Overview

This project is

• A virtual CPU based on MIPS-1 architecture
• A high level programming language
• A compiler from the programming language to assembly to machine code

The purpose here was to dive into how CPUs and compilers work. I started from the CPU and built upwards on the stack. This was attempted using the least amount of guidance possible, but Crafting Interpreters was a huge source of information when stuck.

Getting Started

The easiest way to get started is to run the sample hello world program with the REPL.

.\TideScriptREPL.exe "Your\Path\To...\Sample\HelloWorld.td"

This should load the screen into a fairly basic IDE.

Press F1 and the code will execute

Note that you will get a dump of the compiled assembly, and when you press to continue you will be able to inspect all the memory addresses in the machine.

Programming Language Features

Types & Arrays

int x = 1;
string msg = "hello, world!";
int[3] numbers;

Functions

function foo(string bar){
    //Do stuff
}

Classes

class Foo{
     string Name;
     int Count;

     function void Print(){
          print(Name);
          printNum(Count);
     }

     function void AddCount(){
          Count += 1;
     }
}

Inline Assembly

Use a single pipe to denote inline machine instructions. Note that arguments are stored sequentially from $a0-$a4 and Syscall 4 (print string) will print the string starting at address memory $a0.

function print(string Value){
    |Ori $v0, $zero, 4
    |Syscall
}

Operators

"=", "==", "!=", "<", ">", "<=", ">=",
"+", "-", "*", "/", "+=", "-=", "*=", "/=",
"||", "&&"

Control Statements

if (1 > 2){
    //Do stuff
}elseif(2 > 3){
    //Other stuff
}else{
    //Some other stuff
}

while (i < 10){
    //Do stuff
}

Other Stuff

Return statements for functions, comments.