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Assembly Language
It is a simple language with instructions similar to that of x86.
Here's a description of the syntax in rough BNF:
<program> ::= <statement> | <whitespace> <statement> | <program> <program>
<statement> ::= (<directive> | <label> | <instruction> | <constant> | <comment>) <eol>
<directive> ::= "#" <symbol> <whitespace> <ANY> <line-end>
<label> ::= (<symbol> | "_" <symbol>) ":" (<instruction> | <line-end>)
<instruction> ::= (<symbol> | <symbol> <whitespace> <operands>) <line-end>
<operands> ::= <reference> | <reference> [<whitespace>] "," [<whitespace>] <operands>
<constant> ::= "." <symbol> <whitespace> <reference> <line-end>
<comment> ::= ";" <ANY> <eol>
<line-end> ::= <EOF> | <eol> | <comment>
<reference> ::= "#" <number> | <number> | <symbol> | <string>
<string> ::= '"' <ANY> '"'
<symbol> ::= <ident-start> | <ident-start> <identifier>
<ident-start> ::= <alpha> | "_"
<identifier> ::= <ident-start> | <decimal>
<number> ::= <decimal> | "0" "x" <hexadecimal> | "0" "o" <octal> | "0" "b" <binary>
<alpha> ::= "A" | "B" | "C" | "D" | "E" | "F" | "G" | "H" | "I" | "J" | "K" | "L" | "M"
| "N" | "O" | "P" | "Q" | "R" | "S" | "T" | "U" | "V" | "W" | "X" | "Y" | "Z"
| "a" | "b" | "c" | "d" | "e" | "f" | "g" | "h" | "i" | "j" | "k" | "l" | "m"
| "n" | "o" | "p" | "q" | "r" | "s" | "t" | "u" | "v" | "w" | "x" | "y" | "z"
<binary> ::= "0" | "1" | <binary> <binary>
<octal> ::= <binary> | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" | <octal> <octal>
<decimal> ::= <octal> | "8" | "9" | <decimal> <decimal>
<hexadecimal> ::= <decimal> | "A" | "B" | "C" | "D" | "E" | "F"
| "a" | "b" | "c" | "d" | "e" | "f" | <hexadecimal> <hexadecimal>
<whitespace> ::= " " | "\t" | <whitespace> <whitespace>What this actually looks like:
#include foo.asm
; Useful comment
.my_const #1 ; A constant value
.my_ref my_const ; A constant reference
main:
MOV #0x01, 0 ; Do the thing
_loop: ADD my_const, 0
JMP _loop| Instruction | Operands | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ADD | src, dest | Adds src to dest |
| SUB | src, dest | Subtracts src from dest |
| MUL | src, dest | Multiplies dest by src |
| DIV | src, dest | Divides dest by src |
| MOD | src, dest | Performs dest modulo src and puts into dest |
| MOVLT | src, dest | Sets dest equal to src if src is less than dest |
| MOVGT | src, dest | Sets dest equal to src if src is greater than dest |
| XCHG | left, right | Exchanges left with right |
| MOV | src, dest | Copies src to dest |
| AND | src, dest | Performs bitwise AND, result put into dest |
| OR | src, dest | Performs bitwise OR and puts into dest |
| XOR | src, dest | Performs bitwise XOR and puts into dest |
| NOT | ref | Performs bitwise NOT on ref |
| SHL | src, dest | Logical shift dest left by src |
| SHR | src, dest | Logical shift dest right by src |
| SAR | src, dest | Arithmetic shift dest right by src |
| ROL | src, dest | Rotates dest left by src |
| ROR | src, dest | Rotates dest right by src |
| CMP | left, right | Compares left with right (i.e. right - left), result used for jumping |
| JE | label | Jumps to label if the previous CMP's operands were equal |
| JNE | label | Jumps to label if the previous CMP's operands were not equal |
| JL | label | Jumps to label if the previous CMP's right was less than left |
| JG | label | Jumps to label if the previous CMP's right was greater than left |
| JLE | label | Jumps to label if the previous CMP's right was less than or equal to the left |
| JGE | label | Jumps to label if the previous CMP's right was greater than or equal to the left |
| JMP | label | Unconditionally jumps to label |
| CALL | label | Jumps to label, returns back after completion |
| RET | Return from a subroutine (use with CALL) | |
| arg1, [...args] | Outputs arguments to chat for all players (@a selector) |
|
| CMD | bare words | Runs the given command |
| TEST | bare words | Runs the given command, skipping the next line if the command failed |
| EXECAS | label, sel_type, sel_pairs | Runs the function defined in label using /execute as if the selector matches |
| EXECASN | label, sel_type, sel_pairs | Same as EXECAS except runs if it does not match the selector |
| EXECAT | label, sel_type, sel_pairs | Runs the function defined in label using /execute at if the selector matches |
| EXECATP | label, sel_type, sel_pairs | Runs the function defined in label using /execute positioned as if the selector matches |
| EXECPOS | label, x, y, z | Runs the function defined in label using /execute positioned
|
| EXECALI | label, axes | Runs the function defined in label using /execute align
|
| EXECFACP | label, x, y, z | Runs the function defined in label using /execute facing
|
| EXECFAC | label, feature, sel_type, sel_pairs | Runs the function defined in label using /execute facing entity
|
| EXECROT | label, y, x | Runs the function defined in label using /execute rotated
|
| EXECROTE | label, sel_type, sel_pairs | Runs the function defined in label using /execute rotated as
|
| EXECANC | label, anchor | Runs the function defined in label using /execute anchored
|
| PUSH | Pushes stack register onto the stack, increments stack pointer | |
| POP | Pops stack into stack register, decrements stack pointer | |
| SYNC | Synchronises with the game tick. i.e. wait one tick before continuing |
There are 2 'types' of referencing:
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Value reference |
|
|
| Label reference | A subroutine name | main |
Constants must be a value reference, and can be used anywhere that accepts value references.
For the instructions above, their accepted types are as follows:
A src can be any value reference.
dest must be a memory location reference.
SWP's left and right must both be memory location references.
CMP's left and right can be any value reference.
A label must be a label reference.
"Bare words" are taken as the literal string value until the end of the line. Note that this means comments are interpreted as part of the bare word.
As shown in the syntax, constants are defined with "." followed by their name, a space, then the value.
Constants can only be value references, but can be any type of value reference.
There are two predefined constants:
sp (Stack pointer)
The current value of the stack pointer. Should be treated as read-only unless you know what you're doing.
sr (Stack register)
Used to get values to/from the stack.
POP puts the top of the stack into the register, PUSH puts stack register at the top of the stack.
Directives are a kind of meta-program language that instruct the assembler to perform certain functions.
The following directives are supported:
Pulls in code from filename.asm in-place. Has the same effect as copy+pasting all the code from the file
into wherever the directive is.
"Include headers". Does not load any code from the file, but pulls in the symbol table (subroutines, constants).
Useful for using library code already running in the game. (i.e. library was loaded sometime beforehand).
Runs the subroutine with the given label whenever the named event is triggered and the conditions match.
The following is an example where the function on_placed_stone will get invoked every time a player places
a stone block.
#event_handler on_placed_stone minecraft:placed_block item.item=minecraft:stone
on_placed_stone:
...
Memory locations can be thought of like locations in RAM, however there are a few things you need to know.
You can't reference locations indirectly (e.g. pointers).
Locations are actually just scoreboard objectives, and are computed at compile-time. They are really only
useful for storing temporary data and using as global names (like sp and sr).
It is not possible to dynamically reference scoreboard objectives (or function names, for that matter).
So you can't do something like MOV #1, [loc] (move literal 1 to the address stored in loc).
The only way to have truly real memory is using something like hdd_driver (see examples) or a giant
lookup table. (Something like if(addr==0) objective_0=buffer else if (addr==1) objective_1=buffer ...)
This is how the stack is implemented, it performs a lookup on the current sp value.
Examples can be found in the examples directory.
Prints the fibonacci sequence until the next integer overflows.
An example of how the assembly code can make use of the world.
The "hard drive" is represented by blocks in the world. An air block represents 0, stone = 1.
In this example, data is stored in a 2D plane on the x and z axis.
A memory location loc is stored at x = loc / MEM_SIZE_X, z = loc % MEM_SIZE_Z
The value is then WORD_SIZE bits in the y axis. i.e. for an 8-bit word, y=0 is the LSB, y=7 is the MSB.
hdd_driver.asm is a library file, and exports the read_mem, write_mem subroutines along with
its constants.
The location where the memory region is hardcoded to be 100 60 100.
A simple test of the hdd_driver library. See description at the top of the file.
Due to there being no concept of a "status" register, jump instructions don't check flags of any sort.
Instead, they evaluate the most recent CMP instruction.
The assembler keeps a reference to the most recent CMP instruction. If a conditional jump instruction is encountered, it fetches this CMP to decide whether to jump or not.
A more accurate conditional jump could be an instruction that takes 3 arguments e.g: JL left, right, label.
However writing out the comparison is clunky when performing a succinct multi-jump like this:
CMP left, right
JE is_equal
JL is_less
JG is_greaterThe bitwise operations (e.g. AND, SHR, ROL) have not been tested for correct handling of negative values. Use with caution.