ack/emtest/READ_ME

This directory contains test programs for EM implementations.
The test programs are all part of the file "tests".
Each individual test program looks like:

	TEST 004: test ...
	 ...		; data declarations etc.
	MAIN nlocal
	 ...		; part of the body of MAIN
	PROC
	 ...		; subroutines used by this test

The PROC part is optional, so the smallest test program looks like:

	TEST 000: null test
	MAIN 0

The keywords used by "select", like TEST, MAIN, PROC, HOL, OK and ERRLAB,
all consist of upper case letters and start in column one.
A convention for test numbers is to use 3 digit numbers, possibly left
padded with zero's.

A program, called "select", is provided to combine a range of tests
into a single test program.
"Select" expects a range as argument, like 0-127, or -127, or 0-.
Tests that have a TEST number in that range are included.
"Select" also expects the file from which the tests should
be selected as an argument.
If no argument is given, or only a range argument, select expects
the tests to slect from on standard input.

To prevent name clashes, some rules must be obeyed:
   - data label names, procedure names and instruction label numbers
     must be unique over all tests. A good habit is to use the
     three digit test number as suffix.
   - only keyword of "select" may start with uppercase letters in column
     one, to allow for expansion in the future.
   - because only a single 'hol' pseudo is allowed, "select" must
     generate the 'hol' pseudo. An individual test may request
     some 'hol' space by a special HOL line, starting in column one
     and followed by a single number, the number of bytes needed.
     This number must consists of digits only, no constant symbols,
     because "select" must compute the maximum, so before the
     preprocessor has replaced the constant symbols by their values.
   - a similar problem is caused by the number of bytes of local
     storage for 'main'. An individual test may specify the number
     of bytes it needs as parameter to the MAIN line.
     Again, the number must consist of digits only.

Test programs print a sequence of integers greater than 1.
This sequence is terminated by the number 1 as soon as an error is detected.
If all tests are performed correctedly the number 0 is printed.

To allow test programs to print integers without the full machinery of
conversion and i/o routines, the EM instruction 'nop' is used.
Each time this instruction is executed, the current line number as
maintained by the 'lin' instruction must be printed, followed by a
newline, at least during debugging.

The following abbrevation may be used in test programs:

	OK	->	lin n
			nop

Numbers are automatically assigned in order of static appearance.
As soon as an error is detected you must branch to label 1, by instructions
like 'bra *1' and 'zne *1'.
Label 1 is automatically provided in the main routine.
If you jump to label 1 in a subroutine, then that subroutine must
end with ERRLAB, like in:

	PROC
	 pro $test,0
	 ...
	 bra *1
	 ...
	 ret 0
	ERRLAB
	 end

An option to "select" is to generate 'fil' instructions whenever a
new test starts.
This is useful if 'nop' prints the 'fil' string as well as the 'lin' number.
This 'f' option is on by default, off if a '-f' flag is given.

The EM file generated by "select" includes "test.h".
"test.h" may contain definitions of the following symbols:
	W2S:	the size of double precision integers, if implemented.
	FS:	the size of single precision floats, if implemented.
	F2S:	the size of double precision floats, if implemented.
The value of these symbols, if defined, must be the size of the object involved.

Two other symbols are used:
	EM_PSIZE:	pointer size
	EM_WSIZE:	word size
The machine dependent translation program, like 8086 and vax2, give
definitions of these symbols while calling the EM encode program.
Because these size names occur quite often, they may be abbreviated:
	WS	->	EM_WSIZE
	PS	->	EM_PSIZE

Before running the tests in the file "tests", it is wise to test
the necessary basic functions with some simple tests like

	TEST 000: null
	MAIN 0
and
	TEST 001: ok
	MAIN 0
	OK
and
	TEST 998: error
	MAIN 0
	 bra *1
and
	TEST 999: test lni
	MAIN 0
	 lin 1
	 lni
	 loe 0
	 loc 2
	 bne *1
	OK
The first two of these are part of "tests" as well. The last two are
not included in "tests" intensionally, because they would fail.
The last tests fails because it references the ABS block which is
inaccessable after an 'hol' pseudo.
Proceed as follows for each of these basic tests:
 - make a file called 'basic' containing the test
 - run select:
	select basic >basic.e
 - compile by
	machine basic.e
 - and load and run

   where machine should be replaced by the name of program
   used to compile EM programs for the current machine.