Links to historical Clarion/Topspeed articles & code samples so the knowledge isnt lost

When an array is passed as a value parameter in TS, it can be either copied onto the stack or passed by reference, depending on the call(o_a_copy) pragma setting.

In TopSpeed, any entity imported into a definition module is “automatically” imported into the corresponding implementation module

Its a bit of detective work piecing together information, but its got information on Topspeed Modula2 which is why I posted it as it might be useful.

anon23294430 · May 1, 2022, 2:42pm

I didnt know that, I can see from some of the links I posted, I was very much out of the loop, I didnt even know there was a forum on compuserve.

FedericoNavarro · May 1, 2022, 3:26pm

Hi Richard,

There some links in these files

github.com

federico-navarro/ClarionMultiLanguage/blob/main/KnapMod.mod

(*
    Knapsack Algorithm for Clarion Integrated Modula-2 compiler
    
    Linked Array version
    
    Implemented by Federico Navarro  2021
    
    Based on C implementation provided by Andrej Koselj
    
    See TopSpeed Modula-2 Language and Library Reference available on c5 (and others) docs
    
    Using INTEGER type, which although Language Reference states -32768 to 32767,
    debugger shows it uses 32 bits as LONGINT. Compiler refuses a LONGINT as
    an array index.
    
    Array parameters internally uses two parameters: SIZE and ADDRESS, being
    the size the number of rows by the cell size (4 bytes), if passing only
    the rows, Index out of range would raise. Clarion Debugger shows the
    array size incorrectly on the inspection window.
    Even it seems there is a misunderstanding between Clarion and Modula-2

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github.com

federico-navarro/ClarionMultiLanguage/blob/main/KnapAsm.a

(*
    Knapsack Algorithm for Clarion Integrated Assembler compiler
    
    Linked Array version
    
    Implemented by Federico Navarro
    
    Based on C implementation provided by Andrej Koselj
    
    Hints on assembler implementations
    Provided by Dave Nichols on his zd_fast.a memory allocator  www.match-it.com,
     which also references:
    Hints from Bruce Johnson from Capesoft www.capesoft.com
    Thanks to Brahn there is more info at http://clarionhub.com/tags/asm
    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.lang.clarion/g0JeqQvVb_A
    
    For a general Assembler introduction refer to
    http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs216/guides/x86.html
    (although as mentioned on previous sources this implementation differs 
    on several aspects, like syntax and calling convention)

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Project presented here Multi-Language programming example

anon23294430 · May 1, 2022, 5:12pm

You’ve been busy!

I’m experimenting with the templates at the moment to see how far I can push them and to see what they do.

I’m intrigued by the #Module(%blah,‘text’,‘External’,‘.fileExt’), it gave me an idea that I might be able to call an external compiler, either with a #rundll or #Run. I’m wondering if I could get the templates to produce say some python code but also I want to see how much work is involved in doing some template framework to produce and compiler code for other platforms, like Android or iOS or Linux. Basically exploring just how versatile these templates can be.

Provided by Dave Nichols on his zd_fast.a memory allocator www.match-it.com,
which also references:

He kept that quiet!

(* Only to call procedures using the clarion calling convention, do not use
with procedures using C / PASCAL calling convention (or adapt) *)

Is this comment for cleanup or the ways its passed on the stack?

FedericoNavarro · May 2, 2022, 1:48pm

I think Generation is one stage, and Compiling is another, it seems you are trying to mix them.
There is BuildAutomator from Icetips.

Regarding the second part, actually Dave Nichols presented his Memory Allocator on Clarion 9 & 10 newsgroups on December 2015, and donated it to the community, then Brahn reposted some parts here A wrapper class for "Faster memory allocator"

About calling by address and the technique used, it relies on some assumptions to work. It justs passes the control to the address on the first parameter, so the called funtion receives one extra parameter that has to ignore. On return is gets back directly to the original caller. They have five LONG parameters, which as with Clarion calling convention, four are passed on the registers and one on the stack

anon23294430 · May 2, 2022, 2:51pm

Yeah I’m deciphering the exp and map files at the moment, but I’m also trying to work out what the project system is supposed to do, because it doesnt produce an exp file from what I can tell.

anon23294430 · May 3, 2022, 12:22am

OBJ files found in
C6: %Root%\obj32
C6: %Root%\obj32\release

I can only find these two .obj files in C11 so I’m wondering if the compiler is doing something different at this stage, maybe cleaning up after compilation or maybe a different format suitable for dotnet.

C7+:%Root%\Lib\idll32.obj
C7+:%Root%\Lib\iexe32.obj

OBJ look like they are using this
Relocatable Object Module Format - Wikipedia
Explanation
Object file - Wikipedia

OMF_v1.1.pdf (pagesperso-orange.fr)

1 byte	Record type, for example relocation information
2 bytes	Data length (N+1)
N bytes	Data (varies depending on the record type)
1 byte	Checksum or 0

There is a wide variety of record types because of consolidation of OMF variants from several vendors, and because of adding such features
as 32-bit code and dynamic linking. These are important record types:

COMENT - (88h) Comment, which may also contain control information.
EXTDEF - (8Ch) Defines external references
PUBDEF - (90h/91h) Identifies external symbols in this module
SEGDEF - (98h/99h) Identifies segments
GRPDEF - (9Ah) Identifies groups of segments, for example MS-DOS DGROUP
FIXUPP - (9Ch/9Dh) Fixup or relocation records
LEDATA - (A0h/A1h) Contains text of a code or data section
COMDEF - (B0h) Uninitialized common data
COMDAT - (C2h/C3h) Initialized common data
MODEND - (8Ah/8Bh) Indicates end of module

Oracle has something similar for Solaris, there will be differences, but the principles will also be similar.
File Format - Linker and Libraries Guide (oracle.com)

Windows Portable Executable File Format
PE Format - Win32 apps | Microsoft Docs

Inside Windows: Win32 Portable Executable File Format in Detail | Microsoft Docs

The C6 project file makes a reference to
#pragma optimize(cpu=>386)
which is probably going to match this
`IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_I386 0x14c Intel 386 or later processors and compatible processors

I think it will be possible to debug an exe file and tie up the different parts of the exe to the MS windows PE format. I think it might be interesting to see if there is anything non windows left in from the Topspeed days like maybe something of OS/2 perhaps?, there again that might only be seen in CW1.5, but I’ll have to have a look.

This ties in to the C7+ Pragma What does CUI mean in the export file?
IMAGE_SUBSYSTEM_WINDOWS_CUI 3 The Windows character subsystem

AbdullahAkilah · May 3, 2022, 10:24pm

EXP files are for DLLs only.

CarlBarnes · May 4, 2022, 4:20pm

No … The EXPORTS section of EXP files are for DLLs only and is the most common use of the file (although I think I have read that an EXE can have an Exports table and could in theory be LoadLibrary like a DLL).

The EXP file is like a Linker configuration file for EXE and DLLs. E.g. an EXE must have a DYNAMIC_BASE line to turn On ASLR for the Process, and a DEP line to turn On Data Execution Prevention. An EXE made from an APP should see small EXP like: NAME 'SCHOOL' GUI, for a CwProj they are hand coded.

AbdullahAkilah · May 4, 2022, 6:28pm

Apologies Carl, you are correct.