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millfork/docs/lang/operators.md
2018-07-23 15:47:03 +02:00

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# Operators
Unlike in high-level languages, operators in Millfork have limited applicability.
Not every well-formed expression is actually compilable.
Most expressions involving single bytes compile,
but for larger types usually you need to use in-place modification operators.
Further improvements to the compiler may increase the number of acceptable combinations.
Certain expressions require the commandline flag `-fzp-register` (`.ini` equivalent: `zeropage_register`) to be enabled.
They will be marked with (zpreg) next to them.
The flag is enabled by default, but you can disable it if you need to.
**Work in progress**:
Certain expressions may not work on non-6502 targets yet. This should improve in the future.
## Precedence
Millfork has different operator precedence compared to most other languages. From highest to lowest it goes:
* `*`, `*'`
* `+`, `+'`, `-`, `-'`, `|`, `&`, `^`, `>>`, `>>'`, `<<`, `<<'`, `>>>>`
* `:`
* `==`, `!=`, `<`, `>`, `<=`, `>=`
* `&&`
* `||`
* assignment and in-place modification operators
You cannot use two different operators at the same precedence levels without using parentheses to disambiguate.
It is to prevent confusion about whether `a + b & c << d` means `(a + b) & (c << d)` `((a + b) & c) << d` or something else.
The only exceptions are `+` and `-`, and `+'` and `-'`.
They are interpreted as expected: `5 - 3 + 2 == 4` and `5 -' 3 +' 2 == 4`.
Note that you cannot mix `+'` and `-'` with `+` and `-`.
## Argument types
In the descriptions below, arguments to the operators are explained as follows:
* `enum` means any enumeration type
* `byte` means any numeric one-byte type
* `word` means any numeric two-byte type, or a byte expanded to a word; `pointer` is considered to be numeric
* `long` means any numeric type longer than two bytes, or a shorter type expanded to such length to match the other argument
* `constant` means a compile-time constant
* `simple` means either: a constant, a non-stack variable,
a pointer indexed with a constant, a pointer indexed with a non-stack variable,
an array indexed with a constant, an array indexed with a non-stack variable,
an array indexed with a sum of a constant and a non-stack variable,
or a split-word expression made of two simple expressions.
Examples: `1`, `a`, `p[2]`, `p[i]`, `arr[2]`, `arr[i]`, `arr[i+2]`, `h:l`, `h[i]:l[i]`
Such expressions have the property that the only register they may clobber is Y.
* `mutable` means an expression that can be assigned to
## Split-word operator
Expressions of the shape `h:l` where `h` and `l` are of type byte, are considered expressions of type word.
If and only if both `h` and `l` are assignable expressions, then `h:l` is also an assignable expression.
## Binary arithmetic operators
* `+`, `-`:
`byte + byte`
`constant word + constant word`
`constant long + constant long`
`constant word + byte`
`word + word` (zpreg)
* `*`: multiplication; the size of the result is the same as the size of the arguments
`byte * constant byte`
`constant byte * byte`
`constant word * constant word`
`constant long * constant long`
`byte * byte` (zpreg)
There are no division, remainder or modulo operators.
## Bitwise operators
* `|`, `^`, `&`: OR, EXOR and AND
`byte | byte`
`constant word | constant word`
`constant long | constant long`
`word | word` (zpreg)
* `<<`, `>>`: bit shifting; shifting pads the result with zeroes
`byte << byte`
`word << byte` (zpreg)
`constant word << constant byte`
`constant long << constant byte`
* `>>>>`: shifting a 9-bit value and returning a byte; `a >>>> b` is equivalent to `(a & $1FF) >> b`
`word >>>> constant byte`
## Decimal arithmetic operators
These operators work using the decimal arithmetic and will not work on Ricoh CPU's.
The compiler issues a warning if these operators appear in the code.
* `+'`, `-'`: decimal addition/subtraction
`byte +' byte`
`constant word +' constant word`
`constant long +' constant long`
`word +' word` (zpreg)
* `*'`: decimal multiplication
`constant *' constant`
* `<<'`, `>>'`: decimal multiplication/division by power of two
`byte <<' constant byte`
## Comparison operators
These operators (except for `!=`) can accept more than 2 arguments.
In such case, the result is true if each comparison in the group is true.
Note you cannot mix those operators, so `a <= b < c` is not valid.
**WARNING:** Currently in cases like `a < f() < b`, `f()` may be evaluated an undefined number of times
(the current implementation calls it twice, but do not rely on this behaviour).
* `==`: equality
`enum == enum`
`byte == byte`
`simple word == simple word`
`simple long == simple long`
* `!=`: inequality
`enum != enum`
`byte != byte`
`simple word != simple word`
`simple long != simple long`
* `>`, `<`, `<=`, `>=`: inequality
`byte > byte`
`simple word > simple word`
`simple long > simple long`
Currently, `>`, `<`, `<=`, `>=` operators perform unsigned comparison
if none of the types of their arguments is signed,
and fail to compile otherwise. This will be changed in the future.
## Assignment and in-place modification operators
**WARNING:** Unlike other languages, Millfork does not provide any guarantees about how many times the left hand side will be evaluated.
An expression of form `a[f()] += b` may call `f` an undefined number of times.
* `=`: normal assignment
`mutable enum = enum`
`mutable byte = byte`
`mutable word = word`
`mutable long = long`
* `+=`, `+'=`, `|=`, `^=`, `&=`: modification in place
`mutable byte += byte`
`mutable word += word`
`mutable long += long`
* `<<=`, `>>=`: shift in place
`mutable byte <<= byte`
`mutable word <<= byte`
`mutable long <<= byte`
* `<<'=`, `>>'=`: decimal shift in place
`mutable byte <<'= constant byte`
`mutable word <<'= constant byte`
`mutable long <<'= constant byte`
* `-=`, `-'=`: subtraction in place
`mutable byte -= byte`
`mutable word -= simple word`
`mutable long -= simple long`
* `*=`: multiplication in place
`mutable byte *= constant byte`
`mutable byte *= byte` (zpreg)
* `*'=`: decimal multiplication in place
`mutable byte *'= constant byte`
## Indexing
While Millfork does not consider indexing an operator, this is a place as good as any to discuss it.
An expression of form `a[i]`, where `i` is an expression of type `byte`, is:
* when `a` is an array that has numeric index type: an access to the `i`-th element of the array `a`
* when `a` is a pointer variable: an access to the byte in memory at address `a + i`
Those expressions are of type `byte`. If `a` is any other kind of expression, `a[i]` is invalid.
If the zeropage register is enabled, `i` can also be of type `word`.
An expression of form `a[i]`, where `i` is an expression of a enumeration type, is:
* when `a` is an array that has index type equal to the type of `i`:
an access to the element of the array `a` at the location assigned to the key `i`
* otherwise: a compile error
## Built-in functions
* `not`: negation of a boolean expression
`not(bool)`
* `nonet`: expansion of an 8-bit operation to a 9-bit operation
`nonet(byte + byte)`
`nonet(byte +' byte)`
`nonet(byte << constant byte)`
`nonet(byte <<' constant byte)`
Other kinds of expressions than the above (even `nonet(byte + byte + byte)`) will not work as expected.
* `hi`, `lo`: most/least significant byte of a word
`hi(word)`
Furthermore, any type that can be assigned to a variable
can be used to convert from one type to another of the same size.