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KickC Enhanced 0.9.0

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@AndreR AndreR released this 07 Nov 07:38
· 196 commits to main since this release
v0.9.0
363614d

KickC Enhanced 0.9.0

KickC Enhanced is an optimizing C99 compiler fork for the MOS 6502/6510 family (C64, VIC-20, Plus/4, NES, Atari XL, Mega65). This release introduces major performance leaps, advanced peephole optimization passes, and 267 new MOS 6502 ASM synthesis fragments.

Highlights & Key Improvements

  • 267 New / Repaired MOS 6502 ASM Fragments:

    • Native struct-pointer decrements and member comparisons (if (arr[i].val > 0) arr[i].val--;).
    • Optimal zero-branch boolean NOT (!) lowerings.
    • Direct 32-bit (dword) comparisons against zero.
    • 16-bit word byte-aligned shifts lowered to 4-instruction transfers without shift loops.
    • Word pointer indexing, memory-offset arithmetic, and complementary signed/unsigned casts.

  • NMOS-6510 Undocumented / Illegal Opcode Synthesis:

    • Active when targeting mos6502x / rom6502x.
    • Synthesizes deterministic green opcodes: LAX, SAX (3-cycle zero-page stores), ALR #{imm}, DCP, ISC.
    • Redundant CMP #0, CPX #0, CPY #0 elimination and branch flag predication.
    • 16-to-8 bit right-shift by 2 folding via accumulator (lsr; lsr).

  • Tail Call Optimization (TCO) & Return Trampoline Relaxation:

    • Converts function tail calls (jsr target; rts) into jmp target.
    • Analyzes conditional long branch trampolines jumping to function return blocks and relaxes them directly to local inverted branches and returns.

  • Dead Store & Dead Load-and-Store Pair Elimination:

    • Linear $O(1)$ elimination of unused temporary stores and dead function returns.
    • Recursive CanonicalResolver tracks all .label Name = Target definitions and address aliases to ensure variables read under aliases are never falsely eliminated.
    • Safe register A tracking preserves preceding loads when subsequent instructions consume register A.

  • Static Register Tracking Across Anonymous Forward Labels:

    • Tracks static values of A, X, and Y across local forward-only labels (!:) when skipped instructions do not modify the registers, eliminating thousands of redundant loads in tight loops.

  • Multi-Core Compiler Architecture & Speedups:

    • Parallel dominator tree calculation and multi-core register uplift analysis.
    • Reduces compilation times for massive multi-bank codebases from >20 minutes down to ~90 seconds.

Installation & Usage

Download and extract kickc-release.zip. Requires Java 8 or higher.

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