Expression interpreter.
Expi is a base class for all other interpreters (see bili
and biri
, that do all the hard work. Expi recognizes a language defined by exp
type. It evaluates arbitrary expressions under provided context.
To create new interpreter use operator new
:
let expi = new expi;;
val expi : _#Expi.context expi = <obj>
Note: The type _#Expi.context
is weakly polymorphic subtype of Expi.context
1
. Basically, this means, that the type is not generalized and will be instantiated when used and fixed afterwards.
let r = expi#eval_exp Bil.(int Word.b0 lor int Word.b1);;
val r : _#Expi.context Bil.Result.r = <abstr>
The returned value is a state monad parametrized by a subtype of class Expi.context
. The state monad is a chain of computations, where each computation is merely a function from state to a state paired with the result of computation. The state is accessible inside the computation and can be changed.
To run the computation use Monad.State.eval
function, that accepts a state monad and an initial value. Here we can provide any subtype of Expi.context
as an initial value. Let start with a Expi.context
as a first approximation:
let x = Monad.State.eval r (new Expi.context);;
val x : Bil.result = [0x3] true
The expression evaluates to true
, and the result is tagged with an identifier [0x3]
. The Exp.context
assigns a unique identifier for each freshly created result. Tag [0x3]
means that this was the third value created under provided context.
If the only thing, that you need is just to evaluate an expression, then you can just use Exp.eval
function:
Exp.eval Bil.(int Word.b0 lor int Word.b1);;
- : Bil.value = true
The main strength of expi
is its extensibility. Let's write a expression evaluator that will record a trace of evaluation:
class context = object
inherit Expi.context
val events : (exp * Bil.result) list = []
method add_event exp res = {< events = (exp,res) :: events >}
method show_events = List.rev events
end
class ['a] exp_tracer = object
constraint 'a = #context
inherit ['a] expi as super
method! eval_exp e =
let open Monad.State in
super#eval_exp e >>= fun r ->
get () >>= fun ctxt ->
put (ctxt#add_event e r) >>= fun () ->
return r
end;;
Note : We made our exp_tracer
class polymorphic as a courtesy to our fellow programmer, that may want to reuse it. We can define it by inheriting from expi
parametrized with our context type, like this: inherit [context] expi
Also, there is no need to write a constraint
, as it will be inferred automatically.
Now, let's try to use our tracer. We will use Monad.State.run
function, that returns both, the evaluated value and the context. (We can also use Monad.State.exec
, if we're not interested in value at all):
let expi = new exp_tracer;;
val expi : _#context exp_tracer = <obj>
# let r = expi#eval_exp Bil.(int Word.b0 lor int Word.b1);;
val r : _#context Bil.Result.r = <abstr>
# let r,ctxt = Monad.State.run r (new context) ;;
val r : Bil.result = [0x3] true
val ctxt : context = <obj>
ctxt#events;;
- : (exp * Bil.result) list =
[(false, [0x1] false); (true, [0x2] true); (false | true, [0x3] true)]
1
: The weakness of the type variable is introduced by a value restriction and can't be relaxed since it is invariant in state monad.
Interaction with environment
creates an empty storage. If you want to provide your own implementation of storage, then it is definitely the right place.
method lookup : var -> 'a r
a variable is looked up in a context
a variable is bind to a value.
a byte is loaded from a given address
a byte is stored to a a given address
Error conditions
a given typing error has occurred
method division_by_zero : unit -> 'a r
method undefined_addr : addr -> 'a r
called when storage doesn't contain the addr
method undefined_var : var -> 'a r
called when context doesn't know the variable