A script is given words, and keeps them

"do build.sh cosmos.asm" looked for a file called "build.sh cosmos.asm",
because scriptOpen copied the whole rest of the line into the name. So a
script could be told nothing, and a launcher - a script whose entire job
is to hand on what it was told - could not exist.

Now the name is cut off the front and what follows is kept whole. $1 to
$9 are the words of it, walked out on demand, and $args is all of them.
Nothing is stored per parameter, so there is no limit on how many a
script may be handed and no second number to keep in step. Both ways of
starting a script pass them on: "do" and typing the name.

A word that was not given is an error that stops the script, like every
other name this shell does not know. Expanding it to nothing would let a
command run with an argument missing and then report success, which is
what stop-on-failure exists to prevent. $args is always set inside a
script, empty if it was given nothing, so "if same $args" can be asked.

---- And the count that describes the block was already wrong ----

Found while adding a field to it. The state one script keeps for another
is saved by a single copy of a fixed number of bytes, and that number was
71 against a block of 77: six bytes of line position had been added in
the middle of it years after the count was written. So the tail of every
saved script was never saved, and #quiet in a helper stayed behind in the
script that called it - the opposite of what this file's own comment
promises and the README documents.

The unsaved line position turned out not to matter, because a loop keeps
its own copy in the block record. Nothing said so. Three numbers describe
this block and all three now say so in a comment, and cosmosScriptNest
ends on a helper that goes quiet and a caller that must not stay that
way.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01E2JrLzFvuFX9fgi1LDRjrW
This commit is contained in:
Anachronaut
2026-09-06 15:06:32 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 06af7e7fbb
commit d9ebc76cf5
25 changed files with 441 additions and 25 deletions
+1
View File
@@ -46,3 +46,4 @@ Source/Emulator/rom.c
# The personal disk 'make run-voyager' puts in drive 1. Made on demand, never rebuilt, and
# not cleaned - it is the one place in here where something made ON the machine can live.
/Disks/
*.sym
+47 -1
View File
@@ -216,6 +216,52 @@ line comes from - the shell splits it, matches it and runs it without knowing th
a file is reached by its whole name, the way `load` is for a program. See Starting An
Application By Name.
### What A Script Is Given:
Whatever followed the name reaches the script, whichever way it was started - `do build.sh
cosmos.asm` and `build.sh cosmos.asm` hand it the same thing.
| Name | What it stands for |
| -- | -- |
| `$1` to `$9` | The words it was given, counted from one. |
| `$args` | All of them, exactly as they were typed. |
```
#! script
; build.sh <source>
echo building $1
cd /Source
Asm $1
```
**Nothing is stored per parameter.** The line is kept whole and the word wanted is walked out
of it, so there is no limit on how many words a script may be handed and nothing to keep in
step. `$args` is that line; `$1` is a word copied out of it.
**A word that was not given is an error**, exactly like any other name the shell does not
know: `$2` in a script given one word says `nothing is set called 2` and stops the script.
Expanding it to nothing would let a command run with an argument missing and report success,
which is the failure the whole stop-on-error rule exists to prevent. A script that genuinely
wants to work with or without something can ask `if same $args` - and `$args` is always set
inside a script, empty if it was given nothing, so that question can always be asked.
**At the prompt they mean nothing**, and say so. There is no script there to have been given
anything, so `$1` is a name nobody set.
**A script's own words win over anything `set`.** They are looked at before the eight named
slots, so a parameter cannot be shadowed by something left lying about at the prompt.
**Each script has its own**, saved and restored with the rest of where it had got to. A script
that hands different words to a helper still has its own when the helper returns. That is also
what makes a **launcher** possible: a script whose whole body is one line handing on what it
was told, without knowing what any of it means.
```
#! script
; /Apps/Lander - the launcher
Packages/app.Lander/Lander $args
```
```
#! script
; Build the system and put it where the machine will find it.
@@ -325,7 +371,7 @@ CosmOS currently provides these built-in commands:
| `dir` | List the files on the mounted disk and their sizes. |
| `load <path>` | Read and validate an SBEX application, then place its code and data where its header requests. |
| `run [words]` | Start the loaded application and make the rest of the line available to it as an argument. |
| `do <script>` | Run the lines in a file as though they had been typed. See Scripts. |
| `do <script> [words]` | Run the lines in a file as though they had been typed, and hand it those words. See Scripts. |
| `echo [words]` | Say the rest of the line, or a blank line with nothing after it. |
| `clear` | Empty the screen. |
| `drive [n]` | Say which disk the shell is on, or go to another. See Several Disks. |
+177 -1
View File
@@ -133,6 +133,11 @@ bootNoDisk:
; to ignore it. A file that is THERE and is not a script is the other case entirely: somebody
; meant it to run.
bootStartup:
; Nobody typed this one, so there is nothing to give it.
SETD.2 NoText
SETD.1 ScriptArgsFrom
STD.2.1
SETD.0 StartupName
CALL scriptOpen
BRQ bootReady
@@ -2647,10 +2652,18 @@ varExpandNamed:
varExpandLookUp:
SETD.1 VarKeepLine
STD.0.1 ; Where the line has got to, across the search.
; A script's own names are asked about first, so that a parameter cannot be shadowed by
; something set at the prompt. Only inside a script: at the prompt "$1" is a name nobody
; set, and gets told so like any other.
CALL varScriptName
BRQ varExpandFound
SETD.0 VarName
CALL varFind
BNQ varExpandNoSuch
CALL varValueOf
varExpandFound:
SETD.1 VarKeepLine
LDD.0.1
@@ -2733,6 +2746,139 @@ varExpandLong:
CALL newLine
BRI commandFailed
; ---- The names a script gets for nothing ----
;
; "$args" is everything it was given, and "$1" to "$9" are the words of that, counted from
; one. Nothing is stored per parameter: the line it was given is kept whole and the word
; wanted is walked out of it, so there is no limit on how many a script may be handed and
; nothing to keep in step.
;
; A NAME ONE OF THESE MISSES IS AN ERROR, like every other name this shell does not know.
; "$2" in a script given one word says so and stops it, rather than quietly becoming nothing
; and letting a command run with an argument missing - which is the rule set.asm's own comment
; argues for at length, applied to the names a script did not have to set.
;
; Q is zero if VarName is one of them, and DP3 is left on the value. DP3 because a RET puts
; the others back, which is the same reason varValueOf answers there.
varScriptName:
SETD.1 ScriptDepth
LDA.1
BRA varScriptNo ; Not in a script, so these names mean nothing here.
SETD.0 VarName
SETD.1 ArgsWord
CALL textSame
BRQ varScriptAll
; One character, and that character a digit from one to nine. Testing the length first is
; what keeps "1st" from being read as "1".
SETD.0 VarName
INCD.0
LDA.0
BNA varScriptNo
SETD.0 VarName
LDA.0
INIB 0x31
CCF
SUB
BRC varScriptNo ; Below '1'. There is no word nought.
LDA.0
INIB 0x3A
CCF
SUB
BNC varScriptNo ; Above '9'.
LDA.0
INIB 0x30
CCF
SUB
MVQA ; Which word is wanted, one to nine.
CALL varScriptWord
RET
varScriptAll:
SETD.3 ScriptArgs
RSTA
RSTB
CCF
ADD ; Q is zero: it is one of them.
RET
varScriptNo:
INIA 0x01
RSTB
CCF
ADD
RET
; A is which word is wanted. Copies it out into VarWord and leaves DP3 on it, because the
; words are separated by spaces rather than ended by zeroes and everything downstream of here
; walks a string until it ends.
;
; Q is one if the script was not given that many, which reads as a name that is not set.
varScriptWord:
SETD.1 VarWordWanted
STA.1
SETD.0 ScriptArgs
varScriptSkip:
LDA.0
BRA varScriptShort ; The end, and the word wanted is past it.
INIB 0x20
CCF
SUB
BNQ varScriptWordAt ; Not a space, so a word begins here.
INCD.0
BRI varScriptSkip
varScriptWordAt:
SETD.1 VarWordWanted
LDA.1
DECA
STA.1
BRA varScriptTake ; Counted down to nought, so this is the one.
varScriptPast:
LDA.0
BRA varScriptShort
INIB 0x20
CCF
SUB
BRQ varScriptSkip ; The end of this word, so the next one is looked for.
INCD.0
BRI varScriptPast
varScriptTake:
SETD.1 VarWord
varScriptTakeChar:
LDA.0
BRA varScriptTaken
INIB 0x20
CCF
SUB
BRQ varScriptTaken
LDA.0
STA.1
INCD.0
INCD.1
BRI varScriptTakeChar
varScriptTaken:
RSTA
STA.1 ; The zero that makes it a string.
SETD.3 VarWord
RSTB
CCF
ADD ; Q is zero, A having been reset above.
RET
varScriptShort:
INIA 0x01
RSTB
CCF
ADD
RET
varExpandNoSuch:
SETD.0 VarNoSuch
CALL printString
@@ -3521,6 +3667,13 @@ promptAsScript:
LDA.0
CALL sbfsUse
; Whatever followed the word, which reaches a script the same way it reaches a program.
; The line was split before the dispatch chain ran, so this is already the rest of it.
SETD.1 TextRest
LDD.2.1
SETD.1 ScriptArgsFrom
STD.2.1
SETD.0 ProgramName
CALL scriptOpen
BRQ prompt ; It is open, and the next line read will come from it.
@@ -4898,6 +5051,17 @@ doScript:
LDA.0
BRA scriptNoName
; The file, and then whatever else was on the line. textSplit cuts the first word off in
; place and leaves TextRest on what follows, and a RET puts DP0 back - so afterwards DP0
; names just the file and TextRest names what the script is being given.
;
; Through DP2, because DP0 is the file and must still be it when scriptOpen is called.
CALL textSplit
SETD.1 TextRest
LDD.2.1
SETD.1 ScriptArgsFrom
STD.2.1
CALL scriptOpen
BRQ prompt ; It is open, and the next line read will come from it.
@@ -7598,7 +7762,7 @@ HelpCdText:
mkdir <path> make a directory
rmdir <path> remove an empty one"
HelpScriptText:
"do <file> run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
"do <file> [words] run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
echo [words] say them
clear empty the screen"
HelpMoreText:
@@ -7809,6 +7973,12 @@ ShellNameCount:
AppsPath:
"/Apps"
ArgsWord:
"args"
; An empty string, for a script the machine started rather than somebody typing, which was
; therefore given nothing.
NoText:
0x00
VarNoSuch:
"nothing is set called "
VarTooLong:
@@ -8249,6 +8419,12 @@ VarSlots:
#Reserve 0d512
VarSlot:
0x00
; One word of what a script was given, copied out so that it ends in a zero like every other
; value. A whole line of room, because one word can be the whole line.
VarWord:
#Reserve 0d128
VarWordWanted:
0x00
VarWanted:
0x00 0x00
VarKeepValue:
+50 -8
View File
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ scriptSlotAt:
DECA
BRA scriptSlotDone
scriptSlotStep:
DPUP.3 0d71
DPUP.3 0d205
DECA
BNA scriptSlotStep
scriptSlotDone:
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ scriptSlotDone:
; Seventy bytes, DP0 to DP1.
scriptCopyState:
INIB 0d71
INIB 0d205
scriptCopyByte:
LDA.0
STA.1
@@ -154,6 +154,17 @@ scriptOpenFirst:
INIB 0d63
CALL copyText
; ---- And what it was given ----
;
; After the push, so that what the script one level up was given is already somewhere safe.
; A script started with nothing gets an EMPTY one rather than none at all, which is what
; makes "$args" always mean something inside a script while "$1" can be missing.
SETD.1 ScriptArgsFrom
LDD.0.1
SETD.1 ScriptArgs
INIB 0d128
CALL copyText
CALL scriptKeepDrive
SETD.0 ScriptName
SWI osFileInfo
@@ -584,11 +595,30 @@ ScriptDepth:
ScriptDrive:
0x00
; ---- Seventy bytes, and they are next to each other on purpose ----
; Where the arguments are, for the length of one call to scriptOpen. A pointer rather than the
; text, because the text is still sitting in the line that named the script and copying it
; twice would buy nothing.
ScriptArgsFrom:
0x00 0x00
; ---- Two hundred and five bytes, and they are next to each other on purpose ----
;
; Name, blocks left, next block, where in the block, and whether it is echoing: the whole of
; where a script has got to. Saving it is one copy because of this order, and nothing else
; may be put between them.
; Name, blocks left, next block, where in the block, what it was given, and whether it is
; echoing: the whole of a running script. Saving it is one copy because of this order, and
; nothing else may be put between them.
;
; ---- THREE NUMBERS DESCRIBE THIS BLOCK AND ALL THREE MUST AGREE ----
;
; scriptCopyState how many bytes one of them is
; scriptSlotAt how far apart two saved ones are
; ScriptSaved four of them
;
; They did not agree, and that is what this warning is for. Six bytes of line position were
; added in the middle of the block and the count stayed at 71, so the last six bytes of every
; saved script were never saved: a nested script's #quiet leaked back out to the script that
; called it, which is the opposite of what this file's own comment promises. The line position
; that went unsaved with it turned out not to matter - a loop keeps its own copy in the block
; record - but nothing said so, and the next field added would have been chosen at random.
ScriptName:
#Reserve 0d64
ScriptBlocks:
@@ -617,10 +647,22 @@ ScriptLineBlocks:
ScriptQuiet:
0x00
; ---- What the script was given ----
;
; The rest of the line that started it, kept whole rather than picked apart, because picking
; it apart costs a place to put every piece and a limit on how many there may be. "$1" walks
; this and copies out the word it wants; "$args" is this.
;
; A WHOLE LINE OF ROOM, so that nothing a person can type can be cut short. The line is 127
; and the script's own name has already come off the front of it, so this can never be filled
; - which is worth 128 bytes a level to never have to explain.
ScriptArgs:
#Reserve 0d128
; Three would do - a save happens on the second script and not the first - but four costs
; seventy bytes and removes an off-by-one from the only place it could hide.
; one more and removes an off-by-one from the only place it could hide.
ScriptSaved:
#Reserve 0d284
#Reserve 0d820
ScriptInto:
0x00 0x00
ScriptRoom:
+1 -1
View File
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ from `make`, not from here.
### 1. Recorded output
`Tests/run.sh` assembles each program named in `Tests/manifest`, runs it, and compares
everything it printed against a file in `Tests/expected`. 213 tests, of which 151 run, 35
everything it printed against a file in `Tests/expected`. 214 tests, of which 152 run, 35
only assemble, 16 are expected to fail to assemble, and 11 boot from ROM with no image
given at all.
+1 -1
View File
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ run [words] start what was loaded, and tell it those words
cd [path] go to a directory, or to the root with nothing after it
mkdir <path> make a directory
rmdir <path> remove an empty one
do <file> run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
do <file> [words] run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
echo [words] say them
clear empty the screen
delete <file> take it off the disk
+6 -1
View File
@@ -44,8 +44,13 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
crossed.txt 560
32 files, 1 directory
37 files, 1 directory
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+1 -1
View File
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ run [words] start what was loaded, and tell it those words
cd [path] go to a directory, or to the root with nothing after it
mkdir <path> make a directory
rmdir <path> remove an empty one
do <file> run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
do <file> [words] run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
echo [words] say them
clear empty the screen
delete <file> take it off the disk
+6 -1
View File
@@ -34,7 +34,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> drive 1
> dir
other.txt 28
+6 -1
View File
@@ -51,7 +51,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+6 -1
View File
@@ -41,7 +41,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+6 -1
View File
@@ -41,7 +41,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+1 -1
View File
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ run [words] start what was loaded, and tell it those words
cd [path] go to a directory, or to the root with nothing after it
mkdir <path> make a directory
rmdir <path> remove an empty one
do <file> run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
do <file> [words] run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
echo [words] say them
clear empty the screen
delete <file> take it off the disk
+6 -1
View File
@@ -127,7 +127,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+6 -1
View File
@@ -46,7 +46,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+6 -1
View File
@@ -34,7 +34,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> load
load what?
> load nosuch.sbx
+43
View File
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
CosmOS
> do args.script red green
> echo one is $1
one is red
> echo two is $2
two is green
> echo all of it is $args
all of it is red green
> args.script blue yellow
> echo one is $1
one is blue
> echo two is $2
two is yellow
> echo all of it is $args
all of it is blue yellow
> pass.script hello there
> Say $args
it says: hello there
finished
> do holds.script top level
> echo outer has $1
outer has top
> do args.script deep down
> echo one is $1
one is deep
> echo two is $2
two is down
> echo all of it is $args
all of it is deep down
> echo outer still has $1 and $args
outer still has top and top level
> do args.script only
> echo one is $1
one is only
> echo two is $2
nothing is set called 2
stopped: that line did not work
> $1
nothing is set called 1
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
[exit 0]
+7
View File
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@ self
> do loop.script
do: scripts are only four deep
stopped: that line did not work
> do aloud.script
> echo aloud first
aloud first
> do hush.script
the helper is quiet
> echo aloud again
aloud again
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+6 -1
View File
@@ -32,7 +32,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> load Say.sbx
loaded, starting at 5000
> run the disk took its time
+6 -1
View File
@@ -41,7 +41,12 @@ nonl.script 38
outer.script 376
inner.script 44
loop.script 35
31 files, 1 directory
hush.script 42
aloud.script 59
args.script 64
pass.script 20
holds.script 87
36 files, 1 directory
> exit
halted
Execution halted.
+1 -1
View File
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ run [words] start what was loaded, and tell it those words
cd [path] go to a directory, or to the root with nothing after it
mkdir <path> make a directory
rmdir <path> remove an empty one
do <file> run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
do <file> [words] run the lines in a file, which must start with #!
echo [words] say them
clear empty the screen
delete <file> take it off the disk
+7
View File
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
do args.script red green
args.script blue yellow
pass.script hello there
do holds.script top level
do args.script only
$1
exit
+1
View File
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
do outer.script
do loop.script
do aloud.script
exit
+27
View File
@@ -296,6 +296,33 @@ printf '#! script\necho inner one\necho inner two\n' > inner.script
# A script that runs itself, which is what the depth limit is for.
printf '#! script\necho self\ndo loop.script\n' > loop.script
"$TOOL" put "$DISKS/cosmos.img" loop.script >/dev/null
# ---- And what a nested script gives back ----
#
# hush.script goes quiet and heard.script must not stay that way. The state one script keeps
# for another is saved by a single copy of a fixed number of bytes, and that number was six
# short of the block it was copying - so the last fields of it, quiet among them, were never
# saved at all. Nothing said so: the echo simply stopped, in the caller, after the helper
# returned. The check is that "echo aloud again" is ECHOED and not merely obeyed.
#
# MIND WHAT A NEW NAME HERE BEGINS WITH. Tab is checked against this disk, and a second file
# sharing a prefix with one of the words those tests type turns a unique completion into a
# list. "heard.script" was the first draft and it shadowed hello.sbx.
printf '#! script\n#quiet\necho the helper is quiet\n' > hush.script
"$TOOL" put "$DISKS/cosmos.img" hush.script >/dev/null
printf '#! script\necho aloud first\ndo hush.script\necho aloud again\n' > aloud.script
"$TOOL" put "$DISKS/cosmos.img" aloud.script >/dev/null
# ---- What a script is given ----
#
# args.script says what reached it; pass.script is the shape a launcher has, handing on what
# it was told without knowing what any of it means; holds.script gives a helper different
# words and must still have its own afterwards.
printf '#! script\necho one is $1\necho two is $2\necho all of it is $args\n' > args.script
"$TOOL" put "$DISKS/cosmos.img" args.script >/dev/null
printf '#! script\nSay $args\n' > pass.script
"$TOOL" put "$DISKS/cosmos.img" pass.script >/dev/null
printf '#! script\necho outer has $1\ndo args.script deep down\necho outer still has $1 and $args\n' > holds.script
"$TOOL" put "$DISKS/cosmos.img" holds.script >/dev/null
# ---- A disk that starts itself ----
#
+16
View File
@@ -983,7 +983,23 @@ cosmosScriptEdges | CosmOS/Source/cosmos.asm | run | cosmosScr
# into the single buffer, so coming back means reading the outer one's again and landing on
# the byte it left. Then a script that runs itself, which stops at four deep and takes every
# level with it, because a build whose helper failed should not carry on in its caller.
# It also ends on the state a nested script gives back. The saved block is copied by a fixed
# count, that count was six bytes short of the block, and quiet was in the six - so a helper
# that went quiet left its caller quiet. "echo aloud again" being ECHOED is the check.
cosmosScriptNest | CosmOS/Source/cosmos.asm | run | cosmosScriptNest.in | 200000000 | disks/cosmos.img
# ---- What a script is given ----
#
# $1 to $9 are the words it was handed and $args is all of them. Nothing is stored per
# parameter: the line is kept whole and the word wanted is walked out of it.
#
# Five claims in one session. Both ways of starting a script pass words on - "do" and typing
# the name. A LAUNCHER can hand on what it was told without knowing what any of it means,
# which is the reason this rung is on the ladder at all. A nested script gets its own words
# and the caller still has its own afterwards. And a word that was not given is an ERROR that
# stops the script, like every other name the shell does not know - not silently nothing,
# which would let a command run with an argument missing. At the prompt they are ordinary
# unset names, because there is no script to have been given anything.
cosmosScriptArgs | CosmOS/Source/cosmos.asm | run | cosmosScriptArgs.in | 200000000 | disks/cosmos.img
# ---- Starting itself ----
#
# /System/Boot/startup.sh runs before anybody can type. This one is also the check on #quiet