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doc: out-of-system documentation
I've changed my mind about having documentation in-system. It doesn't serve much of a purpose and make blkfs significantly heavier. This commit is the first step in writing a documentation outside of the blkfs.
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doc/intro.txt
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doc/intro.txt
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# Introduction to Collapse OS
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Collapse OS is a minimal operating system created to preserve
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the ability to program microcontrollers through civilizational
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collapse. Its author expect the collapse of the global supply
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chain means the loss of our computer production capability. Many
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microcontrollers require a computer to program them.
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Collapse OS innovates by self-hosting on extremely tight resour-
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ces and is thus (theoretically thus far) able to operate and be
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improved in a world without modern computers.
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# Forth
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This OS is a Forth. It doesn't adhere to any pre-collapse stand-
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ard, but is pretty close to the Forth described by Starting
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Forth by Leo Brodie. It is therefore the recommended introduct-
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ory material to learn Forth in the context of Collapse OS.
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If you don't have access to this book and don't know anything
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about Forth, learning Collapse OS could be a rough ride, but
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don't despair. There's a Forth primer in primer.txt.
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# Documentation and self-hosting
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Collapse OS is self-hosting, its documentation is not, that is,
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Collapse OS cannot read this document you're reading. Text
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blocks could, of course, be part of Collapse OS' blocks, but
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doing so needlessly uses blocks and make the system heavier than
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it should.
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This documentation is expected to be printed before the last
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modern computer of your community dies.
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doc/primer.txt
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# Forth Primer
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# First steps
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Before you read this primer, let's try a few commands, just for
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fun.
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42 .
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This will push the number 42 to the stack, then print the number
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at the top of the stack.
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4 2 + .
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This pushes 4, then 2 to the stack, then adds the 2 numbers on
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the top of the stack, then prints the result.
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42 0x8000 C! 0x8000 C@ .
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This writes the byte "42" at address 0x8000, and then reads
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back that bytes from the same address and print it.
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# Interpreter loop
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Forth's main interpeter loop is very simple:
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1. Read a word from input
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2. Look it up in the dictionary
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3. Found? Execute.
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4. Not found?
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4.1. Is it a number?
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4.2. Yes? Parse and push on the Parameter Stack.
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4.3. No? Error.
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5. Repeat
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# Word
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A word is a string of non-whitepace characters. We consider that
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we're finished reading a word when we encounter a whitespace
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after having read at least one non-whitespace character
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# Character encoding
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Collapse OS doesn't support any other encoding than 7bit ASCII.
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A character smaller than 0x21 is considered a whitespace,
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others are considered non-whitespace.
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Characters above 0x7f have no special meaning and can be used in
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words (if your system has glyphs for them).
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# Dictionary
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Forth's dictionary link words to code. On boot, this dictionary
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contains the system's words (look in B30 for a list of them),
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but you can define new words with the ":" word. For example:
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: FOO 42 . ;
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defines a new word "FOO" with the code "42 ." linked to it. The
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word ";" closes the definition. Once defined, a word can be
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executed like any other word.
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You can define a word that already exists. In that case, the new
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definition will overshadow the old one. However, any word def-
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ined *before* the overshadowing took place will still use the
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old word.
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# Cell size
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The cell size in Collapse OS is 16 bit, that is, each item in
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stacks is 16 bit, @ and ! read and write 16 bit numbers.
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Whenever we refer to a number, a pointer, we speak of 16 bit.
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To read and write bytes, use C@ and C!.
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# Number literals
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Traditional Forth often uses HEX/DEC switches to go from deci-
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mal to hexadecimal parsing. Collapse OS parses literals in a
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way that is closer to C.
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Straight numbers are decimals, numbers starting with "0x"
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are hexadecimals (example "0x12ef"), "0b" prefixes indicate
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binary (example "0b1010"), char literals are single characters
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surrounded by ' (example 'X'). Char literals can't be used for
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whitespaces.
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# Parameter Stack
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Unlike most programming languages, Forth execute words directly,
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without arguments. The Parameter Stack (PS) replaces them. There
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is only one, and we're constantly pushing to and popping from
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it. All the time.
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For example, the word "+" pops the 2 number on the Top Of Stack
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(TOS), adds them, then pushes back the result on the same stack.
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It thus has the "stack signature" of "a b -- n". Every word in
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a dictionary specifies that signature because stack balance, as
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you can guess, is paramount. It's easy to get confused so you
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need to know the stack signature of words you use very well.
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# Return Stack
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There's a second stack, the Return Stack (RS), which is used to
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keep track of execution, that is, to know where to go back after
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we've executed a word. It is also used in other contexts, but
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this is outside of the scope of this primer.
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# Conditional execution
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Code can be executed conditionally with IF/ELSE/THEN. IF pops
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PS and checks whether its nonzero. If it is, it does nothing.
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If it's zero, it jumps to the following ELSE or the following
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THEN. Similarly, when ELSE is encountered in the context of a
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nonzero IF, we jump to the following THEN.
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Because IFs involve jumping, they only work inside word defin-
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itions. You can't use IF directly in the interpreter loop.
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Example usage:
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: FOO IF 42 ELSE 43 THEN . ;
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0 FOO --> 42
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1 FOO --> 43
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# Loops
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Loops work a bit like conditionals, and there's 3 forms:
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BEGIN..AGAIN --> Loop forever
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BEGIN..UNTIL --> Loop conditionally
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DO..LOOP --> Loop X times
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UNTIL works exactly like IF, but instead of jumping forward to
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THEN, it jumps backward to BEGIN.
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DO pops the lower, then the higher bounds of the loop to be
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executed, then pushes them on RS. Then, each time LOOP is
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encountered, RS' TOS is increased. As long as the 2 numbers at
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RS' TOS aren't equal, we jump back to DO.
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The word "I" copies RS' TOS to PS, which can be used to get our
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"loop counter".
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Beware: the bounds arguments for DO are unintuitive. We begin
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with the upper bound. Example:
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42 0 DO I . SPC LOOP
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Will print numbers 0 to 41, separated by a space.
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# Variables
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We can read and write to arbitrary memory address with @ and !
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(C@ and C! for bytes). For example, "1234 0x8000 !" writes the
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word 1234 to address 0x8000.
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The word "VARIABLE" link a name to an address. For example,
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"VARIABLE FOO" defines the word "FOO" and "reserves" 2 bytes of
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memory. Then, when FOO is executed, it pushes the address of the
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"reserved" area to PS.
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For example, "1234 FOO !" writes 1234 to memory address reserved
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for FOO.
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# IMMEDIATE
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We approach the end of our primer. So far, we've covered the
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"cute and cuddly" parts of the language. However, that's not
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what makes Forth powerful. Forth becomes mind-bending when we
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throw IMMEDIATE into the mix.
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A word can be declared immediate thus:
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: FOO ; IMMEDIATE
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That is, when the IMMEDIATE word is executed, it makes the
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latest defined word immediate.
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An immediate word, when used in a definition, is executed
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immediately instead of being compiled. This seemingly simple
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mechanism (and it *is* simple) has very wide implications.
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For example, The words "(" and ")" are comment indicators. In
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the definition:
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: FOO 42 ( this is a comment ) . ;
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The word "(" is read like any other word. What prevents us from
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trying to compile "this" and generate an error because the word
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doesn't exist? Because "(" is immediate. Then, that word reads
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from input stream until a ")" is met, and then returns to word
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compilation.
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Words like "IF", "DO", ";" are all regular Forth words, but
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their "power" come from the fact that they're immediate.
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Starting Forth by Leo Brodie explain all of this in details.
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Read this if you can. If you can't, well, let this sink in for
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a while, browse the dictionary (B30) and try to understand why
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this or that word is immediate. Good luck!
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