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readme tweaks, mainly

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pommicket 2021-11-10 12:55:41 -05:00
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README.md
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@ -17,7 +17,14 @@ Note that the executables produced in this series will only run on
64-bit Linux, because each OS/architecture combination would need its own separate
executable.
The README for the first stage is [here](00/README.md).
## table of contents
- [stage 00](00/README.md) - a program converting a text file with
hexadecimal digit pairs to a binary file.
- [stage 01](01/README.md) - a language with comments, and 2-character
command codes.
- [stage 02](02/README.md) - a language with labels
- more coming soon (hopefully)
## prerequisite knowledge
@ -44,8 +51,7 @@ decimal.
- ASCII, null-terminated strings
- how pointers work
- how floating-point numbers work
- maybe some basic Intel-style x86-64 assembly (you can probably pick it up on
the way though)
- some basic Intel-style x86-64 assembly
It will help you a lot to know how to program (with any programming language),
but it's not strictly necessary.
@ -53,12 +59,11 @@ but it's not strictly necessary.
## instruction set
x86-64 has a *gigantic* instruction set. The manual for it is over 2,000 pages
long! So, it makes sense to select only a small subset of it to use for all the
stages of our compiler. The set I've chosen can be found in `instructions.txt`.
long! So it makes sense to select only a small subset of it to use.
The set I've chosen can be found in `instructions.txt`.
I think it achieves a pretty good balance between having few enough
instructions to be manageable and having enough instructions to be useable.
To be clear, you don't need to read that file to understand the series, at least
not right away.
To be clear, you don't need to read that file to understand the series.
## principles
@ -91,15 +96,15 @@ project can't necessarily even do that though, because the Linux kernel, which
we depend on, is compiled from C, so we can't fully trust *it*. To *truly*
create a fully trustable compiler, you'd need to manually write to a USB with a
circuit, create an operating system from nothing (without even a text editor),
and then follow this series, or maybe you don't even trust your CPU vendor...
I'll leave that to someone else
and then follow this series, or maybe you don't even trust your CPU...
I'll leave that to someone else.
## license
```
This project is in the public domain. Any copyright protections from any law
for this project are forfeited by the author(s). No warranty is provided for
this project, and the author(s) shall not be held liable in connection with it.
are forfeited by the author(s). No warranty is provided, and the author(s)
shall not be held liable in connection with it.
```
## contributing