l65

l65 is a 6502 assembler, operating from within Lua and written in Lua. This means assembler mnemonics become regular Lua statements anywhere in the middle of Lua code.

Table of Contents

• Concept - How It Works
• Command Line Usage
• Samples - Getting Started
• API
  • Lua Extensions
    • Lambda Functions
    • Binary Numbers
  • Globals
    • getopt(optstring, ...)
  • Instruction List
    • Regular Opcodes
    • Undocumented Opcodes
    • Deriving Function Names
    • Late and Early Operands
    • Toggling Encapsulation
  • Data Definition
    • dc.b ... ; byte(...) ; byte_hi(...) ; byte_lo(...)
    • dc.w ... ; word(...)
    • dc.l ... ; long(...)
    • charset([s] [, f])
    • byte_normalize(v)
    • word_normalize(v)
    • long_normalize(v)
  • Assembler Functions (6502.lua)
    • Module Properties
    • location(start [, finish]) ; location(opt)
      • Other Fields
    • @@name ; section(name) ; section(opt)
      • Other Fields
    • @name ; label(name)
      • Other Fields
    • samepage ... end
    • crosspage ... end
    • skip(bytes)
    • relate(section1, section2 [, [offset1,] offset2])
    • sleep(cycles [, noillegal])
    • op_resolve(v)
    • link()
    • resolve()
    • genbin([filler])
    • writebin(filename)
    • writesym(filename [, format])
  • Parser Functions
    • Pragmas
      • syntax6502 on|off
      • encapsulate on|off
      • encapsulate opcode funcname
      • add_opcode opcode addressing
      • alias opcode newname
    • l65 Module
      • parse(src [, src_name])
      • format(ast)
      • searcher_index
      • search_path
      • report(success, ...)
      • msghandler(msg)
      • load_embedded(name)
      • searcher(name)
      • load, loadfile, dofile ; installhooks(), uninstallhooks()
      • image(filename)
  • Platform Modules
• Building
  • Windows
  • Linux
• Vim files installation
• TODO List
• Credits
• License

Concept - How It Works

l65 hooks into Lua require and related functionalities to add a parsing pass before Lua compilation. This pass transforms 6502 statements into regular Lua function calls. It applies only to files with extension '.l65', not '.lua'.

Since l65 features a linker, every symbol referenced has to be resolved after link, not at the time the opcode function gets executed. As such, the operand is encapsulated into a function for delayed execution: rts translates to rtsimp(), a global function call, which by default resolves to the 6502.lua module set as the __index field of the metatable of the l65 source file's _ENV. Every function call translates to a name comprised of the mnemonic followed by a 3 characters addressing mode.

Spatial arrangement follows nimble65 naming: locations define ROM areas, containing sections with some positional constraints, made of a sequence of instructions and/or data. Sections which are not fixed in space are then positioned during link phase within the locations. Then the resolve phase sets numeric values into the symbols table, and genbin creates a byte table representing the final ROM.

Command Line Usage

Usage: l65 [options] file [args]
Options:
  -d <file>        Dump the Lua code after l65 parsing into file
  -h               Display this information
  -v               Display the release version

args are passed as arguments to the l65 script in file. The global function getopt is available to parse them.

Samples - Getting Started

Have a look at these files in the samples folder to get started with l65:

• vcs_basic.l65: a 2Kb VCS ROM which just shows color bands.

• vcs_hooks.l65: shows how to insert your own instructions into the pipeline, here to get the cycle count and size of the kernel. Also, it does not use the main loop helpers nor mapper functions to show the actual code involved.

• vcs_hello.l65: a VCS 'Hello World' using the playfield.

• vcs_banks.l65: demonstrates 2 methods to call functions across banks.

• vcs_flush.l65: a port of flewww's famous flush logo from the demo .bin

• vcs_spr48.l65: a port of .bin title 48 pixels sprite animation.

• vcs_music.l65: imports and plays back a TIATracker .ttt file directly.

• vcs_mcart.l65: imports all TIATracker .ttt files in the folder supplied as arg, or current directory, and builds a music cart.

• nes_hello.l65: a NES 'Hello World' using BG tiles, and automatic positioned font within a 4kB CHR rom page.

There's also vcspal.act, a palette file for authoring software for VCS. Use this palette or a similar one to create 8b PNG for l65.image and helper loaders depending on it. You can generate such a palette, or a GPL one for GIMP using vcsconv authpalette command.

API

Lua Extensions

Lambda Functions

Since anonymous functions are core to l65, the extension syntax such as \a,b(a+b) is available to define them: it expands to function(a,b) return a+b end.

Binary Numbers

A simple parsing of number literals in the form of 0b11011 converts this base-2 / binary number into a decimal number after the l65 pass. There is no support for them in other places though - no format type for string.format or anything else.

Globals

getopt(optstring, ...)

Taken from Posix Get Opt. Parse args in ... using optstring, the same way as getopt from Posix.

Usage:

--
-- opt is either the option character, "?", or ":".
--
-- If opt is the option character, arg is either a string or false--if optstring
-- did not specify a required argument.
--
-- If opt is either "?" or ":", then arg is the unknown option or the option
-- lacking the required argument. Like the standard says, there's really only
-- one scenario for ":" to ever be returned. And per the standard, unless
-- optstring begins with a colon, "?" is returned instead.
--
for opt, arg in getopt(":a:b", ...) do
        print("opt:", opt, "arg:", arg)
end

Instruction List

Regular Opcodes

adc	and	asl	bcc	bcs	beq	bit	bmi
bne	bpl	brk	bvc	bvs	clc	cld	cli
clv	cmp	cpx	cpy	dec	dex	dey	eor
inc	inx	iny	jmp	jsr	lda	ldx	ldy
lsr	nop	ora	pha	php	pla	plp	rol
ror	rti	rts	sbc	sec	sed	sei	sta
stx	sty	tax	tay	tsx	txa	txs	tya

Undocumented Opcodes

anc	ane	arr	asr	dcp	isb	jam	las
lax	rla	rra	sax	sbx	sha	shs	shx
shy	slo	sre

Deriving Function Names

Each opcode is parsed by l65 then transformed to a Lua function call inside the 6502 module by concatenating the name of the opcode with one of the following addressing mode:

Mode	Code
implied	imp
immediate	imm
zeropage	zpg
zeropage,x	zpx
zeropage,y	zpy
absolute	abs
absolute,x	abx
absolute,y	aby
(indirect)	ind
(indirect,x)	inx
(indirect),y	iny
relative	rel

So for instance, cpy #6 becomes cpyimm(6), and dec 0x80,x becomes deczpx(0x80). There's no Accumulator addressing mode, use implied instead.

For opcodes which have both a zeropage (byte size) addressing and a matching absolute (word size) addressing, the mode can be forced using .b or .w suffix on the opcode. This may be required if the first operand can't be resolved at the beginning of the link phase, but resolves to a zeropage (byte size) addressing after link: if resolve fails when computing the size of the instruction, absolute (word size) is assumed. These opcodes, without suffix, use the following addressing codes:

Mode	Code
zeropage or absolute	zab
zeropage,x or absolute,x	zax
zeropage,y or absolute,y	zay

Late and Early Operands

The first operand of each opcode is by default encapsulated into a function for late processing during link and binary generation phases, if it's not a simple number or string. So:

    sta WSYNC
-- translates to:
    stazab(function(_o,_f) return _o+_f( WSYNC) end)

An optional second operand can be specified, regardless of the addressing mode, which is not encapsulated and added later to the result of the first encapsulated parameter. The default function for the first operand simply adds the second operand to it, but any function can be specified instead. In the example above, _o is the value of the second operand, and _f is a function used to resolve the value of the first operand (see op_resolve).

    lda TIM1T,i
    lda (bla,5,x)
    lda (bla,4),y
-- translates to:
    ldazab(function(_o,_f) return _o+_f( TIM1T) end,i)
    ldainx (function(_o,_f) return _o+_f(bla) end,5)
    ldainy (function(_o,_f) return _o+_f(bla) end,4)

This is useful in case the value you want to use as operand is a reference to a global variable for instance. Since the function is evaluated later, the value might have changed in the meantime. Consider this:

    bla = 5
    lda (\o,f(print(o,bla) or o+bla),bla,x) -- for lda (bla,bla,x), or lda (bla+bla,x) in another assembler
    bla = 3
-- translates to:
    bla = 5
    ldainx (function(o,f) return print(o,bla) or o+bla end,bla)
    bla = 3
-- and prints:
5       3

So specifying bla in the first operand got us the value 3, ie the last value of the global bla, whereas using it in the second operand caused an immediate resolve of its value, which is 5 at the ldainx function call.

Note that the first operand function must be reentrant: it cannot have side effects, as it may be called more than once if its value can't be resolved at the beginning of the link phase. If you do need to specify side effects for it, consider hooking into the instructions before and after, to temporarily modify the pcall and/or pcall_za fields of the 6502.lua module used to attempt resolving before link is complete.

Toggling Encapsulation

Besides the use of pragmas, automatic encapsulation can be toggled from its current state for the current instruction using !. So if, as default, it is enabled:

    sta WSYNC
    sta !WSYNC
-- translates to:
    stazab(function(_o,_f) return _o+_f( WSYNC) end)
    stazab(WSYNC)

Data Definition

dc.b ... ; byte(...) ; byte_hi(...) ; byte_lo(...)

Insert byte data into the current section.

Each argument is either a byte size number, a function evaluated after resolve phase and returning exactly one byte size number, a table of byte size numbers, or a string using the current character set.

dc.b encapsulates each of its arguments into a parameter-less function. For each argument, the current encapsulation state can be inverted using !.

byte_hi arguments can instead be any size, and the bits 8 to 15 are taken as the final byte value. Conversely, byte_lo keeps bits 0 to 7.

dc.w ... ; word(...)

Insert a word as two bytes in little-endian order.

Each argument is either a string to be used as key in the symbols table, a section, a label, a word size number, a function evaluated after resolve phase and returning exactly one word size number, or a table of word size numbers.

dc.w encapsulates each of its arguments into a parameter-less function. For each argument, the current encapsulation state can be inverted using !.

dc.l ... ; long(...)

Insert a long as four bytes in little-endian order.

Each argument is either a string to be used as key in the symbols table, a section, a label, a long size number, a function evaluated after resolve phase and returning exactly one long size number, or a table of long size numbers.

dc.l encapsulates each of its arguments into a parameter-less function. For each argument, the current encapsulation state can be inverted using !.

charset([s] [, f])

Set a new character set to be used for next string data in byte(). Without argument, revert to Lua charset.

s: string of all the letters of charset, or a table of the charset as returned by a previous charset call to set again, in which case f is ignored.

f: letter index offset, added to each letter index, or a function to transform the letter index.

Return the charset table.

byte_normalize(v)

Check if v is within byte range, call error if it is not, or convert negative values to positive values if it is.

word_normalize(v)

Check if v is within word range, call error if it is not, or convert negative values to positive values if it is.

long_normalize(v)

Check if v is within long range, call error if it is not, or convert negative values to positive values if it is.

Assembler Functions (6502.lua)

Module Properties

strip: defaults to true. Set to false to disable dead stripping of relocatable sections.

strip_empty: defaults to false. Set to true to enable stripping of empty sections; otherwise, they are positioned at the start of the container location.

pcall: defaults to system's pcall. Set to an empty function returning false to disable early evaluation of expressions during link phase for computing the size of each section. This will force all opcodes without an explicit size to default to the largest possible size...

pcall_za: ...unless this field is set to system's pcall. Defaults to module's pcall. This field is used only by the za* (zab, zax, zay) virtual addressing modes, to discriminate between zeropage and absolute addressing.

zeropage: a function with one number parameter, returning its zeropage byte value if it is within zero/direct page addressing range, nothing otherwise. Set by default to page [0x0000, 0x00ff].

symbols: list of symbols, resolved or not. Values can be anything before the resolve phase, but must be numbers after (except for the metatable fields). Set as the metatable of the 6502 module, which itself should be set as the metatable of the current _ENV environment.

locations: list of all the registered locations.

location_current: the currently active location, in which any new section is added to.

sections: list of all the registered sections.

section_current: the currently active section, in which any new data or instruction is added to.

label_current: the previous non-local label name.

relations: a list of all the registered relationships.

before_link: a list of hook functions called just before the linking phase.

id(): return a new unique numeric identifier.

stats: a table of statistics regarding the build:

• cycles: the total 6502 cycle count of the program, assuming no branch is taken and no page is crossed.
• used: the total ROM bytes actually used by the program.
• unused: total empty ROM space.
• resolved_count: number of symbols resolved during resolve phase.
• bin_size: final binary size.
• __tostring(): string conversion function, intended to print ROM information to the user.

location(start [, finish]) ; location(opt)

Create a ROM area starting at start or opt[1]. If finish or opt[2] is set, it is the last byte of the area, inclusive; otherwise, the area is unbounded.

If opt is an already existing location table, it sets this location as current and returns.

opt.rorg specifies a relocated origin: all references to symbols within this section are computed as if start had the value of opt.rorg. If it is a number, it's converted to a function adding opt.rorg - opt[1].

If opt.nofill resolves to true, the optional gap between this location and the next is not filled up with the filler byte.

opt.name is displayed within stats.__tostring().

When using the opt version, opt is first set as the actual location table, so custom properties are preserved.

Return the location table.

Other Fields

• type: the string 'location'.
• sections: list of sections inside this location.
• chunks: a list of unused memory sections of the location area. Manipulated during link phase. Each entry has id, start, and size fields.
• used: memory within the section containing data or instructions.
• unused: wasted memory within the section, containing nothing.
• stops_at: for unbounded locations, position of the last used byte.

@@name ; section(name) ; section(opt)

Create a section within the current location, using name name, opt[1], or a generated unique name. Also create a label with this name.

If opt is an already existing section table, it sets this section as current, its owner location as current, and returns.

If opt.org is set, the section is fixed and must start at this address in ROM; otherwise, it can be positioned anywhere within the location during link phase.

opt.align requests the section starts on an address multiple of opt.align. If opt.offset is specified, then it is the reference point from the start of the section which must be aligned, instead of the start of the section itself.

If opt.strong resolves to true, the section will not be stripped even if it has no reference and stripping is active. If opt.weak resolves to true, the section is stripped if its size is 0, and the references to it will fail to resolve.

When using the opt version, opt is first set as the actual section table, so custom properties are preserved.

Return the section table.

Other Fields

• type: the string 'section'.
• id: a unique number identifier.
• label: the name of this section.
• size: the computed size of the section during link phase.
• cycles: the sum of cycle count of the instructions within instructions, after link phase.
• refcount: a positive number if this section is referenced.
• location: the location containing this section, the currently active one at the point of the section function call.
• instructions: the list of opcode functions contained within this section. Each instruction can contain:
  • size: a number or function returning the size of the opcode and its operands.
  • cycles: the number of cycles the instruction needs to execute.
  • bin: a byte or a function returning the binary representation of the opcode and its operands.
  • offset: the number of bytes from the start of the section at which this instruction is located; set during link phase.
• constraints: the list of constraints within the section, filled by samepage and crosspage blocks. Each constraint has a type set to 'samepage' or 'crosspage', from and inclusive to indices into instructions, and after link phase a start and inclusive finish address position.
• holes: a list of holes created by skip. Each hole has start index into instructions and a size number set to the parameter of skip.

@name ; label(name)

Create a label, that is a named reference to a position into the current section. If name starts with an _, the name is local to the previous one, and the final name is the previous non-local label name concatenated with this one; as such, a local label can be referenced outside its scope if named in full, with the parent prefix.

An entry with the label name referencing this label is added into the symbols table, and resolved during resolve phase.

Return the name of the label, and the label table.

Other Fields

• type: the string 'label'.
• section: the section containing this label.
• label: the name of this label.
• size: a function grabbing this label offset into the section during link phase.
• resolve: a function returning the address of this label, after link phase succeeded.
• bin: a function setting the label_current to this label name, if it's not local.

samepage ... end

Add a constraint into the current section: all the instructions or data within the block must not cross a 256 bytes page.

crosspage ... end

Add a constraint into the current section: the instructions or data within the block must span over at least two 256 byte pages.

skip(bytes)

Insert a hole in the current section of size bytes, which can be used by another relocatable section.

relate(section1, section2 [, [offset1,] offset2])

Add a position relationship between section1 and section2, with offset1 bytes from selected position for section2, and offset2 bytes from selected position for section1, in relation to their containing locations. If offset1 is omitted, -offset2 is used.

This is used to ensure two sections in different locations will start at the same or related offset. For instance, if the location of section1 starts at 0xE000 and the location of section2 starts at 0xF000, and the linker sets section1 to 0xE100, then relate(section1, section2) implies that section2 is at 0xF100.

Related sections are positioned before other relocatable sections during link phase.

sleep(cycles [, noillegal])

Generate instructions into the current section to waste cycles cycles. If noillegal resolves to true, trashes NZ flags; otherwise, it uses illegal opcodes to preserve the flags.

op_resolve(v)

Performs basic operations on v according to its type to attempt to turn it into a number. If it's a function, it's called, if it's a string, a label or a section, it gets its address from the symbols table, and otherwise it fails with a call to error.

link()

Link the sections, ie set their position into their parent locations. It triggers an early evaluation of operands, to determine their size, using the 6502 pcall and pcall_za fields.

resolve()

Resolve symbols to numeric address values: if the value is a function, it calls it; if it's a table and has a resolve function field, it calls it; if it's a string, it's an index into symbols.

It then sets a metatable for the table symbols used for resolving local label references during genbin, as they need to know the current parent label for that.

It calls link if needed.

genbin([filler])

Generate the binary as a table, using filler byte to fill gaps. filler defaults to 0 (brk opcode). It calls resolve first if needed.

Return a table, where each entry is a byte.

writebin(filename)

Write the final binary into filename.

writesym(filename [, format])

Write one or more symbol files into filename (prefix in case of multiple outputs) for debuggers. The last _ in a label is turned into a ., to get stripping of the prefixed global label working in Stella. As such, it's best to avoid using _ in local label names, after the initial one.

format defaults to 'dasm'. All platforms: 'dasm', 'lua'. NES: 'mesen', 'fceux'.

Parser Functions

Pragmas

syntax6502 on|off

Enable or disable 6502 syntax parsing, besides pragma itself. Default is on. For instance:

#pragma syntax6502 off
lda = 5 if lda < 6 then sta=7 end -- 'lda' is now available for use normally
#pragma syntax6502 on
lda #5 -- 'lda' is now an opcode again: generates 'ldaimm(5)'

encapsulate on|off

Enable or disable automatic encapsulation of first operand of opcodes. It also inverts the meaning of !, which toggles the encapsulation behaviour only for the current opcode. Default is on.

    lda !g(),v -- disable encapsulation of 'g()': ldazab(g(),v)
#pragma encapsulate off
    lda f,v -- 'f' is not encapsulated: ldazab(f,v)
    lda !_toto+15,16,x -- '_toto+15' is encapsulated: ldazax(function(_o,_f) return _o+_f(_toto+15) end,16)
    lda #15 -- '15' is never encapsulated, as it is a number: ldaimm(15)
#pragma encapsulate on

encapsulate opcode funcname

Add the following behaviour: Parse opcode, parse a single expression as operand, and encapsulate it as an argument to funcname. For instance:

-- translate 'far x' to 'farcall(function() return x end)', farcall is defined in vcs.l65
-- encapsulation allows referencing of yet undefined sections
#pragma encapsulate far farcall
    far kernel -- generates 'farcall(function() return kernel end)'
-- translate 'xsr x' to 'xcall(function() return x end)', xcall is defined in vcs.l65
#pragma encapsulate xsr xcall
    xsr myfunc -- generates 'xcall(function() return myfunc end)'

add_opcode opcode addressing

Add opcode with addressing code to the opcode tables. The resulting function must be globally available. For instance:

-- translate 'rtx' to 'rtximp()', rtximp is defined as global in vcs.l65
#pragma add_opcode rtx imp
    rtx -- generates 'rtximp()'

Operands parsing is done as per implied by the addressing mode, like other opcodes.

alias opcode newname

Create an alias newname for opcode opcode, retaining the original name as well. For instance:

#pragma alias and dna
    dna #0x3F -- same as and #0x3F

Note that aliasing and might be a good idea, since it's also a keyword for expressions in Lua. Consider this:

lda time; and#7 -- ';' is required here to prevent considering it as ldazab(time and #7)
lda time dna#7 -- using dna, no more ambiguity: ldazab(time) andimm(7)

l65 Module

parse(src [, src_name])

Parse src as l65, using src_name for error reporting.

Return true and an AST table on success; false and an error string otherwise.

format(ast)

Transform ast into a string.

Return a string of ast on success; raise an error otherwise.

searcher_index

The index at which to insert the l65 file searcher, followed by the embedded scripts searcher. Defaults to 2.

search_path

The search path used by the l65 file searcher. Defaults to filename if current directory, then with added '.l65' extension, then in l65 executable directory, then in l65 executable directory with '.l65' extension.

report(success, ...)

If success resolves to true, it returns all of its arguments. Otherwise, it writes the message, which is the first field of ..., to stderr and exits the program.

msghandler(msg)

The function used for xpcall of the input file given on command line. It merges two stacktraces when an error happens in a late eval function.

load_embedded(name)

The searcher for scripts included into the l65 executable binary.

searcher(name)

The searcher for l65 files on disk.

load, loadfile, dofile ; installhooks(), uninstallhooks()

Hook functions to load l65 chunks and files automatically. Installed by default. Use l65.installhooks() and l65.uninstallhooks() to set the hooks or restore the original functions.

image(filename)

A C function, calling stb_image on filename, with only 8b palette-based PNG support. It does not translate colors to RGB triplets, but keeps the palette index as the value of the pixel.

Return nil and an error message on failure, or a table with the following fields on success:

• filename: PNG filename
• width: image width, in pixels
• height: image height, in pixels
• [1..width*height]: the pixels, as palette indices (all bytes)

Platform Modules

vcs.l65 is a helper file for developing on Atari 2600 VCS. It's embedded into the l65 executable. It sets the 6502.lua module as metatable of the current _ENV, defines all TIA and PIA symbols, some helper constants and functions, as well as mapper helpers and automatic cross bank call functions. See the samples directory for usage examples, and browse vcs.l65 directly for the list of self-explanatory helpers.

nes.l65 is for NES/Famicom. It provides templates for some mappers, including 0-NROM, 1-MMC1, 2-UxROM, 3-CNROM, 4-MMC3, 5-MMC5, and 66-GxROM.

Building

Use CMake to build a standalone executable. Following are basic instructions if you've never used CMake.

Windows

32b version:

mkdir build\win32
cd build\win32
cmake -G "Visual Studio 15 2017" ..\..
cd ..
cmake --build win32 --config Release

64b version:

mkdir build\win64
cd build\win64
cmake -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64" ..\..
cd ..
cmake --build win64 --config Release

Linux

mkdir -p build/linux
cd build/linux
cmake ../.. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
make

Force 32b build on 64b system:

mkdir -p build/linux32
cd build/linux32
cmake ../.. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-m32
make

Vim files installation

• copy vim/* into ~/vimfiles/
• add au BufRead,BufNewFile *.l65 set syntax=l65 filetype=l65 to ~/.vimrc (or ~/_vimrc on Windows)

Note that the syntax file includes some highlighting for features only activated via pragmas: dna, xsr, rtx and far. If you do not want to use these keywords, remove them from the syntax file.

TODO List

• k65 style syntax
• helpers to inter-operate with cc/ca65 and dasm

Credits

Developed by g012, using:

• Lua 5.3.4
• LuaMinify
• LuaFileSystem
• LPeg
• stb_image
• dkjson
• Lua syntax file shipping with vim
• Lua indent file from vim-lua

Projects which inspired l65:

• nimble65
• k65

License

l65 is licensed under the MIT License, see LICENSE for more information.