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> Home > The Corewar Lexicon > The ICWS'94 draft (extended)

The ICWS'94 draft (extended)


Opcodes:

 
    DAT     terminate process
    MOV     move from A to B
    ADD     add A to B, store result in B
    SUB     subtract A from B, store result in B
    MUL     multiply A by B, store result in B
    DIV     divide B by A, store result in B if A <> 0, else terminate
    MOD     divide B by A, store remainder in B if A <> 0, else terminate
    JMP     transfer execution to A
    JMZ     transfer execution to A if B is zero
    JMN     transfer execution to A if B is non-zero
    DJN     decrement B, if B is non-zero, transfer execution to A
    SPL     split off process to A
    SLT     skip next instruction if A is less than B
    CMP     same as SEQ
    SEQ     Skip next instruction if A is equal to B
    SNE     Skip next instruction if A is not equal to B
    NOP     No operation
    LDP     Load P-space cell A into core address B
    STP     Store A-number into P-space cell B

Pseudo opcodes:

    [labels] EQU text            replaces [labels] by text
            [EQU text]           (*) multi-line EQU: text continues
 
             ORG start           specifies execution start
 
             END [start]         end of assembly (optional execution start)
 
    [count]  FOR expression      (*) repeat enclosed instructions "expression"
             ROF                 times, counter is incremented starting with 01
 
             PIN number          (+) P-space identification number, warriors
                                 with same number share P-space

Modifiers:

    .A   Instructions read and write A-fields.
 
    .B   Instructions read and write B-fields.
 
    .AB  Instructions read the A-field of the A-instruction  and
         the B-field of the B-instruction and write to B-fields.
 
    .BA  Instructions read the B-field of the A-instruction  and
         the A-field of the B-instruction and write to A-fields.
 
    .F   Instructions read both A- and B-fields of  the  the  A-
         and  B-instruction and write to both A- and B-fields (A
         to A and B to B).
 
    .X   Instructions read both A- and B-fields of  the  the  A-
         and  B-instruction  and  write  to both A- and B-fields
         exchanging fields (A to B and B to A).
 
    .I   Instructions read and write entire instructions.

Addressing Modes:

    #       immediate
    $       direct
    @       indirect using B-field
    <       predecrement indirect using B-field
    >       postincrement indirect using B-field
    *       indirect using A-field
    {       predecrement indirect using A-field
    }       postincrement indirect using A-field

Directives:

 
    ;redcode                code follows, preceding text is ignored
    ;name                   name of warrior follows
    ;author                 name of author follows 
    ;assert                 (*) expression that must evaluate to true
    ;trace [off]            (*) toggle trace bit for following instructions
    ;break                  (*) set trace bit for next instruction
    ;debug [static|off]     (*) enable/disable setting [static] trace bits

Predefined variables:

    CORESIZE          value of -s parameter (default: 8000)
    MAXPROCESSES      value of -p parameter (default: 8000)
    MAXCYCLES         value of -c parameter (default: 80000)
    MAXLENGTH         value of -l parameter (default: 100)
    MINDISTANCE       value of -d parameter (default: 100)
    ROUNDS            value of -r parameter (default: 1)
    PSPACESIZE        value of -S parameter (default: 1/16th CORESIZE)
    CURLINE           current line in generated assembly (starts with 0)
    VERSION           pMARS version ("60" is v0.6.0)
    WARRIORS          number of warriors specified on command line
 

Expression Operators:

    Arithmetic:
        +   addition or unary plus
        -   subtraction or unary minus
        /   division
        %   modulo (remainder of division)
 
    Comparison (*):
        ==  equality
        !=  inequality
        <   less than
        >   greater than
        <=  less than or equal
        >=  greater than or equal
 
    Logical (*):
        &&  and
        ||  or
        !   unary negation
 
    Assignment (*):
    =   (to register variables a..z)
 
    Comparison and logical operators return 1 for true and 0 for false.
    Parentheses can be used to override this precedence order:
 
    1) ! - + (unary)
    2) * / %
    3) - + (binary)
    4) == != < > <= >=
    5) &&
    6) ||
    7) =

Redcode Grammar:

statement_list :: statement statement_list | e ;
statement :: normal_stmt<1> |
             equ_stmt       |
             forrof_stmt    |
             comment_stmt   |
             substitution_stmt<2> ;
 
num       :: [0-9] ;
number    :: num number | num ;
alpha     :: [a-zA-Z] | "_" ;
alphanum  :: alpha | num ;
alphanums :: alphanum alphanums | e ;
 
label  :: alpha alphanums ;
label1 :: label label1 | label ;
labels :: label1 "\n" labels | label1 ;
stringization :: stringization"&"label | label ;
 
this_string :: (^\n)* ;
comment     :: ";" this_string "\n" | e ;
 
equ_stmt    :: labels equ_strings ;
equ_string  :: "equ" this_string comment "\n" ;
equ_strings :: equ_string "\n" equ_strings | equ_string ;
 
forrof_stmt :: labels index "for" expression<3> comment "\n"
               statement_list
               "rof" this_string "\n" ;
index       :: label
 
comment_stmt  :: info_comment | debug_comment | ignore ;
ignore        :: ";" this_string "\n" ;
info_comment  :: ";redcode" this_string "\n" |
                 ";" "name" this_string "\n" |
                 ";" "author" this_string "\n" |
                 ";" "date" this_string "\n" |
                 ";" "version" this_string "\n" |
                 ";" "assert" expression<4> "\n" ;
debug_comment :: ";" debug "\n" | ";" trace "\n" | ";" break "\n" ;
debug         :: "debug" | "debug" "off" | "debug" "static" ;
trace         :: "trace" | "trace" "off" ;
break         :: "break" ;
Note:
1. Normal statements are statements in the following form:
   opcode [address mode] operand [, [address mode] operand] [comment]
   More details about the grammar are given in the '88 or '94 proposal.
 
2. Substitution statements are labels that have been declared by EQU.
   If a label is declared this way: "IMP_instr equ imp mov imp, imp + 
   1", the label name IMP_instr can be thought of as a statement.  
   Therefore, whenf IMP_instr is used after its declaration, it will 
   be replaced by "imp mov imp, imp + 1". It has effect of declaring 
   a label 'imp' and inserting the statement 'mov imp, imp + 1'.
 
3. Valid expression for "FOR" statement is very close to C expression in
   which operator '()' has the highest precedence, followed by 'unary +,
   unary -', '*, / and %', 'binary + and binary -', '<, <=, >, >=',
   '==, !=', '&&', '||', and the lowest '='.
   Beside numbers, it can also has labels as its terms. All of its labels
   have to be declared before "FOR" statement is invoked.
4. Valid expression for "ASSERT" statement is the same as that for "FOR".
Case sensitivity
Opcode and pseudo-opcode names are case insensitive; labels are case
sensitive.
 
Label declaration
Labels are declared in three ways:
 o Using EQU. When a label name that first appears (has not been declared)
   is declared with EQU, all subsequent occurences of that label name
   will be replaced by the strings following the EQU.
 
   The following equates label THIS with "num + 1". THIS equ num + 1.
 
   If the string substituting the label contains other labels, those labels
   are also replaced by their substituting string. Recursive reference of
   labels are flagged as error.
 
   More than one statement can be declared as a label name. To achieve this,
   declare a blank label with EQU following the statement that declares
   as part of equation of a named EQU label. Thus, the declaration of the
   following:
   core_clear equ spl 0
              equ mov 2, <-1
              equ jmp -1
   causes three statements are declared as strings of label core_clear.
 
 o As an offset relative to the current normal statement. If some labels 
   appear just before any '88 or '94 opcodes, they are automatically 
   declared as constants that are relative to the current statement.
   For example:
   first spl first                0000 spl 0
   imp   mov imp, imp + 1  -----> 0001 mov 0, 1
 
 o As an index belonging to FOR statement. Unlike other statements, labels
   declared with FOR consist of two ingredients: the last label serving
   as FOR index and the remaining labels serving as the same offset pointing
   at the first of the FOR statement. This allows the implementation of
   base[index] kind.
 
   This declaration:
   base
   index for 3
         mov base, base + index - 1
         rof
 
   translates into:
   0000 mov 0, 0
   0001 mov 0, 1
   0002 mov 0, 2
Stringization and declaration inside FOR/ROF:
 
FOR 5
imp mov imp, imp + 5
ROF
 
Declaration of the above example causes the assembler to complain for
duplicating declarations. pMARS however offers the stringization feature
to accomplish the same goal. Its syntax is: label"&"label"&"...
The first label can be any valid alphanums and it goes untranslated.
The rest of the labels have to be a FOR index and it is to be substituted
accordingly. Thus:
 
N FOR 5
  imp&N mov imp&N, imp&N + 1
  ROF
 
are expanded into:
imp01 mov imp01, imp01 + 5
imp02 mov imp02, imp02 + 5
imp03 mov imp03, imp03 + 5
imp04 mov imp04, imp04 + 5
imp05 mov imp05, imp05 + 5
 
It is then correctly compiled.
 
The following form is also valid:
 
prime01 equ 2
prime02 equ 3
prime03 equ 5
prime04 equ 7
prime05 equ 11
 
N FOR 5
  dat prime&N
  ROF
The conjunction of FOR statements and EQU statements:
 
If labels that are not stringized are declared inside FOR/ROF statements,
the result is duplicating declaration. Although in the future it might be
allowed, it is well-advised that such labels are to be declared outside of
the FOR/ROF block.
 
If FOR statements are declared as strings of a label name using EQU such as:
THIS EQU N FOR 3
     EQU   mov 0, 3
     EQU   ROF
 
The expansion of such is feasible providing that both the FOR and ROF are
present in the same label name.
 
Therefore, the following will not work:
THIS EQU N FOR 3
THAT EQU   ROF
 
THIS
 mov 0, 3
THAT
 
or
 
TEST EQU N FOR 3
 mov 0, 3
 ROF
PMARS parsing background
Parsing is done in three steps:
1. Reading from input
2. First pass assembly
3. Second pass assembly
 
- During reading: info_comment is parsed, comments to be ignored are removed,
  the remaining are copied into memory. If the first ';redcode' appears,
  all the current contents are erased from memory. Reading is continued
  until it encounters the next ';redcode'. Reading always stops when it
  encounters a line containing a word END or end-of-file.
- During the first pass, all labels are collected. All expansions and
  removals are done in this pass. All labels before opcode are substituted
  if they have been declared or declared otherwise. All labels after opcode
  are preserved for the second pass. This allows forward declaration
  mechanism for labels after opcode.
- During the second pass, no labels are declared and collected. There is
  no further statement expansions and removals. All labels that have not
  been substituted are substituted. Syntax checking to meet with '88 or '94
  requirement is done in this stage.
© 2002-2005 corewar.info. Logo © C. Schmidt
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