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Groups > comp.lang.forth > #33732

uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting)

From anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl)
Newsgroups comp.lang.forth
Subject uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting)
Date 2014-10-07 15:36 +0000
Organization Institut fuer Computersprachen, Technische Universitaet Wien
Message-ID <2014Oct7.173637@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> (permalink)
References <C9LM37.KA7.1@cs.cmu.edu> <45d05d06-5acf-4792-96cd-ab32e411a18b@googlegroups.com> <8b0123d6-4076-4dce-a0eb-c6163148bf30@googlegroups.com> <qsidnSWZzPB2Na7JnZ2dnUU7-YudnZ2d@supernews.com> <5433dfd9$0$6905$e4fe514c@dreader36.news.xs4all.nl>

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albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) writes:
>In article <qsidnSWZzPB2Na7JnZ2dnUU7-YudnZ2d@supernews.com>,
>Andrew Haley  <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> wrote:
>>hughaguilar96@yahoo.com wrote:
>>>
>>> The code is just ANS-Forth except that I use { to define
>>> locals. This is available in the novice package, and there are
>>> several other implementations that are compatible. I also have
>>> COMMENT to comment out the test code, and COMMENT is
>>available in
>>> the novice package. If anybody wants to use this
>>without the novice
>>> package, they just need to have { available plus they
>>need to delete
>>> the COMMENT and & lines.
>>>
>>> Note that Anton Ertl wrote a word {: for defining
>>locals that works
>>> like my { except that it does not zero out the locals
>>to the right
>>> of the | sign. This doesn't affect code at all ---
>>zeroing out those
>>> locals is done to help debugging,
>>
>>That won't help debugging at all.
>
>As a general principle: Hugh is right about this.
>I've done more than one complicated debugging job.
>The last thing you need is that you can't compare the
>results of your small change, because there are other
>random gratitious changes resulting from uninitialised
>memory.

As it happens, I made a reference implementation for the {: proposal
based on (LOCAL)
<http://www.forth200x.org/reference-implementations/extended-locals.fs>,
and that implementation uses a fixed value (12345) for initializing
the locals after "|".  I did not use 0, because that is more likely to
hide a bug that might surface on an implementation that really does
not initialize.  The fixed value was necessitated by the fundament on
which I built {: (there is no uninitialized local with (LOCAL)), but
maybe I would have done it even if I had, say (UNINITIALIZED-LOCAL),
at my disposal.

Indeed I think that both uninitialized and implicitly initialized
locals are a bad idea in most cases.  The way to go is to define the
local when you have the initial value for it, and with Gforth's locals
that is possible in all but very few cases.

The desire for uninitialized locals was vehemently expressed by a
vendor whose locals implementation imposes restrictions that make it
impossible in many cases to define a local when you have the initial
value for it.  So his idea is to define locals uninitialized in a
place where his locals implementation allows you to define locals, and
then initialize it later, with TO.

Hmm, given that he still implements all locals on the in-memory return
stack, it should not be that hard to extend his implementation to
accept something close to the Gforth-supported usage, with one
restriction still remaining: The first locals definition must happen
outside any control structure.  When you see another locals
definition, you backpatch the return-stack reservation produced by the
first locals definition to increase the number of reserved locals, and
store the newly defined locals in the new slots.

He would also need to implement the scoping of locals, and that can
also be done in a single pass (and is done so by Gforth), but my guess
is that he did not like the define-locals-where-needed approach
because of code generation issues.

- 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: http://www.forth200x.org/forth200x.html
   EuroForth 2014: http://www.euroforth.org/ef14/

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Thread

Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-09-30 19:25 -0700
  Re: Why smudge? november.nihal@gmail.com - 2014-10-01 08:54 -0700
    Re: Why smudge? albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-01 19:09 +0000
  Re: Why smudge? november.nihal@gmail.com - 2014-10-01 10:16 -0700
    Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-01 18:54 -0700
  Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-02 15:31 -0700
    Re: Why smudge? Michael Barry <barrym95838@yahoo.com> - 2014-10-02 16:35 -0700
      Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-02 17:02 -0700
        Re: Why smudge? Michael Barry <barrym95838@yahoo.com> - 2014-10-02 17:51 -0700
          Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-02 18:50 -0700
        Re: Why smudge? Gerry Jackson <gerry@jackson9000.fsnet.co.uk> - 2014-10-04 00:30 +0100
          Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-03 17:40 -0700
            Re: Why smudge? Raimond Dragomir <raimond.dragomir@gmail.com> - 2014-10-03 23:00 -0700
              Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-04 21:14 -0700
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-05 03:42 -0500
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! Enoch <emc.consultants@gmail.com> - 2014-10-05 10:43 -0700
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-05 20:21 -0700
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-06 03:58 -0500
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-05 17:09 -0700
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! Michael Barry <barrym95838@yahoo.com> - 2014-10-06 11:15 -0700
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-06 18:52 -0700
                More ranting Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-07 03:48 -0500
                Re: More ranting albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-07 12:43 +0000
                Re: More ranting Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-10-07 16:23 +0200
                Re: More ranting "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-16 01:03 -0400
                Re: More ranting Just Ian <superian@gmail.com> - 2014-10-16 07:14 -0700
                Re: More ranting Michael Barry <barrym95838@yahoo.com> - 2014-10-16 13:23 -0700
                uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-07 15:36 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-10-07 22:15 +0200
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) mhx@iae.nl - 2014-10-07 15:07 -0700
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-10-08 03:11 +0200
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-08 13:25 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-09 16:22 -0700
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-17 21:58 -0400
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) mhx@iae.nl (Marcel Hendrix) - 2014-10-12 11:18 +0200
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals (was: More ranting) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-08 12:35 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-07 15:27 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-08 12:56 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-08 08:24 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-08 15:32 +0000
                Simplified automatic scoping (was: uninitialized ...) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-08 16:06 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-08 11:57 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-08 12:18 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-09 14:19 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-09 14:42 -0700
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-09 14:07 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-09 10:44 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-10 16:03 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-10 13:35 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-11 10:53 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-12 11:34 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-15 12:44 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-15 14:34 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-15 15:03 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-15 11:10 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-16 12:19 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-17 03:56 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-10-17 07:48 -1000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-17 19:26 -0700
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-18 12:55 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-18 13:21 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-10-18 08:44 -1000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-19 09:53 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-20 12:48 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-20 16:24 -0400
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-10-20 10:30 -1000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-20 16:23 -0700
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 04:16 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals mhx@iae.nl (Marcel Hendrix) - 2014-10-26 11:32 +0200
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals stephenXXX@mpeforth.com (Stephen Pelc) - 2014-10-26 14:27 +0000
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 13:56 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals mhx@iae.nl (Marcel Hendrix) - 2014-10-26 20:32 +0200
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 16:18 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-26 15:05 -0700
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 17:53 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-26 16:30 -0700
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-27 01:45 -0400
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-27 12:21 -0500
                Re: uninitialized and implicitly initialized locals Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 17:57 -0500
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! Gerry Jackson <gerry@jackson9000.fsnet.co.uk> - 2014-10-06 20:55 +0100
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-06 16:05 -0700
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! Gerry Jackson <gerry@jackson9000.fsnet.co.uk> - 2014-10-09 07:36 +0100
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! stephenXXX@mpeforth.com (Stephen Pelc) - 2014-10-10 01:52 +0000
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-09 19:56 -0700
                Re: Pelc's effort to sabotage cross-compiler writing has a work-around now! "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-17 23:11 -0400
            Re: Why smudge? Gerry Jackson <gerry@jackson9000.fsnet.co.uk> - 2014-10-05 11:05 +0100
              Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-05 19:48 -0700
                Re: Why smudge? Gerry Jackson <gerry@jackson9000.fsnet.co.uk> - 2014-10-06 07:53 +0100
                Re: Why smudge? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-10-05 21:29 -1000
              Re: Why smudge? hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-09 15:16 -0700
              Re: Why smudge? "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-16 01:03 -0400

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