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Groups > comp.lang.forth > #134965

Re: locals

From anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl)
Newsgroups comp.lang.forth
Subject Re: locals
Date 2026-04-25 10:22 +0000
Organization Institut fuer Computersprachen, Technische Universitaet Wien
Message-ID <2026Apr25.122216@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> (permalink)
References <10qunhm$1nnbt$1@dont-email.me> <2026Apr25.064712@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> <87o6j74l1z.fsf@nightsong.com> <2026Apr25.084323@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> <nnd$22b8fb28$086616c8@3c6198f3bcb67197>

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albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl writes:
>String handling and move operation are the exception, because
>they are both simpler and faster in low level.
>Simpler is the argument (especially for i86).
>Faster is the bonus.

In other words, Forth without locals is not well suited for words
that have so much active data.  That is also reflected in hardware
designed for Forth, which got additional registers like A or B (or
additional capabilities for the top of the return stack register R),
which make it simpler and faster to implement such words.

A definition of STRCMP in the paper is

: strcmp { addr1 u1 addr2 u2 -- n }
 addr1 addr2
 u1 u2 min 0 
 ?do { s1 s2 }
   s1 c@ s2 c@ - ?dup 
   if
     unloop exit
   then
   s1 char+ s2 char+
 loop
 2drop
 u1 u2 - ;

So in the loop we have a loop count (on the return stack), two cursors
(s1 and s2) into the compared strings, and within the loop body we
additionally have the two characters, for a total of five live values,
three of which survive across iterations and are changed in every
iteration.  One could implement it as

\ untested, and the following versions, too
: strcmp { addr1 u1 addr2 u2 -- n }
 addr1 addr2
 u1 u2 min 0 
 ?do
   addr1 i + c@ addr2 i + c@ - ?dup 
   if
     unloop exit
   then
 loop
 u1 u2 - ;

where only one of the values changes in each iteration, but now the
?DO...LOOP cannot be replaced with a version that does not store a
second value but counts down (or up) to 0, so now we have a total of 6
live values, four of which survive across iterations, and one is
changed on every iteration.

One can reduce this by one value by keeping one of the cursors in the
loop counter:

: strcmp {: addr1 u1 addr2 u2 -- n :}
 addr2 addr1 - {: offset :}
 u1 u2 min addr1 + addr1 ?do
   i c@ i offset + c@ - ?dup 
   if
     unloop exit
   then
 loop
 u1 u2 - ;

So now we have five live values in the body of the loop at the same
time, three of which live across iterations, and one of which changes
in each iteration.  Keeping the loop parameters separate significantly
lessens the load on the data stack.

Let's see if we can eliminate the local from the loop body:

: strcmp {: addr1 u1 addr2 u2 -- n :}
 addr2 addr1 - ( offset )
 u1 u2 min addr1 + addr1 ?do ( offset )
   dup i + c@ i c@ - ?dup 
   if
     nip unloop exit
   then
 loop
 drop u1 u2 - ;

That leaves stack purists with the task of eliminating the locals from
the prologue and epilogue of this word.  Two items have to be stored
across the loop, or the difference could be computed speculatively and
only one item stored across the loop.  And the computations before the
loop involve four values alive at the same time (fortunately addr2 is
does not live long).  Let's see:

: strcmp {: addr1 u1 addr2 u2 -- n :}
 rot 2dup - >r ( addr1 addr2 u1 u2 R: n1 )
 min -rot over - ( u12 addr1 offset R: n1 )
 swap rot bounds ( offset limit start R: n1 )
 ?do ( offset R: n1 loop-sys )
   dup i + c@ i c@ - ?dup 
   if
     nip unloop r> drop exit
   then
 loop
 drop r> negate ;

As can be seen by the many stack comments, the stack load here is more
than I can easily deal with.

Maybe a stack purist can improve on that.  But can he improve it
enough to make it as easy to understand as any of the versions with
locals?

- anton
-- 
M. Anton Ertl  http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html
comp.lang.forth FAQs: http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/faq/toc.html
     New standard: https://forth-standard.org/
EuroForth 2025 proceedings: http://www.euroforth.org/ef25/papers/

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Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-05 23:25 +0100
  Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-05 23:30 +0100
    Re: Coroutines in Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-05 17:16 -0700
      Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-06 19:58 +0100
        Re: Coroutines in Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-22 11:13 -0700
          Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-22 22:05 +0200
      Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-07 13:23 +0200
  Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-06 13:51 +0200
    Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-06 22:20 +0100
      Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-07 13:35 +0200
        Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-07 20:55 +0100
          Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-08 12:34 +0200
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          Re: Coroutines in Forth dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-11 11:54 +1000
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          Re: Coroutines in Forth peter <peter.noreply@tin.it> - 2026-04-11 09:49 +0200
          Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-11 22:03 +0200
            Re: Coroutines in Forth dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-12 12:49 +1000
              Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-12 12:13 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-12 17:39 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-13 10:54 +1000
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              Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-12 13:48 +0200
              Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-13 12:13 +0200
              Re: Coroutines in Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-22 11:18 -0700
                Re: Coroutines in Forth dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-23 11:13 +1000
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                Re: Coroutines in Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-24 10:36 -0700
                Re: Coroutines in Forth dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-25 12:12 +1000
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-24 23:31 -0700
                Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-25 10:45 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-25 22:06 +1000
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-25 15:11 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 13:33 +1000
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 16:28 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-25 21:46 -0700
                FP stack depth limitations (was: Coroutines in Forth) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-26 05:55 +0000
                Re: FP stack depth limitations Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-26 00:28 -0700
                Re: FP stack depth limitations dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 19:55 +1000
                Re: FP stack depth limitations (was: Coroutines in Forth) peter <peter.noreply@tin.it> - 2026-04-26 09:57 +0200
                Re: FP stack depth limitations (was: Coroutines in Forth) albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-26 14:34 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-25 15:01 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-05-01 13:13 +0200
                Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues (was: Coroutines in Forth) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-25 05:26 +0000
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-24 23:55 -0700
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-25 08:21 +0000
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-25 11:27 +0200
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-25 15:43 +0200
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-25 17:21 +0000
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 15:21 +1000
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 15:08 +0200
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-26 00:34 +0200
                Re: Forth, C, hardware, and programming virtues Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 15:10 +0200
                locals (was: Coroutines in Forth) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-25 04:47 +0000
                Re: locals Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-24 23:21 -0700
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-25 06:43 +0000
                Re: locals albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-25 11:43 +0200
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-25 10:22 +0000
                Re: locals peter <peter.noreply@tin.it> - 2026-04-25 16:07 +0200
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-25 17:38 +0200
                Re: locals albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-26 01:13 +0200
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-26 14:03 +0000
                Re: locals peter <peter.noreply@tin.it> - 2026-04-27 09:31 +0200
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-27 07:53 +0000
                Re: locals peter <peter.noreply@tin.it> - 2026-04-27 11:52 +0200
                Re: locals albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-26 00:51 +0200
                Re: locals Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-04-25 22:40 -0700
                Re: locals albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-26 14:55 +0200
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-26 09:50 +0000
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 16:22 +0200
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-26 17:04 +0000
                Re: locals dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-27 11:51 +1000
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 08:21 +0200
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 08:22 +0200
                Re: locals dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-04-27 11:12 +1000
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 14:34 +0200
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 14:34 +0200
                Re: locals Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-29 12:44 +0100
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 14:37 +0200
                Re: locals Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 14:44 +0200
                Re: locals Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-05-01 23:50 -0700
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-05-02 10:34 +0000
                Re: locals Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-05-01 23:54 -0700
                Re: locals dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-05-02 17:36 +1000
                Re: locals Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2026-05-02 01:11 -0700
                Re: locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-05-02 15:58 +0000
      Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-07 09:28 -0500
        Re: Coroutines in Forth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2026-04-07 16:12 +0000
          Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-07 18:06 -0500
          Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-08 11:43 +0100
            Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-08 13:16 +0200
              Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-08 11:47 -0500
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-08 21:48 +0100
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-09 07:06 -0500
                Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-09 16:41 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-09 13:34 -0500
                Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-10 01:23 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-09 21:34 -0500
                Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-09 13:01 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-09 07:01 -0500
                Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-09 16:10 +0200
                Re: Coroutines in Forth Krishna Myneni <krishna.myneni@ccreweb.org> - 2026-04-09 13:29 -0500
              Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-08 21:26 +0100
          Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-08 14:22 +0200
          Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 15:31 +0200
            Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-29 10:49 +0200
              Re: Coroutines in Forth Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 15:22 +0200
        Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-08 11:33 +0100
          Re: Coroutines in Forth albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl - 2026-04-08 13:07 +0200
            Re: Coroutines in Forth Gerry Jackson <do-not-use@swldwa.uk> - 2026-04-08 22:05 +0100

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