identified problems with pointer array as parameter

compiler/test/TestPointers.kt

@@ -1320,4 +1320,115 @@ main {
 
         compileText(VMTarget(), false, src, outputDir) shouldNotBe null
     }
+
+    xtest("array of pointers as subroutine param - not the primitive type pointers") {
+        val src="""
+%option enable_floats
+
+main {
+
+    sub start() {
+        ^^ubyte[4] array1
+        ^^byte[4] array2
+        ^^bool[4] array3
+        ^^word[4] array4
+        ^^uword[4] array5
+        ^^float[4] array6
+        ^^long[4] array7
+        ^^str[4] array8
+
+        error1(array1)
+        error2(array2)
+        error3(array3)
+        error4(array4)
+        error5(array5)
+        error6(array6)
+        error7(array7)
+        error8(array8)
+    }
+
+    sub error1(^^ubyte ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error2(^^byte ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error3(^^bool ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error4(^^word ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error5(^^uword ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error6(^^float ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error7(^^long ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error8(^^str ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+}"""
+        val errors = ErrorReporterForTests()
+        compileText(VMTarget(), false, src, outputDir, errors = errors) shouldBe null
+        errors.errors.size shouldBe 999
+        // TODO
+    }
+
+    xtest("array of pointers as subroutine param") {
+        val src="""
+%option enable_floats
+
+main {
+
+    sub start() {
+        ^^ubyte[4] array1
+        ^^byte[4] array2
+        ^^bool[4] array3
+        ^^word[4] array4
+        ^^uword[4] array5
+        ^^float[4] array6
+        ^^long[4] array7
+        ^^str[4] array8
+
+        ok1(array1)
+        ok2(array2)
+        ok3(array3)
+        ok4(array4)
+        ok5(array5)
+        ok6(array6)
+        ok7(array7)
+        ok8(array8)
+    }
+
+    sub ok1(^^ubyte[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+    sub ok2(^^byte[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+    sub ok3(^^bool[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+    sub ok4(^^word[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+    sub ok5(^^uword[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+    sub ok6(^^float[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+    sub ok7(^^long[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+    sub ok8(^^str[] ptr) {
+        cx16.r0 = ptr
+    }
+}"""
+        compileText(VMTarget(), false, src, outputDir) shouldNotBe null
+    }
 })

docs/source/structpointers.rst

@@ -30,17 +30,45 @@ Typed pointer to simple datatype
 
 The syntax for declaring typed pointers is as follows:
 
-``^^type``: pointer to that type
-    You can declare a pointer to any numeric datatype (bytes, words, longs, floats), booleans,
-    and also strings.  (the latter, ``^^str`` - a pointer to a string - is equivalient to ``^^ubyte`` though because a string is just an array of ubytes.)
-    ``^^float fptr`` declares fptr as a pointer to a float value.
+``^^type``: pointer to a type
+    You can declare a pointer to any numeric datatype (bytes, words, longs, floats), booleans, and also strings.
+    (The latter: ``^^str`` - a pointer to a string - is equivalient to ``^^ubyte`` though because a string is just an array of ubytes.)
     Finally, the type can be a struct type, which then declares a pointer to that struct type. This is explained in the next section.
+    So, for example; ``^^float fptr`` declares fptr as a pointer to a float value.
 
-``^^type[size]``: array with size size containing pointers to type.
-    So ``^^word[100] values`` declares values to be an array of 100 pointers to words.
-    Note that an array of pointers (regardless of the type they point to) is always a @split word array by default.
+``^^type[size]``: array with size size containing pointers to a type.
+    So for example; ``^^word[100] values`` declares values to be an array of 100 pointers to words.
+    Note that an array of pointers (regardless of the type they point to) is always a @split word array.
 
-It is not possible to define "pointers to arrays"; ``^^(type[])`` is invalid syntax.
+It is not possible to define pointers to *arrays*; ``^^(type[])`` is invalid syntax.
+
+Pointers of different types cannot be assigned to one another, unless you use an explicit cast.
+
+Typed pointers and an 'untyped' uword pointer/value can be assigned to each other without an explicit cast.
+
+Because it is pretty common to check if a pointer value is zero or not (because zero usually means that the pointer doesn't exist/has no value),
+pointers can be implicitly cast to a boolean. This allows you to easily write conditionals such as ``while ptr { ... }``
+
+
+Dereferencing a pointer, pointer arithmetic
+-------------------------------------------
+
+To get the value the pointer points at, you *dereference* the pointer. The syntax for that is: ``pointer^^``.
+Say the pointer variable is of type ``^^float``, then ``pointer^^`` will return the float value it points at.
+
+You can also use array indexing syntax to get the n-th value. For example: ``floatpointer[3]`` will return the
+fourth floating point value in the sequence that the floatpointer points at. Because the pointer is a typed pointer,
+the compiler knows what the size of the value is that it points at and correctly skips forward the required number of bytes in memory.
+In this case, say a float takes 5 bytes, then ``floatpointer[3]`` will return the float value stored at memory address floatpointer+15.
+Notice that ``floatpointer[0]`` is equivalent to ``floatpointer^^``.
+
+You can add and subtract values from a pointer, this is called **pointer arithmetic**.
+For example, to advance a pointer to the next value, you can use ``pointer++``.
+To make it point to the preceding value, you can use ``pointer--``.
+Adding or subtracting X to a pointer will change the pointer by X times the size of the value it points at (the same as the C language does it).
+
+This is true even for pointers to struct types: the compiler knows the storage size of the whole struct type and advances or rewinds
+the pointer value (memory address) by the appropriate number of bytes (X times the size of the struct). More info below.
 
 
 Structs
@@ -53,9 +81,3 @@ Typed pointer to Struct type
 ----------------------------
 
 Work in progress.
-
-
-Pointer arithmetic and array indexing
--------------------------------------
-
-Work in progress.

docs/source/todo.rst

@@ -61,7 +61,11 @@ STRUCTS and TYPED POINTERS
 - DONE: added peekbool() and pokebool() and pokebowl()  boolean peek and poke, the latter is equivalent to pokebool()
 - DONE: fixed support for (expression) array index dereferencing "array[2]^^"   where array contains pointers to primitives: replace with peek()
 - DONE: fixed support for (assigntarget) array index dereferencing "array[2]^^"   where array contains pointers to primitives: replace with poke()
+- fix ^^bool[] ptr  in sub params
+- ^^bool[3] ptr  in sub param should give proper error for the array size that is not allowed there? or can we actually use it?
 - write docs in structpointers.rst
+- scan through virtual examples to change untyped uword pointers to typed pointers
+- scan through virtual library modules to change untyped uword pointers to typed pointers
 - add support for array index dereferencing as assign target "array[2]^^.value = 99"   where array is struct pointers (currently a 'no support' error)
 - add support for array index dereferencing as assign target "array[2].value = 99"   where array is struct pointers (currently a parser error)
 - try to fix parse error  l1^^.s[0] = 4242   (equivalent to l1.s[0]=4242 , which does parse correctly)
@@ -70,6 +74,9 @@ STRUCTS and TYPED POINTERS
 - 6502 codegen: remove checks in checkForPointerTypesOn6502()
 - 6502 codegen should warn about writing to initialized struct instances when using romable code, like with arrays "can only be used as read-only in ROMable code"
 - 6502 asm symbol name prefixing should work for dereferences too.
+- update structpointers.rst docs with 6502 things?
+- scan through 6502 library modules to change untyped uword pointers to typed pointers
+- scan through 6502 examples to change untyped uword pointers to typed pointers
 - really fixing the pointer dereferencing issues (cursed hybrid beween IdentifierReference, PtrDereferece and PtrIndexedDereference) may require getting rid of scoped identifiers altogether and treat '.' as a "scope or pointer following operator"
 - (later, nasty parser problem:) support chaining pointer dereference on function calls that return a pointer.  (type checking now fails on stuff like func().field and func().next.field)
 

examples/test.p8

@@ -1,38 +1,92 @@
+%import textio
 %option enable_floats
 
 main {
 
     sub start() {
-        ^^ubyte[4] array1 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
-        ^^byte[4] array2 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
-        ^^bool[4] array3 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
-        ^^word[4] array4 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
-        ^^uword[4] array5 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
-        ^^float[4] array6 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
-        ^^long[4] array7 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
-        ^^str[4] array8 = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]
+        ^^ubyte[4] array1
+        ^^byte[4] array2
+        ^^bool[4] array3
+        ^^word[4] array4
+        ^^uword[4] array5
+        ^^float[4] array6
+        ^^long[4] array7
+        ^^str[4] array8
 
-        cx16.r0 = array1[2]
-        cx16.r1 = array2[2]
-        cx16.r2 = array3[2]
-        cx16.r3 = array4[2]
-        cx16.r4 = array5[2]
-        cx16.r5 = array6[2]
-        cx16.r6 = array7[2]
-        cx16.r7 = array8[2]
+        error1(array1)
+        error2(array2)
+        error3(array3)
+        error4(array4)
+        error5(array5)
+        error6(array6)
+        error7(array7)
+        error8(array8)
 
-;        txt.print_uw(array[1])
-;        txt.print_uw(array[2])
-;        txt.print_uw(array[3])
-;        txt.print_uw(array[4])
-;        txt.print_uw(array[5])
-;        txt.print_uw(array[6])
-;        txt.print_uw(array[7])
-;
-;        func(farray)
+        ok1(array1)
+        ok2(array2)
+        ok3(array3)
+        ok4(array4)
+        ok5(array5)
+        ok6(array6)
+        ok7(array7)
+        ok8(array8)
     }
 
-;    sub func(^^float zzz) {
-;        cx16.r0++
-;    }
+    sub error1(^^ubyte ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error2(^^byte ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error3(^^bool ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error4(^^word ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error5(^^uword ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error6(^^float ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error7(^^long ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+    sub error8(^^str ptr) {
+        cx16.r0++
+    }
+
+    sub ok1(^^ubyte[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
+    sub ok2(^^byte[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
+    sub ok3(^^bool[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
+    sub ok4(^^word[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
+    sub ok5(^^uword[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
+    sub ok6(^^float[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
+    sub ok7(^^long[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
+    sub ok8(^^str[] ptr) {
+        txt.print_uw(ptr)
+        txt.nl()
+    }
 }