5.7 KiB
Types
Millfork puts extra limitations on which types can be used in which contexts.
Numeric types
-
byte
– 1-byte value of undefined signedness, defaulting to unsigned -
word
– 2-byte value of undefined signedness, defaulting to unsigned (alias:int16
) -
int24
– 3-byte value of undefined signedness, defaulting to unsigned (alias:farword
; this alias is deprecated and will be removed in the future) -
long
– 4-byte value of undefined signedness, defaulting to unsigned (alias:int32
) -
int40
,int48
,...int128
– even larger types -
sbyte
– signed 1-byte value -
ubyte
– unsigned 1-byte value -
pointer
– raw pointers; the same asword
, but variables of this type default to be zero-page-allocated and you can indexpointer
-typed expressions. You can create pointer values by suffixing.addr
to the name of a variable, function or array.
You can access single bytes of variables by using the following notations:
-
for 2-byte-sized variables:
.lo
for the least significant byte and.hi
for the most significant byte -
for larger variables:
.b0
for the least significant byte and then.b1
,.b2
and so on
You can also access words that are parts of variables:
-
for 3-byte-sized variables:
.loword
is the word formed from.b1
and.b0
and.hiword
is the word formed from.b2
and.b1
-
for 4-byte-sized variables:
.loword
is the word formed from.b1
and.b0
and.hiword
is the word formed from.b3
and.b2
Numeric types can be converted automatically:
-
from a smaller type to a bigger type (
byte
→word
) -
from a type of undefined signedness to a type of defined signedness (
byte
→sbyte
) -
from a type of defined signedness to a type of undefined signedness (
sbyte
→byte
)
Typed pointers
For every type T
, there is a pointer type defined called pointer.T
.
Unlike raw pointers, they are not subject to arithmetic.
If the type T
is of size 1, you can index the pointer like a raw pointer.
If the type T
is of size 2, you can index the pointer only with the constant 0.
Examples:
pointer.t p
p.raw // expression of type pointer, pointing to the same location in memory as 'p'
p.lo // equivalent to 'p.raw.lo'
p.hi // equivalent to 'p.raw.lo'
p[0] // valid only if the type 't' is of size 1 or 2, accesses the pointed element
p[i] // valid only if the type 't' is of size 1, equivalent to 't(p.raw[i])'
p->x // valid only if the type 't' has a field called 'x', accesses the field 'x' of the pointed element
p->x.y[0]->z[0][6] // you can stack it
nullptr
There is a 2-byte constant nullptr
that can be assigned to any 2-byte pointer type.
Its actual value is defined using the feature NULLPTR
, by default it's 0.
nullptr
isn't directly assignable to non-pointer types.
Boolean types
TODO
Special types
void
– a unit type containing no information, can be only used as a return type for a function.
Enumerations
Enumeration is a 1-byte type that represents a set of values:
enum <name> { <variants, separated by commas or newlines> }
The first variant has value 0. Every next variant has a value increased by 1 compared to a previous one.
Alternatively, a variant can be given a custom constant value, which will change the sequence.
If there is at least one variant and no variant is given a custom constant value,
then the enumeration is considered plain. Plain enumeration types can be used as array keys.
For plain enumerations, a constant <name>.count
is defined,
equal to the number of variants in the enumeration.
Assigment between numeric types and enumerations is not possible without an explicit type cast:
enum E { EA, EB }
byte b
E e
e = EA // ok
e = b // won't compile
b = e // won't compile
b = byte(e) // ok
e = E(b) // ok
array a[E] // E is plain, array has size 2
a[0] // won't compile
a[EB] // ok
Plain enumerations have their variants equal to byte(0)
to byte(<name>.count - 1)
.
Tip: You can use an enumeration with no variants as a strongly checked alternative byte type, as there are no checks on values when converting bytes to enumeration values and vice versa.
Structs
Struct is a compound type containing multiple fields of various types:
struct <name> { <field definitions (type and name), separated by commas or newlines>}
A struct is represented in memory as a contiguous area of variables laid out one after another.
Struct can have a maximum size of 255 bytes. Larger structs are not supported.
You can access a field of a struct with the dot:
struct point { word x, word y }
point p
p.x = 3
p.y.lo = 4
Offsets are available as structname.fieldname.offset
:
pointer ptr
ptr = p.addr
ptr += point.y.offset
// ptr points now at p.y
// alternatively:
ptr = p.y.addr
You can create constant expressions of struct types using so-called struct constructors, e.g.:
point(5,6)
All arguments to the constructor must be constant.
Unions
union <name> { <field definitions (type and name), separated by commas or newlines>}
Unions are pretty similar to structs, with the difference that all fields of the union start at the same point in memory and therefore overlap each other.
struct point { byte x, byte y }
union point_or_word { point p, word w }
point_or_word u
u.p.x = 0
u.p.y = 0
if u.w == 0 { ok() }
Offset constants are also available, but they're obviously all zero.
Unions currently do not have an equivalent of struct constructors. This may be improved on in the future.