Creating New System Functions

Thursday 21 November 2024 17:43 UTC NARS2000 Creating New Quad System Functions

Who Should Be Reading This Page

If you are an APL'er, an APL programmer or APL developer - this page may not be right for you. This page is for Developers who want to implement a new Quad or ⎕ command using the C/C++ language. Given that NARS source code is over a quarter million lines of highly evolved source code, it is helpful to have several starting points to work from, whether you are a gifted C++/C programmer, PHP programmer, Bison programmer or a relative newcomer to NARS source code. The basic premise is that you have an idea for a new Quad system function command for APL/NARS and wish to implement it, add it to NARS functionality. This page is a starting conceptual and reference point.

General Reference Notes

Notation Convention on this wiki page: Unless otherwise specified all file names used on this page will exclude their path which is C:\NARS2000\trunk\.

Every programming language uses at least two primary concepts 1) mnemonics and 2) a syntax to implement that language. NARS is no different. Every NARS quad system command has an associated mnemonic or reference name. For example, Quad CR or ⎕ CR - Canononical Representation - uses mnemonic SysFnCR_EM_YY, as found in its definition file qf_cr.c. Quad FX or ⎕ FX - Fix or Function eXecute - uses mnemonic SysFnFX_EM_YY, per file qf_fx.c. Note the similarity in file naming conventions for both c files.

Several Quad functions have been implemented using PHP magic functions, for example Quad VR or ⎕ VR - Visual Representation - uses mnemonic SysFnVR_EM_YY, per definition file qf_vr.c. However, Quad VR also has an additional PHP magic header file called in this case mf_quadvr.h. Quad FMT is similarly coded using a PHP magic function header file.