2021-01-21 13:40:28 +01:00
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</head><body>
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<p><span class="h2">On The Evolution Of Ngaro Into Nga</span>
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<br/><br/>
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2021-05-17 19:04:42 +02:00
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When I decided to begin work on what became Retro 12, I knew
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2021-01-21 13:40:28 +01:00
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the process would involve updating Ngaro, the virtual machine
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that Retro 10 and 11 ran on.
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<br/><br/>
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Ngaro rose out of an earlier experimental virtual machine I had
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written back in 2005-2006. This earlier VM, called Maunga, was
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very close to what Ngaro ended up being, though it had a very
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different approach to I/O. (All I/O in Maunga was intended to be
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memory mapped; Ngaro adopted a port based I/O system).
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<br/><br/>
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Ngaro itself evolved along with Retro, gaining features like
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automated skipping of NOPs and a LOOP opcode to help improve
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performance. But the I/O model proved to be a problem. When I
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created Ngaro, I had the idea that I would always be able to
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assume a console/terminal style environment. The assumption was
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that all code would be entered via the keyboard (or maybe a
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block editor), and that proved to be the fundamental flaw as
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time went on.
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<br/><br/>
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2021-05-17 19:04:42 +02:00
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As Retro grew it was evident that the model had some serious
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problems. Need to load code from a file? The VM and language had
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functionality to pretend it was being typed in. Want to run on
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something like a browser, Android, or iOS? The VM would need to
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be implemented in a way that simulates input being typed into
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the VM via a simulated keyboard. And Retro was built around this.
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I couldn't change it because of a promise to maintain, as much
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as possible, source compatibility for a period of at least five
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years.
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<br/><br/>
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When the time came to fix this, I decided at the start to keep
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the I/O model separate from the core VM. I also decided that the
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core Retro language would provide some means of interpreting
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code without requiring an assumption that a traditional terminal
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was being used.
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<br/><br/>
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So Nga began. I took the opportunity to simplify the instruction
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set to just 26 essential instructions, add support for packing
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multiple instructions per memory location (allowing a long due
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reduction in memory footprint), and to generally just make a far
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simpler design.
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<br/><br/>
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I've been pleased with Nga. On its own it really isn't useful
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though. So with Retro I embed it into a larger framework that
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adds some basic I/O functionality. The <strong>interfaces</strong> handle the
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details of passing tokens into the language and capturing any
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output. They are free to do this in whatever model makes most
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sense on a given platform.
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<br/><br/>
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So far I've implemented:
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<br/><br/>
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<tt class='indentedcode'>- a scripting interface, reading input from a file and</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> offering file i/o, gopher, and reading from stdin, and</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> sending output to stdout.</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'>- an interactive interface, built around ncurses, reading</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> input from stdin, and displaying output to a scrolling</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> buffer.</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'>- an iOS interface, built around a text editor, directing</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> output to a separate interface pane.</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'>- an interactive block editor, using a gopher-based block</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> data store. Output is displayed to stdout, and input is</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> done via the blocks being evaluated or by reading from</tt>
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<tt class='indentedcode'> stdin.</tt>
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<br/><br/>
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In all cases, the only common I/O word that has to map to an
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exposed instruction is <span class="tt">putc</span>, to display a single character to
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some output device. There is no requirement for a traditional
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keyboard input model.
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<br/><br/>
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By doing this I was able to solve the biggest portability issue
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with the Retro 10/11 model, and make a much simpler, cleaner
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language in the end.
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</p>
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</body></html>
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