nand2tetris-vm-translator

This small piece of software translates static pseudocode as described in chapters 7 and 8 of The Elements of Computing System to VM code runnable on the book's VM emulator.

Features

The program converts push/pop commands as follows:

• push c -> push constant c, where c is a constant,
• push x -> push static n, where x is a variable name and n is a memory address,
• pop n -> pop that n, where n is a memory address, and
• pop x -> pop static n, where x is a variable name and n is a memory address.

It also supports a print macro, that "prints" an 8-bit integer by writing it to the first word in the graphics memory. It translates as follows:

• print -> pop that 16384, writes the last element on the stack to the graphics memory
• print c -> push constant c, pop that 16384, where c is a constant, and
• print x -> push static n, pop that 16384, where x is a variable name and n is a memory address.

Contents

The project consists of a single file of Java sourcecode, accompanied by three example files:

• loop.py, a piece of Python code describing a simple loop.
• loop-pseudo.vm, a file containing pseudo VM code. Please note that most comments will be lost in translation.
• loop-sane.vm, a file showcasing what the translated code from loop-pseudo.vm will look like. Please note that the file has been manually edited with comments to match the comments from loop-pseudo.vm.

How to build

Make sure that you have installed a Java 8 SDK before attempting to install the software. The software makes use of features not available prior to Java 8. Once done, compile the software by running

$ javac Translator.java

The software is now compiled and ready to be used.

Usage

The software runs from the terminal. To translate a file, simply type

$ java Translator sourcefile.vm result.vm

where sourcefile.vm contains pseudocode and result.vm contains the resulting VM code.