collapseos/blk/023

Branching

Branching in Collapse OS is limited to 8-bit. This represents
64 word references forward or backward. While this might seem
a bit tight at first, having this limit saves us a non-
negligible amount of resource usage.

The reasoning behind this intentional limit is that huge
branches are generally a indicator that a logic ought to be
simplified. So here's one more constraint for you to help you
towards simplicity.
Limit ourselves to 8-bit branching I'm planning on going back to 8-bit branching. 16-bit br cells incur a non-negligible penalty and, while at first 64 words (128 bytes forward or backward) seemed a bit limiting, I now don't see why one would ever construct such a big branch. It would be un-forthy. Also, I looked at using BC instead of IY to hold IP and the transition would be a lot easier with 8-bit branching. In this commit, all I do is add overflow checks in IF. The mechanic below doesn't change. I'll give myself some time to think it over so that I avoid yet another back and forth. 2020-05-25 00:01:46 +10:00			`Branching`

			`Branching in Collapse OS is limited to 8-bit. This represents`
			`64 word references forward or backward. While this might seem`
			`a bit tight at first, having this limit saves us a non-`
			`negligible amount of resource usage.`

			`The reasoning behind this intentional limit is that huge`
			`branches are generally a indicator that a logic ought to be`
			`simplified. So here's one more constraint for you to help you`
			`towards simplicity.`