# hvm assembly lanugage reference

hvm assembly language is a pseudo assembly language of hvm, which can be used to generate hvm bytecode, which is more readable and maintainable than hvm bytecode. Some programming languages on hvm are compiled first to generate hvm assembly and then generate hvm bytecode

# Features

  • An instruction occupies one line, unless it is a string of lines
  • String needs to support escaping
  • In addition to the content in the string, the content of the current line after the semicolon is optional'L' + line number +';' + current line comment
  • There can be several blanks at the beginning of a line of instructions, and there can be several spaces between the instruction name and the instruction parameters
  • .local varname declares the variable name
  • Declare constant syntax
  .begin_const
     "asd"
     "Hello"
     " world!"
  .end_const
  • Declare upvalues ​​syntax
  .begin_upvalue
     1 0
  .end_upvalue
  • Declare code segment syntax
.begin_code
   loadk %0 const "asd"    ;L12;  %0表示slot 0
   closure %1 subroutine_2
   move %2 %1
   loadk %3 const "Hello"
   loadk %4 const " world!"
   call %2 3 1
   return %0 1
.end_code
  • The number of .upvalues declares the number of upvalues
  • .func function name maxstacksize params_count use_vararg declares the start of proto, and the number of return values ​​of proto parameter input, etc.
  • Loadk, setglobal, return, move and other instructions correspond to the corresponding Lua bytecode instructions, followed by the corresponding parameters
  • .end_func ends a proto declaration
  • A "do end" block generates a single return instruction

# Instruction list


  MOVE Copy a value between registers
  LOADK Load a constant into a register
  LOADBOOL Load a boolean into a register
  LOADNIL Load nil values into a range of registers
  GETUPVAL Read an upvalue into a register
  GETTABLE Read a table element into a register
  SETUPVAL Write a register value into an upvalue
  SETTABLE Write a register value into a table element
  NEWTABLE Create a new table
  SELF Prepare an object method for calling
  ADD Addition operator
  SUB Subtraction operator
  MUL Multiplication operator
  DIV Division operator
  MOD Modulus (remainder) operator
  POW Exponentiation operator
  UNM Unary minus operator
  NOT Logical NOT operator
  LEN Length operator
  CONCAT Concatenate a range of registers
  JMP Unconditional jump
  EQ Equality test
  LT Less than test
  LE Less than or equal to test
  TEST Boolean test, with conditional jump
  TESTSET Boolean test, with conditional jump and assignment
  CALL Call a closure
  TAILCALL Perform a tail call
  RETURN Return from function call
  FORLOOP Iterate a numeric for loop
  FORPREP Initialization for a numeric for loop
  TFORLOOP Iterate a generic for loop
  SETLIST Set a range of array elements for a table
  CLOSURE Create a closure of a function prototype
  VARARG Assign vararg function arguments to registers