of a basic type can have an initialisation, in the current version this must be an integer (not an expression): DEF a=1,b=2 A program consists of a set of functions, called procedures, PROCs. Each procedure may have Local variables, and the program as a whole may have Global variables. At least one procedure should be the PROC main(), as this is the module where execution begins. A simple program could look like: DEF a, b /* definition of global vars */ PROC main() /* all functions in random order */ bla(1) ENDPROC PROC bla(x) DEF y,z /* possibly with own local vars */ ENDPROC To summarize, local definitions are the ones you make at the start of procedures, and which are only visible within that function. Global definitions are made before the first PROC, at the start of your source code, and they are globally visible. Global and local variables (and of course local variables of two different functions) may have the same name, local variables always have priority. 6C. endproc/return ------------------ As stated before, ENDPROC marks the end of a function definition, and may return a value. Optionally RETURN may be used at any point in the function to exit, if used in main(), it will exit the program. See also CleanUp() in chapter 9F. RETURN [<returnvalue>] /* optional */ Example: PROC getresources() /* ... */ IF error THEN RETURN FALSE /* something went wrong, so exit and fail */ /* ... */ ENDPROC TRUE /* we got this far, so return TRUE */ a very short version of a function definition is: PROC <label> ( <arg> , ... ) RETURN <exp> These are function definitions that only make small computations, like faculty functions and the like: (one-liners :-) PROC fac(n) RETURN IF n=1 THEN 1 ELSE fac(n-1)*n 6D. the "main" function ----------------------- The PROC called main is only of importance because it is called as first function; it behaves exactly the same as other functions, and may also have local variables. Main has no arguments: the command-line arguments are supplied in the system-variable "arg", or can be checked with ReadArgs() 6E. built-in system variables ---------------------------- Following global variables are always available in you program, they're called system variables. arg As discussed above, contains a pointer to a zero-terminated string, containing the command-line arguments. Don't use this variable if you wish to use ReadArgs() instead. stdout Contains a file-handle to the standard output (and input). If your program was started from the workbench, so no shell-output is available, WriteF() will open a CON: window for you and put its file handle here. conout This is where that file handle is kept, and the console window will be automatically closed upon exit of your program. See WriteF() in section 9A on how to use these two variables properly. execbase, These five variables are always provided with their dosbase, correct values. gfxbase, intuitionbase, mathbase stdrast Pointer to standard rastport in use with your program, or NIL. The built-in graphics functions like Line() make use of this variable. wbmessage Contains a ptr to a message you got if you started from wb, else NIL. May be used as a boolean to detect if you started from workbench, or even check any arguments that were shift-selected with your icon. See WbArgs.e in the sources/examples dir how to make good use of wbmessage. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 7. DECLARATION OF CONSTANTS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 7A. const (CONST) ----------------- syntax: CONST <declarations>,... Enables you to declare a constant. A declaration looks like: <ident>=<value> constants must be uppercase, and will in the rest of the program be treated as <value>. Example: CONST MAX_LINES=100, ER_NOMEM=1, ER_NOFILE=2 You cannot declare constansts in terms of others that are being declared in the same CONST statement: put these in the next. 7B. enumerations (ENUM) ----------------------- Enumerations are a specific type of constant that need not be given values, as they simply range from 0 .. n, the first being 0. At any given point in an enumeration, you may use the '=<value>' notation to set or reset the counter value. Example: ENUM ZERO, ONE, TWO, THREE, MONDAY=1, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY ENUM ER_NOFILE=100, ER_NOMEM, ER_NOWINDOW 7C. sets (SET) -------------- Sets are again like enumerations, with the difference that instead of increasing a value (0,1,2,...) they increase a bitnumber (0,1,2,...) and thus have values like (1,2,4,8,...). This has the added advantage that they may be used as sets of flags, as the keyword says. Suppose a set like the one below to describe properties of a window: SET SIZEGAD,CLOSEGAD,SCROLLBAR,DEPTH to initialise a variable to properties DEPTH and SIZEGAD: winflags:=DEPTH OR SIZEGAD to set an additional SCROLLBAR flag: winflags:=winflags OR SCROLLBAR and to test if two properties hold: IF winflags AND (SCROLLBAR OR DEPTH) THEN /* ... */ 7D. built-in constants --------------------- Following are built-in constants that may be used: TRUE,FALSE Represent the boolean values (-1,0) NIL (=0), the uninitialised pointer. ALL Used with string functions like StrCopy() to copy all characters GADGETSIZE Minimum size in bytes to hold one gadget; see Gadget() in 9D OLDFILE,NEWFILE Mode-parameters for use with Open() STRLEN Always has the value of the length of the last immediate string used. Example: Write(handle,'hi folks!',STRLEN) /* =9 */ +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 8. TYPES | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 8A. about the "type" system --------------------------- E doesn't have a rigid type-system like Pascal or Modula2, it's even more flexible than C's type system: you might as well call it a datatype-system. This goes hand in hand with the philosophy that in E all datatypes are equal: all basic small values like characters, integers etc. All have the same 32bit size, and all other datatypes like arrays and strings are represented by 32bit pointers to them. This way, the e compiler can generate code in a very polymorphic way. The (dis)advantages are obvious: disadvantages of the E-type system - less compiler checking on silly errors you make advantages: - low-level polymorphism - flexible way of programming: no problem that some types of return values don't match, no superfluous "casts" etc. - no hard to find errors when mixing data of different sizes in expressions - still benefit of self-documenting types, if you wish, like: PTR to newscreen 8B. the basic type (LONG/PTR) ----------------------------- There's only one basic, non-complex variable type in E, which is the 32bit type LONG. As this is the default type, it may be declared as: DEF a:LONG or just: DEF a This variable type may hold what's known as CHAR/INT/PTR/LONG types in other languages. A special variation of LONG is the PTR type. This type is compatible with LONG, with the only difference that it specifies to what type it is a pointer. By default, the type LONG is specified as PTR TO CHAR. Syntax: DEF <var>:PTR TO <type> where type is either a simple type or a compound type. Example: DEF x:PTR TO INT, myscreen:PTR TO screen Note that 'screen' is the name of an object as defined in intuition/screens.m For example, if you open your own screen with: myscreen:=OpenS(... etc. you may use the pointer myscreen as in 'myscreen.rastport'. However, if you do not wish to do anything with the variable until you call CloseS(myscreen), you may simply declare it as DEF myscreen 8C. the simple type (CHAR/INT/LONG) ----------------------------------- The simple types CHAR (8bit) and INT (16bit) may not be used as types for a basic (single) variable; the reason for this must be clear by now. However they may be used as data type to build ARRAYs from, set PTRs to, use in the definition of OBJECTs etc. See those for examples. 8D. the array type (ARRAY) -------------------------- ARRAYs are declared by specifying their length (in bytes): DEF b[100]:ARRAY this defines an array of 100 bytes. Internally, 'b' is a variable of type LONG and a PTR to this memory area. Default type of an array-element is CHAR, it may be anything by specifying: DEF x[100]:ARRAY OF LONG DEF mymenus[10]:ARRAY OF newmenu where "newmenu" is an example of a structure, called OBJECTs in E. Array access is very easy with: <var>[<sexp>] b[1]:="a" z:=mymenus[a+1].mutualexclude Note that the index of an array of size n ranges from 0 to n-1, and not from 1 to n. Note that ARRAY OF <type> is compatible with PTR TO <type>, with the only difference that the variable that is an ARRAY is already initialised. 8E. the complex type (STRING/LIST) ---------------------------------- - STRINGs. Similar to arrays, but different in the respect that they may only be changed by using E string functions, and that they contain length and maxlength information, so string functions may alter them in a safe fashion, i.e: the string can never grow bigger than the memory area it is in. Definition: DEF s[80]:STRING The STRING datatype is backwards compatible with PTR TO CHAR and of course ARRAY OF CHAR, but not the other way around. See the section on string functions for more details. - LISTs. This is a datatype not found in other procedural languages, it is something found in languages like ProLog and Lisp. The E version may be interpreted as a mix between a STRING and an ARRAY OF LONG. I.e: this data structure holds a list of LONG variables which may be extended and shortened as STRINGs. Definition: DEF x[100]:LIST A powerful addition to this datatype is that it also has a 'constant' equivalent [], like STRINGs have ''. LIST is backward compatible with PTR TO LONG and of course ARRAY OF LONG, but not the other way around. See chapters 2G and 9C for more on this. 8F. the compound type (OBJECT) ------------------------------ OBJECTs are much like a struct in C or a RECORD in pascal. Example: OBJECT myobj a:LONG b:CHAR c:INT ENDOBJECT This defines a data structure consisting of three elements. Syntax: OBJECT <objname> <membername> [ : <type> ] /* any number of these */ ENDOBJECT where type is a simple or again a compound type, or a simple array type, i.e [<numelements>]:ARRAY with the default CHAR size for an element. Note that <membername> need not be a unique identifier, it may be in other objects too. There are lots of ways to use objects: DEF x:myobj /* x is a structure */ DEF y:PTR TO myobj /* y is just a pointer to it */ DEF z[10]:ARRAY OF myobj y:=[-1,"a",100]:myobj /* typed lists */ IF y.b="a" THEN /* ... */ z[4].c:=z[d+1].b++ ARRAYs in objects are always rounded to even sizes, and put on even offsets: OBJECT mystring len:CHAR, data[9]:ARRAY ENDOBJECT SIZEOF mystring is 12, and "data" starts at offset 2. NOTE: OBJECTs in E are not like you might be used to in other languages, for example, not just any type can form a member of an object, and because of that, recursive object accesses like x.y.z don't make much sense (yet). 8G. initialisation ------------------ 1. Always initialised to NIL (or else, if explicitly stated) - global variables NOTE: for documentation purposes, it's always nicer if you write =NIL in the definitions of variables that you expect to be NIL. 2. Initialised to '' and [] resp. - global and local STRINGs - global and local LISTs 3. Not initialised - local variables (unless explicitly stated) - global and local ARRAYs - global and local OBJECTs +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 9. BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 9A. io functions ---------------- WriteF(formatstring,args,...) prints a string (which may contain formatting codes) to stdout. Zero to unlimited arguments may be added. Note that, as formatstrings may be created dynamically, no check on the correct number of arguments is (can be) made. Examples: WriteF('Hello, World!\n') /* just write a lf terminated string */ WriteF('a = \d \n',a) /* writes: "a = 123", if a was 123 */ See the bit about strings elsewhere for more. NOTE: if stdout=NIL, for example if your program was started from the Workbench, WriteF() will create an output window, and put the handle in conout and stdout. This window will automatically be closed on exit of the program, after the user typed a <return>. WriteF() is the only function that will open this window, so if you want to do IO on stdout, and want to be sure stdout<>NIL, perform a "WriteF('')" as first instruction of your program to ensure output. If you want to open a console window yourself, you may do so by placing the resulting file handle in the 'stdout' and 'conout' variables, as your window will then be closed automatically upon exit. If you wish to close this window manually, make sure to set 'conout' back to NIL, to signal E that there's no console window to be closed. Out(filehandle,char) and char:=Inp(filehandle) Either write or read one single byte to some file or stdout if char=-1 then an EOF was reached, or an error occurred. len:=FileLength(namestring) lets you determine the length of a file you *may* wish to load, and also, if it exists (returns -1 upon error/file not found). ok:=ReadStr(filehandle,estring) see: string support oldout:=SetStdOut(newstdout) Sets the standard output variable 'stdout'. Equivalent for: oldout:=stdout; stdout:=newstdout 9B. strings and string functions -------------------------------- E has a datatype STRING. This is a string, from now on called 'Estring', that may be modified and changed in size, as opposed to normal 'strings', which will be used here for any zero-terminated sequence. Estrings are downward compatible with strings, but not the other way around, so if an argument requests a normal string, it can be either of them. If an Estring is requested, don't use normal strings. Example of usage: DEF s[80]:STRING, n /* s is an estring with a maxlen of 80 */ ReadStr(stdout,s) /* read input from the console */ n:=Val(s,NIL) /* get a number out of it */ ... etc. Note that all string functions will handle cases where string tends to get longer than the maximum length correctly; DEF s[5]:STRING StrAdd(s,'this string is longer than 5 characters',ALL) s will contain just 'this '. A string may also be allocated dynamically from system memory with the function String(), (note: the pointer returned from this function must always be checked against NIL) s:=String(maxlen) DEF s[80]:STRING is equivalent with DEF s and s:=String(10) bool:=StrCmp(string,string,len) compares two strings. len must be the number of bytes to compare, or 'ALL' if the full length is to be compared. Returns TRUE or FALSE StrCopy(estring,string,len) copies the string into the estring. If len=ALL, all will be copied. StrAdd(estring,string,len) same as StrCopy(), only now the string is concatenated to the end. len:=StrLen(string) calculates the length of any zero-terminated string len:=EstrLen(estring) returns the length of an estring max:=StrMax(estring) returns the maximum length of a estring RightStr(estring,estring,n) fills estring with the last n characters of the second estring MidStr(estring,string,pos,len) copies any number of characters (including all if len=ALL) from position pos in string to estring NOTEZ BIEN: in all string related functions where a position in a string is used, the first character in a string has position 0, not 1, as is common in languages like BASIC. value:=Val(string,read) finds an integer encoded in ascii out of a string. Leading spaces/tabs etc. will be skipped, and also hexadecimal numbers (1234567890ABCDEFabcdef) and binary numbers (01) may be read this way if they are preceded by a "$" or a "%" sign respectively. A minus "-" may indicate a negative integer. Val() returns the number of characters read in the second argument, which must be given by reference (<-!!!). If "read" returns 0 (value will be 0 too) then the string did not contain an integer, or the value was too sizy to fit in 32bit. "read" may be NIL. examples of strings that would be parsed correctly: '-12345', '%10101010', ' -$ABcd12' these would return both as "value" and in var {read} a 0: '', 'hello!' foundpos:=InStr(string1,string2,startpos) searches string1 for the occurrence of string2, possibly starting from another position than 0. Returned is the *address* at which the substring was found, else -1. newstringadr:=TrimStr(string) returns the *address* of the first character in a string, i.e., after leading spaces, tabs etc. UpperStr(string) and LowerStr(string) changes the case of a string. TAKE NOTE: these functions modify the contents of 'string', so they may only be used on estrings, and strings that are part of your programs data. Effectively this means that if you obtain the address of a string through some amiga-system function, you must first StrCopy() it to a string of your program, then use these functions. ok:=ReadStr(filehandle,estring) will read a string (ending in ascii 10) from any file or stdout. ok contains -1 if an error occurred, or an EOF was reached. Note: the contents of the string read so far is still valid. SetStr(estring,newlen) manually sets the length of a string. This is only handy when you read data into the estring by a function other then an E string function, and want to continue using it as an Estring. For example, after using a function that just puts a zero-terminated string at the address of estring, use SetStr(mystr,StrLen(mystr)) to make it manipulatable again for string linking functions see chapter 9H 9C. lists and list functions ---------------------------- Lists are like strings, only they consist of LONGs, not CHARs. They may also be allocated either global, local or dynamic: DEF mylist[100]:LIST /* local or global */ DEF a a:=List(10) /* dynamic */ (note that in the latter case, pointer 'a' may contain NIL) Just as strings may be represented as constants in expressions, lists have their constant equivalent: [1,2,3,4] The value of such an expression is a pointer to a ready initialised list. Special feature is that they may have dynamic parts, i.e, which will be filled in at runtime: a:=3 [1,2,a,4] moreover, lists may have some other type than the default LONG, like: [1,2,3]:INT [65,66,67,0]:CHAR /* equivalent with 'ABC' */ ['topaz.font',8,0,0]:textattr OpenScreenTagList(NIL,[SA_TITLE,'MyScreen',TAG_DONE]) As shown in the latter examples, lists are extremely useful with system functions: they are downward compatible with an ARRAY OF LONG, and object-typed ones can be used wherever a system function needs a pointer to some structure, or an array of those. Taglists and vararg functions may also be used this way. NOTEZ BIEN: all list functions only work with LONG lists, typed-lists are only convenient in building complex data structures and expressions. As with strings, a certain hierarchy holds: list variables -> constant lists -> array of long/ptr to long When a function needs an array of long you might just as well give a list as argument, but when a function needs a listvar, or a constant list, then an array of long won't do. It's important that one understands the power of lists and in particular typed-lists: these can save you lots of trouble when building just about any data-structure. Try to use these lists in your own programs, and see what function they have in the example-programs. once you get to grips with lists, you'll never want to write a program without them. summary: [<item>,<item>,... ] immediate list (of LONGs, use with listfuncs) [<item>,<item>,... ]:<type> typed list (just to build data structures) If <type> is a simple type like INT or CHAR, you'll just have the initialised equivalent of ARRAY OF <type>, if <type> is an object-name, you'll be building initialised objects, or ARRAY OF <object>, depending on the length of the list. If you write [1,2,3]:INT you'll create a data structure of 6 bytes, of 3 16bit values to be precise. The value of this expression then is a pointer to that memory area. Same works if, for example, you have an object like: OBJECT myobject a:LONG, b:CHAR, c:INT ENDOBJECT writing [1,2,3]:myobject would then mean creating a data structure in memory of 8 bytes, with the first four bytes being a LONG with value 1, the following byte a CHAR with value 2, then a pad byte, and the last two bytes an INT (2 bytes) with value 3. you could also write: [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]:myobject you would be creating an ARRAY OF myobject with size 3. Note that such lists don't have to be complete (3,6,9 and so on elements), you may create partial objects with lists of any size One last note on data size: on the amiga, you may rely on the fact that a structure like 'myobject' has size 8, and that it has a pad byte to have word (16bit) alignment. It is however very likely that an E-compiler for 80x86 architectures will not use the pad byte and make it a 7byte structure, and that an E-compiler for a sun-sparc architecture (if I'm not mistaken) will try to align on 32bit boundaries, thus make it a 10 or 12 byte structure. Some microprocessors (they are rare, but they exist) even use (36:18:9) as numbers of bits for their types (LONG:INT:CHAR), instead of (32:16:8) as we're used to. So don't make too great an assumption on the structure of OBJECTs and LISTs if you want to write code that stands a chance of being portable or doesn't rely on side effects. ListCopy(listvar,list,num) Copies num elements from list to listvar. example: DEF mylist[10]:LIST ListCopy(mylist,[1,2,3,4,5],ALL) ListAdd(listvar,list,num) Copies num items of list to the tail of listvar. ListCmp(list,list,num) Compares two lists, or some part of them. len:=ListLen(list) Returns length of list, like ListLen([a,b,c]) would return 3 max:=ListMax(listvar) returns maximum possible length of a listvar. value:=ListItem(list,index) functions as value:=list[index] with the difference that list may also be a constant value instead of a pointer. This is very usefull in situations like this where we directly want to use a list of values: WriteF(ListItem(['ok!','no mem!','no file!'],error)) this prints an errormessage according to "error". it's similar to: DEF dummy:PTR TO LONG dummy:=['ok!','no mem!','no file!'] WriteF(dummy[error]) SetList(listvar,newlen) manually sets the length of a list. This will only be useful when you read data into the list by a function other then a list-specific function, and want to continue using it as a true list. for list functions that make use of quoted expressions see chapter 11C. for list linking functions see chapter 9H. 9D. intuition support functions ------------------------------- wptr:=OpenW(x,y,width,height,IDCMP,wflags,title,screen,sflags,gadgets) creates a window where wflags are flags for window layout (like BACKDROP, SIMPLEREFRESH e.d, usually $F) and sflags are for specifying the type of screen to open on (1=wb,15=custom). screen must only be valid if sflags=15, else NIL will do. gadgets may point to a glist structure, which you can easily create with the Gadget() function, else NIL. CloseW(wptr) closes that screen again. Only difference from CloseWindow() is that it accepts NIL-pointers and sets stdrast back to NIL. sptr:=OpenS(width,height,depth,sflags,title) opens a custom screen for you. depth is number of bitplanes (1-6, 1-8 AGA), sflags is something like 0, or $8000 for hires (add 4 for interlace). CloseS(sptr) as CloseW(), now for screens. nextbuffer:=Gadget(buffer,glist,id,flags,x,y,width,string) This function creates a list of gadgets, which can then be put in your window by giving them as an argument to OpenW(), or afterwards with intuition functions like AddGlist(). buffer is mostly an ARRAY of at least GADGETSIZE bytes to hold all the structures associated with one gadget, id is any number that may help you remember which gadget was pressed when an IntuiMessage arrives. Flags are: 0=normal gadget, 1=boolean gadget, 3=boolean gadget that is selected. Width is width in pixels, that should be large enough to hold the string, which will be auto-centered. glist should be NIL for the first gadget, and glistvar for all others, so E may link all gadgets. The function returns a pointer to the next buffer (=buffer+GADGETSIZE). Example for three gadgets: CONST MAXGADGETS=GADGETSIZE*3 DEF buf[MAXGADGETS]:ARRAY, next, wptr next:=Gadget(buf,NIL,1,0,10,20,80,'bla') /* the 1st gadget */ next:=Gadget(next,buf,... ) next:=Gadget(next,buf,... ) /* any amount linked 2 1st */ wptr:=OpenW( ...,buf) See examples like SuperVisor.e for a real-life example. code:=Mouse() gives you the current state of all 2 or 3 mouse buttons; left=1, right=2 and middle=4. If for example code=3 then left and right were pressed together. NOTEZ BIEN: this is not a real intuition function, if you want to know about mouse-events the proper way, you'll have to check the intuimessages that your window receives. This is the only E function that directly checks the hardware, and thus only usefull in demo-like programs. x:=MouseX(win) and y:=MouseY(win) enables you to read the mouse coordinates. win is the window they need to be relative to. class:=WaitIMessage(window) This function makes it easier to just wait for a window event. It simply waits until a intuimessage arrives, and returns the class of the event. It stores other variables like code and qualifiers as private global variables, for access with functions described below. WaitIMessage() represents the following code: PROC waitimessage(win:PTR TO window) DEF port,mes:PTR TO intuimessage,class,code,qual,iaddr port:=win.userport IF (mes:=GetMsg(port))=NIL REPEAT WaitPort(port) UNTIL (mes:=GetMsg(port))<>NIL ENDIF class:=mes.class code:=mes.code /* stored internally */ qual:=mes.qualifier iaddr:=mes.iaddress ReplyMsg(mes) ENDPROC class as you see, it gets exactly one message, and does not forget about multiple messages arriving in one event, if called more than once. For example, say you opened a window that displays something and just waits for a closegadget (you specified IDCMP_CLOSEWINDOW only): WaitIMessage(mywindow) or, you have a program that waits for more types of events, handles them in a loop, and ends on a closewindow event: WHILE (class:=WaitIMessage(win))<>IDCMP_CLOSEWINDOW /* handle other classes */ ENDWHILE code:=MsgCode() qual:=MsgQualifier() iaddr:=MsgIaddr() These all supply you with the private global variables as mentioned before. the values returned are all defined by the most recent call to WaitIMessage(). Example: IF class:=IDCMP_GADGETUP mygadget:=MsgIaddr() IF mygadget.userdata=1 THEN /* ... user pressed gadget #1 */ ENDIF 9E. graphics support functions ------------------------------ All graphics support functions that do not explicitly ask for a rastport, make use of the system-variable 'stdrast'. It is automatically defined by the last call to OpenW() or OpenS(), and is set to NIL by CloseW() and CloseS(). Calling these routines while stdrast is still NIL is legal. stdrast may be manually set by SetStdRast() or stdrast:=myrast Plot(x,y,colour) Draws a single dot on your screen/window in one of the colours available. colour ranges from 0-255, or 0-31 on pre-AGA machines. Line(x1,y1,x2,y2,colour) Draws a line Box(x1,y1,x2,y2,colour) Draws a box Colour(foreground,background) sets the colours for all graphics functions (from the library) that do not take a colour as argument. This is the colour *register* (i.e 0-31) and not colour *value* NOTE: functions that have "colour" as an argument, change the Apen of stdrast. TextF(x,y,formatstring,args,...) exactly the same function as WriteF(), only outputs to some (x,y) on your stdrast, instead of stdout. See: WriteF() and strings in the language reference. oldrast:=SetStdRast(newrast) changes the output rastport of the e graphics functions SetTopaz(size) lets you set the font of the rastport "stdrast" to topaz, just to be sure that some custom system font of the user won't skrew up your window layout. size is of course 8 or 9 9F. system support functions ---------------------------- bool:=KickVersion(vers) Will give TRUE if the kickstart in the machine your program is running on is equal or higher than vers, else FALSE mem:=New(n) This dynamically creates an array (or memory area, if you wish) of n bytes. Difference with AllocMem() is that it is called automatically with flags $10000 (i.e cleared mem, any type) and that no calls to Dispose() are necessary, as it is linked to a memory list that is automatically de-allocated upon exit of your program. Dispose(mem) Frees any mem allocated by New(). You only have to use this function if you explicitly wish to free memory _during_ your program, as all is freed at the end anyway. CleanUp(returnvalue) Exits the program from any point. It is the replacement for the DOS call Exit(): never use that one! instead use CleanUp(), which allows for the deallocation of memory, closing libraries correctly etc. The return value will be given to dos as returncode. amount:=FreeStack() returns the amount of free stack space left. This should always be 1000 or more. See the chapter 'implementation issues' on how E organizes its stack. If you don't do heavy recursion, you need not worry about your free stack space. bool:=CtrlC() Returns TRUE if Ctrl-C was pressed since you last checked, else FALSE. This only works for programs running on a console, i.e. cli-programs. Example of how these last three functions may be used: /* calculate faculty from command-line argument */ OPT STACK=100000 PROC main() DEF num,r num:=Val(arg,{r}) IF r=0 THEN WriteF('bad args.\n') ELSE WriteF('result: \d\n',fac(num)) ENDPROC PROC fac(n) DEF r IF FreeStack()<1000 OR CtrlC() THEN CleanUp(5) /* xtra check */ IF n=1 THEN r:=1 ELSE r:=fac(n-1)*n ENDPROC r Of course, this recursion will hardly run out of stack space, and when it does, it's halted by FreeStack() so fast you won't have time to press CtrlC, but it's the idea that counts here. A definition of fac(n) like: PROC fac(n) RETURN IF n=1 THEN 1 ELSE fac(n-1)*n would be less safe. 9G. math and other functions ------------------- a:=And(b,c) a:=Or(b,c) a:=Not(b) a:=Eor(b,c) These work with the usual operations, boolean as well as arithmetic. Note that for And() and Or() an operator exists. a:=Mul(b,c) a:=Div(a,b) Performs the same operation as the '*' and '/' operators, but now in full 32bit. For speed reasons, normal operations are 16bit*16bit=32bit and 32bit/16bit=16bit. This is sufficient for nearly all calculations, and where it's not, you may use Mul() and Div(). NOTE: in the Div case, a is divided by b, not b by a. bool:=Odd(x) bool:=Even(x) Return TRUE or FALSE if some expression is Odd or Even randnum:=Rnd(max) seed:=RndQ(seed) Rnd() computes a random number from an internal seed in range 0 .. max-1. For example, Rnd(1000) returns integer from 0..999 To initialise the internal seed, call Rnd() with a negative value; the Abs() of that value will be the initial seed. RndQ() computes a random number "Q"uicker than Rnd() does, but returns only full range 32bit random numbers. Use the result as the seed for the next call, and for startseed, use any large value, like $A6F87EC1 absvalue:=Abs(value) computes the absolute value. a:=Mod(b,c) Divides 32bit b by 16bit c and returns 16bit modulo a x:=Shl(y,num) x:=Shr(y,num) shifts y num bits to left or right. a:=Long(adr) a:=Int(adr) a:=Char(adr) peeks into memory at some address, and returns the value found. This works with 32, 16 and 8 bit values respectively. Note that the compiler does not check if 'adr' is valid. These functions are available in E for those cases where reading and writing in memory with PTR TO <type> would only make a program more complex or less efficient. You are not encouraged to use these functions. PutLong(adr,a) and PutInt(adr,a) PutChar(adr,a) Pokes value 'a' into memory. See: Long() 9H. string and list linking functions ------------------------------------- E provides for a set of functions that allows the creation of linked list with the STRING and LIST datatype, or strings and lists that were created with String() and List() respectively. As you may know by now, strings and lists, complex datatypes, are pointers to their respective data, and have extra fields to a negative offset of that pointer specifying their current length and maxlength. the offsets of these fields are PRIVATE. as an addition to those two, any complex datatype has a 'next' field, which is set to NIL by default, which may be used to build linked list of strings, for example. in the following, I will use 'complex' to denote a ptr to a STRING or LIST, and 'tail' to denote another such pointer, or one that already has other strings linked to it. 'tail' may also be a NIL pointer, denoting the end of a linked list. The following functions may be used: complex:=Link(complex,tail) puts the value tail into the 'next' field of complex. returns again complex. example: DEF s[10]:STRING, t[10]:STRING Link(s,t) creates a linked list like: s --> t --> NIL tail:=Next(complex) reads the 'next' field of var complex. this may of course be NIL, or a complete linked list. Calling Next(NIL) will result in NIL, so it's safe to call Next when you're not sure if you're at the end of a linked list. tail:=Forward(complex,num) same as Next(), only goes forward num links, instead of one, thus: Next(c) = Forward(c,1) You may safely call Forward() with a num that is way too large; Forward will stop if it encounters NIL while searching links, and will return NIL. DisposeLink(complex) same as Dispose(), with two differences: it's only for strings and lists allocated with String() or List(), and will automatically de-allocate the tail of complex too. Note that large linked lists containing strings allocated with String() as well as some allocated locally or globally with STRING may also be de-allocated this way. For a good example of how linked lists of strings may be put to good use in real-life programs, see 'D.e' +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 10. LIBRARY FUNCTIONS AND MODULES | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 10A. built-in library calls -------------------------- As you may have noticed from previous sections, the piece of code automatically linked to the start of your code, called the "initialisation code", always opens the four libraries Intuition, Dos, Graphics and Mathffp, and because of this, the compiler has all the calls to those five libraries (including Exec) integrated in the compiler (there are a few hundred of them). These are up to AmigaDos v2.04, v3.00 should be included by the next version of Amiga E. To call Open() from the dos library, simply say: handle:=Open('myfile',OLDFILE) or AddDisplayInfo() from the graphics library: AddDisplayInfo(mydispinfo) it's as simple as that. 10B. interfacing to the amiga system with the 2.04 modules ---------------------------------------------------------- To use any other library than the five in the previous section, you'll need to resort to modules. Also, if you wish to use some OBJECT or CONST definition from the Amiga includes as is usual in C or assembler, you'll need modules. Modules are binary files which may include constant, object, library and function (code) definitions. The fact that they're binary has the advantage over ascii (as in C and assembly), that they need not be compiled over and over again, each time your program is compiled. The disadvantage is that they cannot be simply be viewed; they need a utility like ShowModule (see utility.doc) to make their contents visible. The modules that contain the library definitions (i.e the calls) are in the root of emodules: (the modules dir in the distribution), the constant/object definitions are in the subdirectories, structured just like the originals from Commodore. MODULE syntax: MODULE <modulenames>,... Loads a module. A module is a binary file containing information on libraries, constants, and sometimes functions. Using modules enables you to use libraries and functions previously unknown to the compiler. Now for an example, below is a short version of the source/examples/asldemo.e source that uses modules to put up a filerequester from the 2.0 Asl.library. MODULE 'Asl', 'libraries/Asl' PROC main() DEF req:PTR TO filerequestr IF aslbase:=OpenLibrary('asl.library',37) IF req:=AllocFileRequest() IF RequestFile(req) THEN WriteF('File: "\s" in "\s"\n',req.file,req.dir) FreeFileRequest(req) ENDIF CloseLibrary(aslbase) ENDIF ENDPROC From the modules 'asl', the compiler takes asl-function definitions like RequestFile(), and the global variable 'aslbase', which only needs to be initialised by the programmer. From 'libraries/Asl', it takes the definition of the filerequestr object, which we use to read the file the user picked. Well, that wasn't all that hard: did you think it was that easy to program a filerequester in E? +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 11. QUOTED EXPRESSIONS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 11A. quoting and scope ---------------------- Quoted expressions start with a backquote. The value of a quoted expression is not the result from the computation of the expression, but the address of the code. This result may then be passed on as a normal variable, or as an argument to certain functions. example: myfunc:=`x*x*x myfunc is now a pointer to a function that computes x3 when evaluated. These pointers to functions are very different from normal PROCs, and you should never mix the two up. The biggest differences are that a quoted expression is just a simple expression, and thus cannot have its own local variables. In our example, "x" is just a local or global variable. That's where we have to be cautious: if we evaluate myfunc somewhat later in the same PROC, x may be local, but if myfunc is given as parameter to another PROC, and then evaluated, x needs of course to be global. There's no scope checking on this. 11B. Eval() ----------- Eval(func) simply evaluates a quoted expression (exp = Eval(`exp)). NOTE: because E is a somewhat typeless language, accidentally writing "Eval(x*x)" instead of "Eval(`x*x)" will go unnoticed by the compiler, and will give you big runtime problems: the value of x*x will be used as a pointer to code. To understand why 'quoted expressions' is a powerful feature think of the following cases: if you were to perform a set of actions on a set of different variables, you'd normally write a function, and call that function with different arguments. But what happens when the element that you want to give as argument is a piece of code? in traditional languages this would not be possible, so you would have to 'copy' the blocks of code representing your function, and put the expression in it. Not in E. say you wanted to write a program that times the execution time of different expressions. In E you would simply write: PROC timing(func,title) /* do all sorts of things to initialise time */ Eval(func) /* and the rest */ WriteF('time measured for \s was \d\n',title,t) ENDPROC and then call it with: timing(`x*x*x,'multiplication') timing(`sizycalc(),'large calculation') in any other imperative language, you would have to write out copies of timing() for every call to it, or you would have to put each expression in a separate function. This is just a simple example: think about what you could do with data structures (LISTs) filled with unevaluated code: drawfuncs:=[`Plot(x,y,c),`Line(x,y,x+10,y+10,c),`Box(x,y,x+20,y+20,c)] Note that this idea of functions as normal variables/values is not new in E, quoted expressions are literally from LISP, which also has the somewhat more powerful so-called Lambda function, which can also be given as argument to functions; E's quoted expressions can also be seen as parameterless (or global parameter only) lambda's. 11C. built-in functions ---------------------- MapList(varadr,list,listvar,func) performs some function on all elements of list and returns all results in listvar. func must be a quoted expression (see above), and var (which ranges over the list) must be given by reference. Example: MapList({x},[1,2,3,4,5],r,`x*x) results r in: [1,4,9,16,25] ForAll(varadr,list,func) Returns TRUE if for all elements in the list the function (quoted expression) evaluates to TRUE, else FALSE. May also be used to perform a certain function for all elements of a list: ForAll({x},['one','two','three'],`WriteF('example: \s\n',x)) Exists(varadr,list,func) As ForAll(), only this one returns TRUE if for any element the function evaluates to TRUE (<>0). note that ForAll() always evaluates all elements, but Exists() possibly does not. Example of how to use these functions in a practical fashion: we allocate different sizes of memory in one statement, check them all together at once, and free them all, but still only those that succeeded. (example is v37+) PROC main() LOCAL mem[4]:LIST,x MapList({x},[200,80,10,2500],mem,`AllocVec(x,0)) /* alloc some */ IF ForAll({x},mem,`x) /* suxxes ? */ WriteF('Yes!\n') ELSE WriteF('No!\n') ENDIF ForAll({x},mem,`IF x THEN FreeVec(x) ELSE NOP) /* free only those <>NIL */ ENDPROC Note the absence of iteration in this code. Just try to rewrite this example in any other language to see why this is special. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 12. FLOATING POINT SUPPORT | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 12A. using floats and float operator overloading ------------------------------------------------ Overloading the standard operators + * etc with float equivalents is possible starting from v2.0 of Amiga E, but I've removed the main documentation on it because it is likely that the float-concept in E will change as of v2.2 or later: that version may allow for 68881 inline code generation next to normal FFP routines in a transparent fashion. If you really want to use floats with v2.1b, you are advised to use the SpXxx() built-in routines from the mathffp.library. Example: x:=SpMul(y,0.013483) Be aware that when v2.5 comes out, your sources may need to be changed (for the better!). 12B. float expressions and conversion ------------------------------------- as 12A. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 13. EXCEPTION HANDLING | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 13A. defining exception handlers (HANDLE/EXCEPT) ------------------------------------------------ The exception mechanism in E is basically the same as in ADA; it provides for flexible reaction on errors in your program and complex resource management. NOTE: the term 'exception' in E has very little to do with exceptions caused directly by 680x0 processors. An exception handler is a piece of program code that will be invoked when runtime errors occur, such as windows that fail to open or memory that is not available. You, or the runtime system itself, may signal that something is wrong (this is called "raising an exception"), and then the runtime-system will try and find the appropriate exception handler. I say "appropriate" because a program can have more than one exception handler, on all levels of a program. A normal function definition may (as we all know) look like this: PROC bla() /* ... */ ENDPROC a function with an exception handler looks like this: PROC bla() HANDLE /* ... */ EXCEPT /* ... */ ENDPROC The block between PROC and EXCEPT is executed as normal, and if no exception occur, the block between EXCEPT and ENDPROC is skipped, and the procedure is left at ENDPROC. If an exception is raised, either in the PROC part, or in any function that is called in this block, an exception handler is invoked. 13B. using the Raise() function ------------------------------- There are many ways to actually "raise" an exception, the simplest is through the function Raise(): Raise(exceptionID) the exception ID is simply a constant that defines the type of exception, and is used by handlers to determine what went wrong. Example: ENUM NOMEM,NOFILE /* and others */ PROC bla() HANDLE DEF mem IF (mem:=New(10))=NIL THEN Raise(NOMEM) myfunc() EXCEPT SELECT exception CASE NOMEM WriteF('No memory!\n') /* ... and others */ ENDSELECT ENDPROC PROC myfunc() DEF mem IF (mem:=New(10))=NIL THEN Raise(NOMEM) ENDPROC The "exception" variable in the handler always contains the value of the argument to the Raise() call that invoked it. In both New() cases, the Raise() function invokes the handler of function bla(), and then exits it correctly to the caller of bla(). If myfunc() had its own exception-handler, that one would be invoked for the New() call in myfunc(). The scope of a handler is from the start of the PROC in which it is defined until the EXCEPT keyword, including all calls made from there. This has three consequences: A. handlers are organised in a recursive fashion, and which handler is actually invoked is dependant on which function calls which at runtime; B. if an exception is raised within a handler, the handler of a lower level is invoked. This characteristic of handlers may be used to implement complex recursive resource allocation schemes with great ease, as we'll see shortly. C. If an exception is raised on a level where no lower-level handler is available (or in a program that hasn't got any handlers at all), the program is terminated. (i.e: Raise(x) has the same effect as CleanUp(0)) 13C. defining exceptions for built-in functions (RAISE/IF) --------------------------------------------------------- With exceptions like before, we have made a major gain over the old way of defining our own "error()" function, but still it is a lot of typing to have to check for NIL with every call to New(). The E exception handling system allows for definition of exceptions for all E functions (like New(), OpenW() etc.), and for all Library functions (OpenLibrary(), AllocMem() etc.), even for those included by modules. Syntax: RAISE <exceptionId> IF <func> <comp> <value> , ... the part after RAISE may be repeated with a ",". Example: RAISE NOMEM IF New()=NIL, NOLIBRARY IF OpenLibrary()=NIL the first line says something like: "whenever a call to New() results in NIL, automatically raise the NOMEM exception". <comp> may be any of = <> > < >= <= After this definition, we may write all through our programs: mem:=New(size) without having to write: IF mem=NIL THEN Raise(NOMEM) Note that the only difference is that "mem" never gets any value if the runtime system invokes the handler: code is generated for every call to New() to check directly after New() returns and call Raise() when necessary. We'll now be implementing a small example that would be complex to solve without exception handling: we call a function recursively, and in each we allocate a resource (in this case memory), which we allocate before, and release after the recursive call. What happens when somewhere high in the recursion a severe error occurs, and we have to leave the program? right: we would (in a conventional language) be unable to free all the resources lower in the recursion while leaving the program, because all pointers to those memory areas are stored in unreachable local variables. In E, we can simply raise an exception, and from the end of the handler again raise an exception, thus recursively calling all handlers and releasing all resources. Example: CONST SIZE=100000 ENUM NOMEM /* ,... */ RAISE NOMEM IF AllocMem()=NIL PROC main() alloc() ENDPROC PROC alloc() HANDLE DEF mem mem:=AllocMem(SIZE,0) /* see how many blocks we can get */ alloc() /* do recursion */ FreeMem(mem,SIZE) /* we'll never get here */ EXCEPT IF mem THEN FreeMem(mem,SIZE) Raise(exception) /* recursively call all handlers */ ENDPROC This is of course a simulation of a natural programming problem that is usually far more complex, and thus the need for exception handling becomes far more obvious. For a real-life example program whose error handling would have become very difficult without exception handlers, see the 'D.e' utility source. 13D. use of exception-ID's -------------------------- In real life an exception-ID is ofcourse a normal 32-bit value, and you may pass just about anything to an exception handler: for example, some use it to pass error-description strings Raise('Could not open "gadtools.library"!') However, if you want to use exceptions in expandabele fashion and you want to be able to use future modules that raise exceptions not defined by your program, follow the following guidelines: - Use and define ID 0 as "no error" (i.e. normal termination) - For exceptions specific to your program, use the ID's 1-10000. Define these in the usual fashion with ENUM: ENUM OK,NOMEM,NOFILE,... (OK will be 0, and others will be 1+) - ID's 12336 to 2054847098 (these are all identifiers consisting of upper/lowercase letters and digits of lenght 2,3 or 4 enclosed in "") are reserved as common exceptions. A common exception is an exception that need not need be defined in your program, and that may be used by implementors of modules (with functions in them) to raise exceptions: for example, if you design a set of procedures that perform a certain task, you may want to raise exceptions. As you would want to use those functions in various programs, it would be unpractical to have to coordinate the ID's with the main program, furthermore, if you use more than one set of functions (in a module, in the future) and every module would have a different ID for 'no memory!', things could get out of hand. This is where common exceptions come in: the common out-of-memory ID is "MEM" (including the quotes): any implementor can now simply Raise("MEM") from all different procedures, and the programmer that uses the module only needs to suply an exception handler that understands "MEM" future modules that contain sets of functions will specify what exception a certain procedure may raise, and if these overlap with the ID's of other procedures, the task of the programmer that has to deal with the exceptions will be greatly simplyfied. examples: (system) "MEM" out of memory "FLOW" (nearly) stack overflow "^C" Control-C break "ARGS" bad args (exec/libraries) "SIG" could not allocate signal "PORT" could not create messageport "LIB" library not available "ASL" no asl.library "UTIL" no utility.library "LOC" no locale.library "REQ" no req.library "RT" no reqtools.library "GT" no gadtools.library (similar for others) (intuition/gadtools/asl) "WIN" failed to open window "SCR" failed to open screen "REQ" could not open requester "FREQ" could not open filerequester "GAD" could not create gadget "MENU" could not create menu(s) (dos) "OPEN" could not open a file / file does not exist "OUT" problems while reading "IN" problems while writing "EOF" unexpected end of file "FORM" input format error The general tendancy is uppercase for general system exceptions, and lowercase (and mixed) for specific modules. - all others (including all negative ID's) remain reserved. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 14. OO PROGRAMMING | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ As this hasn't been implemented yet, it's not documented either. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 15. INLINE ASSEMBLY | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 15A. identifier sharing ----------------------- As you've probably guessed from the example in chapter 5D, assembly instructions may be freely mixed with E code. The big secret is, that a complete assembler has been built in to the compiler. Apart from normal assembly addressing modes, you may use the following identifiers from E: mylabel: LEA mylabel(PC),A1 /* labels */ DEF a /* variables */ MOVE.L (A0)+,a /* note that <var> is <offset>(A4) (or A5) */ MOVE.L dosbase,A6 /* library call identifiers */ JSR Output(A6) MOVEQ #TRUE,D0 /* constants */ 15B. the inline assembler compared to a macro assembler ------------------------------------------------------- The inline assembler differs somewhat from your average macro-assembler, and this is caused mainly by the fact that it is an extension to E, and thus it obeys E-syntax. Main differences: - comments are with /* */ and not with ";", they have a different meaning. - keywords and registers are in uppercase, everything is case sensitive - no macros and other luxury assembler stuff (well, there's the complete E language to make up for that ...) - You should be aware that registers A4/A5 may not be trashed by inline assembly code, as these are used by E code. - no support for LARGE model/reloc-hunks in assembly _YET_. This means practically that you have to use (PC)-relative addressing for now. 15C. ways using binary data (INCBIN/CHAR..) ------------------------------------------- INCBIN syntax: INCBIN <filename> includes a binary file at the exact spot of the statement, should therefore be separate from the code. Example: mytab: INCBIN 'df1:data/blabla.bin' LONG, INT, CHAR syntax: LONG <values>,... INT <values>,... CHAR <values>,... Allows you to place binary data directly in your program. Functions much like DC.x in assembly. Note that the CHAR statement also takes strings, and will always be aligned to an even word-boundary. Example: mydata: LONG 1,2; CHAR 3,4,'hi folks!',0,1 15D. OPT ASM ------------ OPT ASM is discussed also in chapter 16A. It allows you to operate 'EC' as an assembler. There's no good reason to use EC over some macro-assembler, except that it is significantly faster than for example A68k, equals DevPac and loses from AsmOne (sob 8-{). You will also have a hard time trying to squeeze your disks of old seka-sources through EC, because of the differences as described in chapter 15B. If you want to write assembly programs with EC, and want to keep your sources compatible with other assemblers, simply precede all E-specific elements with a ";", EC will use them, and any other assembler will see them as a comment. Example: ; OPT ASM start: MOVEQ #1,D0 ; /* do something silly */ RTS ; /* and exit */ this will be assembled by any assembler, including EC +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 16. IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 16A. the OPT keyword -------------------- OPT, LARGE, STACK, ASM, NOWARN, DIR, OSVERSION syntax: OPT <options>,... allows you to change some compiler settings: LARGE Sets code and data model to large. Default is small; the compiler generates 100% pc-relative code, with a max-size of 32k. With LARGE, there are no such limits, and reloc-hunks are generated. See -l STACK=x Set stacksize to x bytes yourself. Only if you know what you are doing. Normally the compiler makes a very good guess itself at the required stack space. ASM Set the compiler to assembly mode. From there on, only assembly instructions are allowed, and no initialisation code is generated. See: chapter inline assembly NOWARN Shut down warnings. The compiler will warn you if it *thinks* your program is incorrect, but still syntactically ok. See -n DIR=moduledir Sets the directory where the compiler searches for modules. default='emodules:' OSVERSION=vers Default=33 (v1.2). Sets the minimum version of the kickstart (like 37 for v2.04) your program runs on. That way, your program simply fails while the dos.library is being opened in the initialisation code when running on an older machine. However, checking the version yourself and giving an appropriate error-message is more helpful for the user. example: OPT STACK=20000,NOWARN,DIR='df1:modules',OSVERSION=39 16B. small/large model ---------------------- Amiga E lets you choose between SMALL and LARGE code/data model. Note that most of the programs you'll write (especially if you just started with E) will fit into 32k when compiled: you won't have to bother setting some code-generation model. You'll recognise the need for LARGE model as soon as EC starts complaining that it can't squeeze your code into 32k anymore. To compile a source with LARGE model: 1> ec -l sizy.e or better yet, put the statement OPT LARGE in your code. 16C. stack organisation ----------------------- To store all local and global variables, the run-time system of an executable generated by Amiga E allocates a chunk of memory, from which it takes some fixed part to store all global variables. The rest will be dynamically used as functions get called. as a function is called in E, space on the stack is reserved to store all local data, which is released upon exit of the function. That is why having large arrays of local data can be dangerous when used recursively: all data of previous calls to the same function still resides on the stack and eats up large parts of the free stack space. However, if PROC's are called in a linear fashion, there's no way the stack will overflow. Example: global data: 10k (arrays e.d) local data PROC #1: 1k local data PROC #1: 3k the runtime system always reserves an extra 10k over this for normal recursion (for example with small local-arrays) and additional buffers/ system spaces, thus will allocate a total of 24k stack space 16D. hardcoded limits --------------------- Note these signs: (+-) just about, depends on situation, (n.l.) no clear limit, but this seems reasonable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- OBJECT/ITEM SIZE/AMOUNT/MAX -------------------------------------------------------------------------- value datatype CHAR 0 .. 255 value datatype INT -32 k .. +32 k value datatype LONG/PTR -2 gig .. +2 gig identifierlength 100 bytes (n.l.) length of one source line 2000 lexical tokens (+-) source length 2 gig (theoretically) constant lists few hundred elements (+-) constant strings 1000 chars (n.l.) max. nesting depth of loops (IF, FOR etc.) 500 deep max. nesting depth of comments infinite #of local variables per procedure 8000 #of global variables 7500 #of arguments to own functions 8000 (together with locals) #of arguments to E-varargs functions (WriteF()) 64 one object (allocated local/global or dyn.) 8 k one array, list or string (local or global) 32 k one string (dynamically) 32 k one list (dynamically) 128 k one array (dynamically) 2 gig local data per procedure 250 meg global data 250 meg code size of one procedure 32 k code size of executable 32 k SMALL, 2 gig LARGE model current practical limit (may extend in future) 2-5 meg buffersize of generated code and identifiers relative to source buffersize of labels/branches and intermediate independently (re)allocated 16E. error messages, warnings and the unreferenced check -------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes, when compiling your source with EC, you get a message of the sort UNREFERENCED: <ident>, <ident>, ... This is the case when you have declared variables, functions or labels, but did not use them. This is an extra service rendered to you by the compiler to help you find out about those hard to find errors. There are several warnings that the compiler issues to notify you that something might be wrong, but is not really an error. - "A4/A5 used in inline assembly" This is the warning you'll get if you use registers A4 or A5 in your assembly code. The reason for this is that those registers are used internally by E to address the global and local variables respectively. Of course there might be a good reason to use these, like doing a MOVEM.L A4/A5,-(A7) before a large part of inline assembly code - "keep an eye on your stacksize" - "stack is definitely too small" Both these may be issued when you use OPT STACK=<size>. The compiler will simply match your <size> against its own estimate (see chapter 16C), and issue the former warning if it thinks it's ok but a bit on the small side, and the latter if it's probably too small. - 'suspicious use of "=" in void expressions' This warning is issued if you write expressions like 'a=1' as a statement. One reason for this is the fact that a comparison doesn't make much sense as a statement, but the main reason is that it could be an often occurring typo for 'a:=1'. Forgetting those ":" may be hard to find, and it may have disastrous consequences. Errors. - 'syntax error' Most common error. This error is issued either when no other error is appropriate or your way of ordering code in your sources is too abnormal. - 'unknown keyword/const' You have used an identifier in uppercase (like "IF" or "TRUE"), and the compiler could not find a definition for it. Causes: * mispelled keyword * you used a constant, but forgot to define it in a CONST statement * you forgot to specify the module where your constant is defined - '":=" expected' You have written a FOR statement or an assignment, and put something other than ":=" in its place. - 'unexpected characters in line' You used characters that have no syntactic meaning in E outside of a string. examples: "@!&\~" - 'label expected' At some places, for example after the PROC or JUMP keyword, a label identifier is required. You wrote something else. - '"," expected' In specifying a list of items (for example a parameter list) you wrote something else instead of a comma. - 'variable expected' This construction requires a variable, example: FOR <var>:= ... etc. - 'value does not fit in 32 bit' In specifying a constant value (see chapter 2A-2E) you wrote too large a number, examples: $FFFFFFFFF, "abcdef". Also occurs when you define a SET of more than 32 elements. - 'missing apostrophe/quote' You forgot the ' at the other end of a string. - 'incoherent program structure' * you started a new PROC before ending the last one * you don't nest your loops properly, for example: FOR IF ENDFOR ENDIF - 'illegal command-line option' In specifying 'EC -opt source' you wrote something for '-opt' that is not a legal option to EC. - 'division and multiplication 16bit only' The compiler detected that you were about to use 32bits for * or /. This would not have the desired result at runtime. See Mul() and Div(). - 'superfluous items in expression/statement' After the compiler already compiled your statement, it still found lexical tokens instead of an end of line. You probably forgot the <lf> or ";" to separate two statements. - 'procedure "main" not available' Your program does not include a main procedure ! - 'double declaration of label' You declared a label twice, for example: label: PROC label() - 'unsafe use of "*" or "/"' This again has to do with 16bit instead of 32bit * and /. See 'division and multiplication 16bit only'. - "reading sourcefile didn't succeed" Check your source spec. that you gave with 'ec mysource' make sure the file ends in '.e', and your command line doesn't. - "writing executable didn't succeed" Trying to write the generated code as an executable caused a dos error. For example, the executable that did already exist could not be overwritten. - 'no args' "USAGE: ec [-opts] <sourcecodefilename> (`.e' is added)" You get this by just typing 'ec' without any arguments. - 'unknown/illegal addressing mode' This error is reported only by the inline assembler. Possible causes are: * you used some addressing mode that does not exist on the 68000 * the addressing mode exists, but not for this instruction. not all assembly instructions support all combinations of effective addresses for source and destination. - 'unmatched parentheses' Your statement has more "(" than ")" or the other way around - 'double declaration' One identifier is used in two or more declarations. - 'unknown identifier' An identifier is not used in any declaration; it is unknown. You probably forgot to put it in a DEF statement. - 'incorrect #of args or use of ()' * You forgot to put "(" or ")" at the right spot * you supplied the incorrect #of arguments to some function - 'unknown e/library function' You wrote an identifier with the first character in uppercase, and the second in lowercase, but the compiler could not find a definition. Possible causes: * Misspelled name of function * You forgot to include the module that defines this library call. - 'illegal function call' Rarely occurs. You get this one if you try to construct weird function calls like nested WriteF()'s. Example: WriteF(WriteF('hi!')) - 'unknown format code following "\"' You specified a format code in a string which is illegal. See chapter 2F for a listing of format codes - '/* not properly nested comment structure */' The #of '/*' is unequal to the #of '*/', or is placed in a funny order. - 'could not load binary' <filespec> in INCBIN <filespec> could not be read. - '"}" expected' You started an expression with "{<var>" , but forgot the "}" - 'immediate value expected' Some constructions require an immediate value instead of an expression. Example: DEF s[x*y]:STRING /* wrong: only something like s[100]:STRING is legal */ - 'incorrect size of value' You specified an unacceptably large (or small) value for some construction. Examples: DEF s[-1]:STRING, t[1000000]:STRING /* needs to be 0..32000 */ MOVEQ #1000,D2 /* needs to be -128..127 */ - 'no e code allowed in assembly modus' You wish to operate the compiler as an assembler by writing 'OPT ASM', but, by accident, wrote some E code. - 'illegal/inappropriate type' At someplace where a <type> spec. was needed, you wrote something inappropriate. Examples: DEF a:PTR TO ARRAY /* no such type */ [1,2,3]:STRING - '"]" expected' You started with "[", but never ended with "]" - 'statement out of local/global scope' A breakpoint of scope is the first PROC statement. before that, only global definitions (DEF,CONST,MODULE etc.) are allowed, and no code. In the second part, only code and function definitions are legal, no global definitions. - 'could not read module correctly' A dos error occurred while trying to read a module from a MODULE statement. Causes: * emodules: was not assigned properly * module name was misspelled, or did not exist in the first place * you wrote MODULE 'bla.m' instead of MODULE 'bla' - 'workspace full!' Rarely occurs. If it does, you'll need the '-m' option to manually force EC to make a bigger estimate on the needed amount of memory. Try compiling with -m2, then -m3 until the error disappears. You'll probably be writing huge applications with giant amounts of data just to even possibly get this error. - 'not enough memory while (re-)allocating' Just like that. Possible solutions: 1. You were running other programs in multitasking. Leave them and try again. 2. You were low on memory anyway and your memory was fragmented. Try rebooting. 3. None of 1-2. Buy a memory expansion (ahum). - 'incorrect object definition' You were being silly while writing the definitions between OBJECT and ENDOBJECT. See chapter 8F to find out how to do it right. - 'illegal use of/reference to object' If you use expressions like ptr.member, member needs to be a legal member of the object ptr is pointing to. - 'incomplete if-then-else expression' If you use IF as an operator (see chapter 4E), then an ELSE part needs to be present: an expression with an IF in it always needs to return a value, while a statement with an IF in it can just 'do nothing' if no ELSE part is present. - 'unknown object identifier' You used an identifier that was recognised by the compiler as being part of some object, but you forgot to declare it. Causes: * misspelled name * missing module * the identifier in the module is spelled not like you expected from the RKRM's. Check with ShowModule. Note that amiga-system-objects inherit from assembly identifiers, not from C. Second: identifiers obey E-syntax. - 'double declaration of object identifier' One identifier used in two object definitions - 'reference(s) out of 32k range: switch to LARGE model' Your program is growing larger than 32k. Simply put 'OPT LARGE' in your source and code on. See Chapter 16B. - 'reference(s) out of 256 byte range' You probably wrote BRA.S or Bcc.S over too great a distance. - 'too sizy expression' You used a list [], possibly recursive [[]], that is too sizy. - 'incomplete exception handler definition' You probably used EXCEPT without HANDLE, or the other way round see chapter 13 on exception handling. 16F. compiler buffer organisation and allocation ------------------------------------------------ When you get the error 'workspace full' (very unlikely), or want to know what really happens when your program is compiled, it's useful to know how EC organises its buffers. A compiler, and in this case EC needs buffers to keep track of all sorts of things, like identifiers etc., and it needs a buffer to keep the generated code in. EC doesn't know how big these buffers need to be. for some buffers, like the one for storing constants, this is no problem: if the buffer is full while compiling, EC just allocates a new piece of memory and continues. Other buffers, like the one for the generated code, need to be a continuous block of memory that doesn't move while compiling: EC needs to make a pretty good estimate of this buffersize to be able to compile small and large sources alike. To do this, EC computes the needed memory relative to the size of your source code, and adds a nice amount to it. This way, in 99% of the cases, EC will have allocated enough memory to compile just about any source, in other cases, you'll get the error and have to specify more memory with the '-m' option. Experiment with different types and sizes of example-sources in combination with the '-b' option to see how this works in practice. 16G. a small history -------------------- E is not 'just another language': it was carefully and gradually designed by the author of the compiler because he was not too happy with existing programming languages, and specifically not the sluggish-code-generating and slow compilers that were written for them. Amiga E had as primary goal to be used as language for the author to program his amiga programs in, and he has succeeded in doing so by far. E was developed intensively over the course of 1.5 years and was certainly not the first compiler written by the author: some of you may remember the DEX compiler. This one was slow and unpowerful and is hardly something that can be compared to a compiler like Amiga E, but certainly gave the author some useful experience to be able to make Amiga E what it is today. DEX programmers will notice that it is very easy to convert their old DEX sources to E, and continue developing with 10x the power at 20x the speed. A funny thing about DEX and E is that the development of the two compilers did overlap: while DEX was done, E was halfway v1.6. Because E was already much better back then, E libraries/examples and code were transferred to DEX by popular demand, so the predecessor inherited features from its successor. The author also wrote numerous other compilers and interpreters, some of which were never distributed in any way. Amiga E is a product that will continue to be developed towards the ultimate language / amiga development system: - by implementing those missing parts in the language definition * Object Orientedness * better float concept - by making compiler specific enhancements * possible 020/030/881 code generation * optimizing the compilation-process, thus possibly doubling the line/minute figures as in compiler.doc * enabling the user to compile own code to modules, and thus develop large applications in a more modular fashion - by adding valuable elements to the distribution * an integrated editor ? * source-level debugger ? * CASE tools, for example - by fixing bugs (what bugs!?!) 8*-) The END! phew! Have fun with E!