2021-01-19 - Well, it's Been a Year

Literally it's been over a year since I've posted on here. This year I will write more than I did last year. Since I only posted two things last year that shouldn't be hard.

Writing Goals for 2021

A DataTypes series starting with basic types like integers and floating point numbers but extending into more complicated things like linked-lists
Continuing the In IL series
Adding/Updating writing posts on my various projects
Adding more How-To's and References

Project Goals for 2021

Convert Comics and Pictures to use the database backend
Update PenguinMixer program to convert Comics and Picture flat-files to database files
Create a program for managing Comics and Pictures as well as syncing local testing environment with production data

2020-01-13 - Tomatoes

Someone recently asked me what kind of fruit I would be if I was a fruit and my automatic response was "Tomato" because that's always my response to questions about fruit. They were making a joke about bad pseudo-philosophical interview questions that are somehow supposed to provide insight about the perspective hire but I think the answer actually works for me.

The reason "Tomato" is my default response to questions about fruit is because a lot of people don't think of them as fruits. The botanical definition of fruit is at odds with the culinary definition when it comes to tomatoes which sets up an interesting contradiction. I also find it interesting that most berries aren't berries and peanuts are closer to peas than nuts.

The other reason I replied with Tomatoes is because I actually like tomatoes. They taste good and can be used in a variety of ways. You can put tomatoes on sandwiches, tomato sauce is the basis for many pizzas and pastas. They are also used to make ketchup which can be put on anything from fries to liver.

So on the one hand tomatoes are a good fruit to represent me because I am a contrarian at heart. People say left and I think "What about right?". People say vegetable and that tomato goes "What about fruit?". I also try to be generally practical. I never want to be the person who goes "Nah, I can't do that" instead I want to be the person that goes "Yeah sure, I'll try that".

So if I was a fruit I would be a tomato, delicious and contentious.

2020-01-04 - Parts of Speech: Adverbs

Adverb is a catch all term for words that modify things that aren't nouns. They can be applied to verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, clauses and sentences. Like adjectives they serve to provide more specific context and more detail. Instead of saying "He walked away" you could say "He quickly walked away" or "She slowly walked away". Most but not all adverbs end in -ly. Some adverbs have a long form with -ly and a short for without it.

Adverbs have several classifications. Relative adverbs are used to combine parts of sentences to provide clarification. Interrogative adverbs are used in questions. Conjunctive adverbs serve to connect sentences.

Like adjectives, adverbs can also be used for comparisons. For short adverbs not ending in -ly the comparative form is created by adding -er and the superlative form is created by adding -ed. The comparative can also be created by adding more/less and the superlative can also be created by adding most/least.

Next time we will look at verbals which are words derived from verbs but used for other purposes.

2019-11-02 - In IL: Other Instructions

We've talked about a bunch of instructions so far but there were some simple ones that were either skipped or missed. I want to take the time now to go through those instructions.

ldloca (LoaD LOCal variable Address)

Push the address of a local variable onto the stack.

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
ldcloca.s <index>	Loads the address of local variable with “short” index <index> onto the stack	0x12 <uint8>
ldcloca <index>	Loads the address of local variable with index <index> onto the stack	0xFE 0x0D <uint16>

dup (Duplicate), pop

Both these instructions are used to modify the stack

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
dup	Duplicates the value at the top of the stack	0x25
pop	Removes the value at the top of the stack	0x26

add (ADDition), sub (SUBtraction), mul (MULtiplication), div (DIVision), rem (REMainder)

Pops two values off of the stack and pushes the result of the specified action onto the stack.

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
div.un	Divides the second value popped off of the stack by the first value popped off of the stack and pushes the result onto the stack. Both values are taken as unsigned integers	0x5C
rem	Divides the second value popped off of the stack by the first value popped off of the stack and pushes the remainder onto the stack.	0x5D
rem.un	Divides the second value popped off of the stack by the first value popped off of the stack and pushes the remainder onto the stack. Both values are taken as unsigned integers	0x5E
add.ovf	Adds the first value popped off of the stack to the second value popped off of the stack and pushes the result onto the stack. Throws exception if overflow occurs.	0xD6
add.ovf.un	Adds the first value popped off of the stack to the second value popped off of the stack and pushes the result onto the stack. Both values are taken as unsigned integers and throws exception if overflow occurs.	0xD7
mul.ovf	Multiplies the second value popped off of the stack by the first value popped off of the stack and pushes the result onto the stack. Throws exception if overflow occurs.	0xD8
mul.ovf.un	Multiplies the second value popped off of the stack by the first value popped off of the stack and pushes the result onto the stack. Both values are taken as unsigned integers and throws exception if overflow occurs.	0xD9
sub.ovf	Subtracts the first value popped off of the stack from the second value popped off of the stack and pushes the result onto the stack. Throws exception if overflow occurs.	0xDA
sub.ovf.un	Subtracts the first value popped off of the stack from the second value popped off of the stack and pushes the result onto the stack. Both values are taken as unsigned integers and throws exception if overflow occurs.	0xDB

shl (SHift Left), shr (SHift Right)

Pops two values off of the stack and shifts the second binary value popped off of the stack a number of times determined by the first value popped off of the stack pushing the result onto the stack.

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
shl	Shifts the value to the left, adding 0s to the right	0x62
shr	Shifts the value to the right, adding duplicates of the sign bit to the left	0x63
shr.un	Shifts the value to the right, adding 0s to the left.	0x64

neg (negate)

Pops a value off of the stack and pushes the negative of that value onto the stack.

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
neg	Negates the value	0x65

conv (CONVersion)

Pops a value off of the stack, converts it to the type based on the specific instruction used and pushes the result onto the stack.

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
conv.r.un	Converts unsigned integer value on the stack to a floating point number	0x76
conv.ovf.i1.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 1-byte integer and throws exception if overflow	0x82
conv.ovf.i2.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 2-byte integer and throws exception if overflow	0x83
conv.ovf.i4.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 4-byte integer and throws exception if overflow	0x84
conv.ovf.i8.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 8-byte integer and throws exception if overflow	0x85
conv.ovf.u1.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 1-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0x86
conv.ovf.u2.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 2-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0x87
conv.ovf.u4.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 4-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0x88
conv.ovf.u8.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a 8-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0x89
conv.ovf.i.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a native sized integer and throws exception if overflow	0x8A
conv.ovf.u.un	Converts the unsigned value on the stack to a native sized unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0x8B
conv.ovf.i1	Converts the value on the stack to a 1-byte integer and throws an exception if overflow occurs	0xB3
conv.ovf.u1	Converts the value on the stack to a 1-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0xB4
conv.ovf.i2	Converts the value on the stack to a 2-byte integer and throws exception if overflow	0xB5
conv.ovf.u2	Converts the value on the stack to a 2-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0xB6
conv.ovf.i4	Converts the value on the stack to a 4-byte integer and throws exception if overflow	0xB7
conv.ovf.u4	Converts the value on the stack to a 4-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0xB8
conv.ovf.i8	Converts the value on the stack to a 8-byte integer and throws exception if overflow	0xB9
conv.ovf.u8	Converts the value on the stack to a 8-byte unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0xBa
conv.i	Converts the value on the stack to a native sized integer	0xD3
conv.ovf.i	Converts the value on the stack to a native sized integer and throws exception if overflow	0xD4
conv.ovf.u	Converts the value on the stack to a native sized unsigned integer and throws exception if overflow	0xD5
conv.u	Converts the value on the stack to a native sized unsigned integer	0xE0

unbox

Pops a reference-type value off of the stack, unboxes it as the specified value type and pushes the result onto the stack.

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
unbox <type>	Unboxes the value on the stack as the specified type	0x79 <T>

Ckfinite (ChecK INfinITE)

Pops a floating-point value off of the stack, checks if that value is Not-A-Number or infinity and throws an exception if it is, otherwise it pushes the value back onto the stack.

Instruction	Description	Binary Format
Ckfinite	Throw exception if NaN or Infinity	0xC3

Now that we understand that basic instructions used to generate programs we can pull back and start looking at how programs are structured.