SIX12 User's Manual

                             Version 8

                    BLISS-36 Compatible Version

                  TOPS10/TOPS20 Compatible Version




























                                NOTE

               This version of SIX12 has removed much
               of the prior support for code produced
               by BLISS-10, in favor of  improvements
               to the Bliss-36 support and simplicity
               of   the   implementation   of   SIX12
               functionality.



                                - 1 -

SIX12  User's  Manual                                          Page ii


CHAPTER 1       INTRODUCTION

        1.1     ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
        1.2     SIX12 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
        1.3     ADVANTAGES OF SIX12 OVER DDT . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
        1.4     DISADVANTAGES OF SIX12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
        1.5     CAVEATS FOR BLISS-36 USERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4


CHAPTER 2       BASIC SIX12


CHAPTER 3       SIX12 EXPRESSIONS


CHAPTER 4       BASIC BLISS OPERATORS

        4.1     ASSIGNMENT IN SIX12  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
        4.2     STRUCTURE ACCESSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
        4.3     NUMBERS, NAMES AND STRINGS . . . . . . . . . . . .  14


CHAPTER 5       PEEKING AND POKING


CHAPTER 6       BREAKPOINTING, TRACING


CHAPTER 7       GETTING IN AND OUT OF SIX12

        7.1     GETTING IN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
        7.2     GETTING OUT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
        7.3     KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26


CHAPTER 8       CONCERNING DDT

        8.1     CONTROL TRANSFERS BETWEEN SIX12 AND DDT  . . . . .  28
        8.2     CAUTIONS WITH DDT BREAKPOINTS  . . . . . . . . . .  29
        8.3     MODIFYING ACS FROM DDT . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29


CHAPTER 9       CONSOLE INPUT MONITORING


CHAPTER 10      MONITORING VARIABLES


CHAPTER 11      MACROS AND SYMBOL DEFINITION


CHAPTER 12      LINE PRINTER AND DISK I/O




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SIX12  User's  Manual                                         Page iii


CHAPTER 13      DISPLAY

        13.1    DISPLAYING ROUTINE-CALL STACK  . . . . . . . . . .  39
        13.2    SYMBOL-TABLE SEARCHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
        13.3    EXAMINING THE STATE OF SIX12 . . . . . . . . . . .  41
        13.4    WRITING YOUR OWN PARAMETER DISPLAY . . . . . . . .  43


CHAPTER 14      CONDITION HANDLING


CHAPTER 15      APR ERROR RECOVERY


CHAPTER 16      MISCELLANEOUS OPERATORS


CHAPTER 17      USING SIX12

        17.1    GENERAL USAGE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  51
        17.2    LINK-TIME OPTIONS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
        17.3    TOPS-10 USAGE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  52
        17.4    SIX12 AND OVERLAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  53
        17.5    SIX12 AND USER UUO HANDLERS  . . . . . . . . . . .  54


CHAPTER 18      DEFINING YOUR OWN OPERATORS

        18.1    WHAT DEFINES AN OPERATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . .  56
        18.1.1    Important Restriction  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  58
        18.2    DEFINING OPERATORS FROM SIX12  . . . . . . . . . .  58
        18.3    DEFINING OPERATORS FROM A USER PROGRAM . . . . . .  59


APPENDIX A      GLOBAL ENTRY POINTS, VALUES AND DATA AREAS


APPENDIX B      BUILDING A SIX12

        B.1     UNUSUAL REGISTER ALLOCATIONS . . . . . . . . . . .  64


APPENDIX C      ERROR MESSAGES


Index










                                - 3 -













                              CHAPTER 1

                             INTRODUCTION



This document is intended as a from-scratch introduction to SIX12,  an
extensive  debugging  aid  for Bliss programs on the DEC-System 10/20.
It applies to the version of November, 1981.



1.1  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A great deal of credit for the development of  SIX12  goes  to  R.  K.
Johnsson, C. B. Weinstock, W. A. Wulf, T. Lane and J. M. Newcomer, all
from Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU).   SIX12  began  as  a  symbolic
debugger for Bliss-10, which was also developed by CMU.

Many of the changes are the work of Ron Brender of  Digital  Equipment
Corporation.   These  include  the  changes  for  Bliss-36 support and
TOPS-20 I/O, the multiple configurations  which  produce  the  several
versions  of  SIX12  for  the  cross-product  of Bliss-10 and Bliss-36
support for TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 operating systems, cleaned up  display
formatting,  enhanced  displays  of  status, and the ability to access
actual parameters and local variables.

Joe Newcomer (CMU) added the single-step  support,  polling  override,
module   qualification,  online  help,  STORE/RECALL  facility,  WATCH
command, and condition handling facilities.

This version was re-written in Bliss-36 by Digital.   It  is  supplied
with  the BLISS V3 release as a favor to the user-community, and it is
not a supported part of the  BLISS  product.   Most  of  the  Bliss-10
specific  support  has  been  removed  and  a  considerable  amount of
internal documentation and clean-up has been done.



1.2  SIX12 OVERVIEW

SIX12 is a specialized debugger adapted to the Bliss environment.   It
is not intended as a substitute for DDT;  the user is expected to link
both with his program and use whichever is more convenient to the need
of  the  moment.   Under  this assumption there has been no attempt to
duplicate functions already well-performed by DDT, namely

                                - 1 -

INTRODUCTION                                                  Page 1-2


      o  breakpointing and tracing at the instruction level.

      o  symbolic typeout and typein in any  mode  required  (at  last
         count  DDT  could  display  or  accept values in over a dozen
         different modes).


SIX12 is oriented to the Bliss programming environment in two ways:

      o  It conforms to Bliss philosophy and  notation.   A  debugging
         command  is  syntactically  an  expression, which is read in,
         evaluated, and the value (if  any)  printed.   However,  much
         modification  has  been  made  to  the  Bliss  syntax  in the
         interests of flexibility.  In particular,  an  expression  is
         not  required always to yield a fullword value.  It may yield
         no value, or a vector  value  of  several  words.   Also  the
         syntax  accepted  for  operators has been expanded to include
         nullary  operators,  which  have  no  operands,  and  postfix
         operators which follow their operand.  For example,

         A AND 7        uses the infix operator "*AND*"

         .              uses the prefix operator "*."

         GO             uses the nullary operator "*GO*"

         137/           uses the postfix operator "*/"

         BREAK R1,ERROR,PRINT
                         uses the  prefix  operator  "*BREAK*",  which
                         accepts  a vector operand.  A higher-priority
                         infix operator  "*,"  is  used  to  form  the
                         vector from elementary operands.

         (As demonstrated in the last example, with this syntax we can
         get  by  without any keyword forms (for declarations etc.) at
         all.  To SIX12 everything is an  operator  or  operand.   The
         user  will  find  it more convenient, of course, to visualize
         commands formatted in this way as keyword followed by a  list
         of arguments.)

      o  SIX12  is   routine-oriented.    By   this   we   mean   that
         breakpointing,  tracing,  and  similar functions dealing with
         flow-of-control all occur  at  the  abstract  routine  level,
         rather  than  at the individual machine instruction level (as
         in DDT).  In still another way:  the smallest  unit  of  code
         that  SIX12 can see is a Routine.  Breakpoints must always be
         set at either the entry or exit of a routine, and tracing  of
         execution  is  always  in terms of routine calls and returns.
         DDT is used when code must be dealt with  below  the  routine
         level.





                                - 2 -

INTRODUCTION                                                  Page 1-3


1.3  ADVANTAGES OF SIX12 OVER DDT

SIX12 has the following advantages compared to DDT:

     1.  Source  language   debugging.    SIX12   accepts   Bliss-like
         notation,  and  does  tracing  and  breaking in a form easily
         relatable to the original source program.

     2.  Facilities that DDT does not provide, for instance

          -  the ability to monitor data (not  instruction)  locations
             and report when they are modified,

          -  the ability to interrupt the program  on  console  input.
             If  any  line-break  character  (e.g.,  escape, linefeed,
             etc.) is typed while the program is executing (i.e., when
             not  in  TTY  input wait), SIX12 will be entered and will
             prompt for debugging commands.


     3.  Extendability.   SIX12  permits  easy   definition   of   new
         operators;  in addition simple macros can be defined and used
         in expressions.

     4.  SIX12 can be used to  debug  in  shared  high-segments.   The
         SIX12  linkage  has  been designed so that two or more people
         can be debugging the same or different  routines,  and  still
         others  running  without  using the debugger, all in the same
         high-segment without interference.  DDT breakpoints cannot be
         used in shared code.




1.4  DISADVANTAGES OF SIX12

SIX12 has the following disadvantages compared to DDT:

     1.  No access to program at machine code level.

     2.  Limited variety of modes for symbolic typeout  or  typein  of
         values.

     3.  Speed, or rather lack of it.  SIX12 requires some computation
         at every routine call or return, while DDT requires time only
         at breakpoints (and less time at that).

     4.  Space required.  SIX12  uses  about  18P  (9K)  in  the  high
         segment  and  7P  (3.5K)  in  the low segment, besides the 2K
         low-segment space for DDT, and the program-dependent  low-seg
         space  for the symbol table (which, however, is required even
         for DDT).




                                - 3 -

INTRODUCTION                                                  Page 1-4


                                 NOTE

               The first two of these are alleviated by
               the  ease  with  which one can pass from
               SIX12 to DDT and back.   Thus  the  full
               facilities of DDT are still available to
               the SIX12 user.





1.5  CAVEATS FOR BLISS-36 USERS

Although SIX12 has been enhanced for use with Bliss-36,  for  example,
by  extending  the  syntax  of  identifiers, the addition of Block and
Blockvector types of access, and condition  handling,  Bliss-36  users
may  be  confused by some of the syntactic features of SIX12 which are
based on its original design for use with the Bliss-10 language.  Some
equivalents  are  given  in  the  table below.  There are currently no
plans to modify SIX12 to eliminate these inconsistencies.

        Bliss-10        Bliss-36        SIX12
        --------        --------        -----

        "X"             %C'X'           "X"

        'abcde'         %ascii 'abcde'  'abcde'

        @               .               .

        #773            %O'773'         773 (base 8)
                                        #773 (base 10)

        978             978             #978 (base 8)
                                        978 (base 10)

        ?.JBREL         %name('.JBREL') ?.JBREL
                                        &JBREL

        ?%CNVR          _CNVR           _CNVR
                        %name('%CNVR')  ?%CNVR

        ?$GTMEM         $GTMEM          $GTMEM

        A = 5           A = 5           A = 5
        A _ 5









                                - 4 -













                              CHAPTER 2

                             BASIC SIX12



This chapter is a first-time introduction to SIX12, and for details of
the commands you should consult the referenced sections.

You must first compile <at least> your main module with SIX12 linkages
(the DEBUG switch declaration in the module head).  Failure to do this
is the most common  beginner's  error,  and  results  in  the  runtime
message:

        ?Halt at user PC <addr>                         On TOPS-10

or

        ?Illegal instruction 37000,,<addr> at <addr>    On TOPS-20
        ?Undefined operation code

If you look at the address given, you will find a DEBUG.  instruction,
opcode  037  octal.   Recompile  your  main  module  with  the  /DEBUG
qualifier and relink your system.

There are many versions  of  SIX12  which  can  be  linked  into  your
program.   These  are  selected  by such options as TOPS-10 or TOPS-20
support, BLISS36C or BLISS10  linkages,  etc.   The  complete  set  of
options are described in Appendix C.

Any time you are in SIX12, as indicated by the & prompt, and  want  to
resume  execution of your program, type *GO*.  Control returns to your
program where it left off.  There are several common ways of  entering
SIX12:

     1.  When your program starts  to  run,  it  enters  SIX12  before
         calling your main routine.

     2.  If at any time  you  type  a  line-terminating  character  to
         TOPS-10  or any character to TOPS-20, SIX12 will take control
         at the next routine entry or exit (this can be disabled).

     3.  A routine entry or exit occurs at which a breakpoint is set.




                                - 5 -

BASIC SIX12                                                   Page 2-2


The complete list of SIX12 entry and resumption techniques is given in
chapter 7.

The most common operations are examining and modifying locations.  The
"*/"  operator[1],  "*!"  operator, and "*." operator all allow you to
examine locations:

        &foo/
        foo/    1234 == baz+23
        &.foo
                1234 == baz+23
        &

This shows examining the location whose name is  foo.   The  value  is
printed  out  both  in  the  prevailing  radix (normally octal) and in
symbolic form.  To examine multiple locations, use  the  *!*  operator
(chapter 5) which takes the number of locations to examine:

        &foo!3
        foo/    1234 == baz+23
        foo+1/  0 == 0
        foo+2/  1235 == baz+24
        &


To modify a location, use the assignment  operator  *=*  (chapter  5).
Remember  Bliss is an expression language, so use parentheses to force
proper evaluation:

        &foo = .foo + 5
                1241 == baz+30
        &(foo+1) = 1
                1 == 1
        &


Another very common operation is to set breakpoints or trace routines.
To do this, use the *BREAK* or *TRACE* commands;  these take the names
of routines to break at or trace:

        &break foobar,thud
        &trace gorp
        &


You can also set a breakpoint or tracepoint after a routine  by  using
the  *ABREAK*  or  *ATRACE*  commands  and remove breakpoints or trace
requests by using  the  *DTRACE*,  *DBREAK*,  *DATRACE*  or  *DABREAK*
commands.

You can single-step your program  by  using  the  <linefeed>  command;

    ------------------------------

[1] chosen for similarity to DDT

                                - 6 -

BASIC SIX12                                                   Page 2-3


execution progresses routine-by-routine for each <linefeed> given.  If
you get to some routine entry and know  that  nothing  interesting  is
going  to  happen  (say,  an  output routine), use the *OK* command to
execute that routine and all the ones it calls without single-stepping
thru  them.  You will get control at the next breakpoint or at the end
of the routine you give the *OK* to, whichever comes first.

The complete list of breakpointing and tracing  options  is  given  in
chapter 6.

When you are at a breakpoint, the  *CALLS*  operator  will  print  the
entire call stack;  or use *CALL* <n> to print out the <n> most recent
calls on the stack.  Complete details of  displaying  information  are
given in chapter 13.

The *MONITOR* command lets you "continuously" check several  locations
to  see  if  they  change  (the check actually occurs at every routine
entry and exit).  See chapter 10.

The *WHERE* command lets you find out the module and location of  some
octal  value  (such as is printed out when an illegal memory reference
is taken).

You now have enough information to start successfully using SIX12.
































                                - 7 -













                              CHAPTER 3

                          SIX12 EXPRESSIONS



At  the  lexical  level,  SIX12  treats  lower  case  and  upper  case
identically,  so  commands may be typed in either case or a mixture of
both.  In addition, SIX12 will recognize any unique abbreviation  (two
characters minimum) for any of its alphabetic operators.  Thus, all of
the lines below say the same thing:

        IF |.A LSS .B| BREAK FOO,BAZ
        if |.a lss .b| break foo,baz
        if |.a ls .b| BREAK foo,baz
        if |.a ls .b| br foo,baz


SIX12 contains a fairly intelligent  syntax  analyzer/evaluator  which
can  evaluate  quite  complex  expressions.   For instance, all of the
following are legal Bliss expressions;  they are also legal  in  SIX12
and would produce the same result.

        .ALPHA
        SUM = .SUM + 3
        NOT .FLAGS<1,1>
        MYROUTINE (7, .B, XYZ())
        SUM = 0; COUNT = .COUNT + 1


The syntax analyzer recognizes two classes of objects:  operators  and
operands.   The  meaning  of operators is not built into the analyzer,
but is defined by a table of  routines  which  are  to  be  called  to
evaluate  them.  This makes it simple to add new operators or redefine
old ones;  this can even be done at runtime if the necessary  routines
are  compiled  and  linked  separately  with  SIX12.  (The methods for
defining your own operators are discussed later;  we assume everywhere
in  this  document  that  you  have  not  tampered  with  any standard
operators.) The meaning  of  operands,  however,  is  built  into  the
analyzer.  The possible types of operand are

        <number>        <string>        <symbol>





                                - 8 -

SIX12 EXPRESSIONS                                             Page 3-2


A <number> is a sequence of digits, possibly preceded by a number sign
*#.   Its  value  is  the  equivalent  signed, two's complement binary
integer.  The number is assumed to be written in the default radix  or
base, which can be set or examined by the standard operator *BASE*.

The escape character *# is provided to ease the use of two radices:  a
number  preceded  by  *#*  is  taken  to  be  written  in  octal radix
regardless of the default radix, unless the default radix is octal, in
which case the number is taken as decimal.  For example,

Default Radix           Input   Value
-------------           -----   -----

10 (decimal)               34   000042 octal
10                        #34   000034 octal
 2 (binary)             10110   000026 octal
 2                        #34   000034 octal
 8 ( octal)                34   000034 octal
 8                        #34   000042 octal


Thus when the default base  is  decimal,  this  is  the  same  as  the
Bliss-10  source  convention.   When SIX12 is initialized, the default
base is octal (as with DDT).

Strings are entered as

        'string'        or      "string"

corresponding to left- and right-adjusted ASCII strings  respectively.
In either type of string the other string delimiter can appear freely,
and double occurrences of the string delimiting character are used  to
denote   it  once.   This  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  Bliss-10
convention.  However, note the following differences:

      o  ?  is not implemented as an escape  character  (not  relevant
         for Bliss-36 users).

      o  Carriage return cannot appear in a string;  it terminates the
         string just as if the matching delimiter had been encountered
         (CR or LF always terminate debug input expressions).

      o  %RADIX50_10, %ASCIZ and %SIXBIT  stringtype  converters  have
         not  been  implemented.   (They  could  be easily included by
         defining appropriate operators).

Examples:

        'HI!'   "Q"     'a CR or LF terminates me anyway


A long-string, as in the last example, generates a vector value  which
may  be larger than a bliss-value.  This is most useful in conjunction
with user-defined operators.  (See chapter 18)


                                - 9 -

SIX12 EXPRESSIONS                                             Page 3-3


Symbols are the most complex type of operand.  A symbol is  looked  up
in  the  Linker-generated  symbol  table,  and  its value is the value
entered for it in the table.  Thus a name is an address, as in Bliss.

DDT has a complex search  convention  to  deal  with  the  problem  of
multiply defined symbols (which exists because the table only contains
six characters of a name, and/or because the same local  name  can  be
defined  in  many  modules).   SIX12  uses  this  much  simpler  rule:
identical symbols are implicitly numbered in the order in  which  they
are  linked.  If there exists more than one symbol with the same name,
the name must be "qualified", either suffixed by *%*n, where n is  the
ordinal you want, or prefixed with a module name if the name is unique
within that module.  This is discussed in detail in section 4.3

Examples:

        HELPME          Value of the symbol 'HELPME'
        LOTSOFME%5      Value of fifth symbol   'LOTSOF'
        FOO\LOTSOF      Value of 'LOTSOF' in module 'FOO'
        LOTSOFME        Error - ambiguous


There are symbol table searchers  included  in  the  standard  set  of
operators  to help you decide which ordinal you want, or remember what
name you need in the  first  place.   See  chapter  13.   Since  names
(letter-digit  strings) can also refer to operators (e.g., *AND* *OR*)
the *%*-convention is also used to distinguish symbols from operators.
An  unadorned  name  is first searched for in the macro table, then in
the table of operators, and finally in the symbol  table,  taking  the
first  match  in  the process.  However, <name>*%*<n> (for <n> greater
than 0) is only searched for  in  the  symbol  table.   Thus  "*OR%1*"
always gets you the symbol "*OR*" but "*OR*" is taken for the operator
*OR*.  Since Bliss-36 maps underscore ("_")  into  percent  ("%")  and
period   (".")  into  dollar-sign  ("$"),  SIX12  also  performs  this
conversion.  Thus, if you declare

        OWN
            meta_1 ;

DDT will display this as "META%1", while SIX12 will know  this  symbol
as  "META_1".  The SIX12 symbol "META%1" refers to a different symbol,
namely the first occurance of "META" in the DDT symbol table.


                             Further note

               The only source of program symbols  that
               SIX12  has  is  the  Linker symbol table
               (also used by DDT).  Therefore,  locals,
               formals,   structures,  and  so  on  are
               unknown to  SIX12.   Only  GLOBAL,  OWN,
               link-time  constant  BIND,  ROUTINE  and
               MODULE names  will  be  present  in  the
               table.


                                - 10 -

SIX12 EXPRESSIONS                                             Page 3-4


We have now fully discussed operands, and turn to the operators  which
work  upon  them.  Operators are denoted either by names (e.g., *GEQ*,
*BREAK*) or by special characters (e.g., *% + *).

In the latter category, *' " # %* <space> <tab> <CR> <LF> may not name
operators.   The syntax analyzer distinguishes four syntactic types of
operators, namely

Nullary, having no operands:               <operator>
Prefix, preceding its operand:             <operator>  <operand>
Postfix, following its operand: <operand>  <operator>
Infix, having both operands:    <operand>  <operator>  <operand>


The same symbol may represent more  than  one  operator  in  different
parses.  For example

                        + E
                        E + F

show "*+*" in prefix and  infix  parses;   these  two  instances  will
actually  result  in  the  invocation  of  two  different  routines to
evaluate "*+*".  In theory the same symbol could  be  given  all  four
parses,  invoking one to four different routines;  in practice this is
a poor idea.  An operator with  more  than  one  parse  can  introduce
ambiguity:   the  classic  case  is  with "*/*", which in the standard
definition has postfix ("*A/*" prints contents of A, as DDT would) and
infix ("*A/B*" does division) parses.  Now, does

                A/-N

invoke postfix "*/*" followed by  infix  *"*-*"*,  or  prefix  *"*-*"*
followed  by infix "*/*"?  With the definitions given above the second
is clearly the correct choice, but the analyzer can hardly be expected
to  know  that.   In point of fact this will be evaluated in the first
way, due solely to an arbitrary design decision.  The  moral  of  this
story  is  that the analyzer cannot be expected to always do the right
thing.  It works fine for pure Bliss expressions;  a key thing  is  to
be  wary  of using expressions which yield a null value (as *x/* does)
in larger expressions.  The analyzer assumes that operators will yield
a  value,  and  gets  confused  when they don't (since its assumptions
about the parsing of subsequent operators  must  be  junked).   If  an
expression with side-effects blows up, always check to see how much of
it had already been evaluated.  Two good rules to keep out of  trouble
are  1)  parentheses can fix lots of things, and 2) avoid semicolons -
you can afford to do it on two lines.

With these words of warning we pass to a description of  the  standard
set of operators.  This is the meat of what you can do with SIX12.







                                - 11 -













                              CHAPTER 4

                        BASIC BLISS OPERATORS



We do not pretend to have implemented a Bliss interpreter.  However, a
fair  subset  of the simple expressions (*not* control expressions) is
available, and  more  could  be  implemented  if  you  need  it.   The
following operators are defined exactly as in Bliss:

        + -     for example -E1  E2+E3

        * /     as A*B (beware of E/, which is not an error)

        ^       as in A^B (shift) [1]

        ( )     as in Bliss: 

AND NOT OR      logical operators

GEQ thru LSS    relational operators


(<expr>)        Grouping indicator

or as routine callers

<expr>(<list>)  Routine call


For instance

        5*(.ALPHA-1)

        MYROUTN(41, .PARM)

        (.RTNVEC[.I])(.parm1+5,22)


The value of the second expression is the value  returned  by  calling

    ------------------------------

[1] In Bliss-36, *^* is a logical shift left and an  arithmetic  shift
    right.  SIX12 does the appropriate shift.

                                - 12 -

BASIC BLISS OPERATORS                                         Page 4-2


the  routine  *MYROUT*  with  two  actuals.   The  value  of  the last
expression is the value returned by calling the routine named  in  the
i+[th] position of RTNVEC with the parameters indicated.

*< >*   have the same meaning, of creating a byte pointer.

        However,  sign-extension  is  not  accepted;   there  must  be
        exactly two values within the brackets, i.e.

                        [addr]<[position],[size]>

        is the only allowable syntax for them.

.       performs the same function, 'contents', as in Bliss.

=       performs  the  same  function,  'store',  as  in  Bliss.   For
        instance

                .A1             
                .FLAG<17,1>
                SE = .SE * 200
                FOO = .A1 + 23

        You should be aware, however, of a difference, discussed below
        in section 4.1

[  ]    Perform structure access for simple structures.



4.1  ASSIGNMENT IN SIX12

SIX12 evaluates names as addresses, just like  Bliss-36.   Because  of
its  Bliss-10  origins, if the left half of a pointer word is zero, it
is treated as a fullword pointer in dot or  assignment  contexts,  but
words with nonzero left halves are taken as true byte pointers.


                    Extended Addressing Limitation

               Thus, SIX12 is guaranteed  to  break  in
               the presence of extended addressing.


(The same applies to the *MONITOR*/*WATCH*  operation,  which  may  be
given either word addresses or byte pointers).  The only way this will
be noticeable to the user is that sometimes  *dot*  will  act  like  a
CH$RCHAR, and = will act like a CH$WCHAR.

In Bliss-10, *.41* will yield zero every  time  (being  equivalent  to
*.41<0,0>*)  but  in  Bliss-36  or SIX12 it will yield the contents of
word  *41*  (corresponding  to  *@41*  in  Bliss-10).   Similarly  for
*41 = E*.   Also,  to  get  Bliss-10 semantics for *A = B*, it must be
written *A = B<0,36>*.


                                - 13 -

BASIC BLISS OPERATORS                                         Page 4-3


If an attempt is made to fetch from or store into an  address  not  in
the  user's  address  space,  SIX12  will  detect  this and report the
illegal address.


                          TOPS-20 Difference

               Because of the way  TOPS-20  deals  with
               "create  on  reference" pages, SIX12 may
               report an illegal address if you attempt
               to  access static storage (using SIX12's
               fetch or store  operators)  before  your
               program   has  "referenced"  the  memory
               involved.    SIX12    detects    illegal
               addresses  by  asking the monitor if the
               pages are  "readable"  using  the  RPACS
               JSYS.    If   the   page  has  not  been
               referenced  yet,   RPACS   will   return
               "doesn't exist".





4.2  STRUCTURE ACCESSES

Brackets *[ ]* with a single parameter do a structure access according
to  the  standard  VECTOR  structure.  Hence *E1[E2]* is equivalent to
*(E1+E2)<0,36>*.

Brackets with three parameters do a structure access according to  the
standard Bliss-36 BLOCK structure, and those with four parameters do a
structure access according to the Bliss-36 BLOCKVECTOR structure.

In addition, if the user sets the  contents  of  *SIXREF*  to  a  true
value,  the  access  will  be  done  as  a REF-structure rather than a
structure access.

Perhaps someday we will get structure information from the compiler...



4.3  NUMBERS, NAMES AND STRINGS


<number>        A number is a sequence of digits  interpreted  in  the
                current radix (initially base 8).  See chapter 16.

#<number>       A number preceded by a  *#*  changes  to  the  "other"
                radix,  i.e.,  if in base 8, the number is interpreted
                in base 10;  if in base 10, it is interpreted in  base
                8.   If the default base is neither decimal nor octal,
                the # indicates octal radix.  See chapter 16.

<number> %A     Refers to the address of the n'th actual parameter  of

                                - 14 -

BASIC BLISS OPERATORS                                         Page 4-4


                the  current routine (when stopped at routine entry or
                exit).

                In the example below, the break at routine  "TestZero"
                will occur only if the first actual parameter is zero.

                        &if |.1%A eql 0| BREAK TestZero


<number> %L     Refers to the n'th local word of the  stack  frame  of
                the  current  routine.   Local words include any saved
                register values, stack management control words,  etc.
                that   may  be  allocated  after  the  frame  pointer.
                Consequently, a machine code listing might be required
                to  determine  the  actual  correct offset for a local
                variable.  In particular, Bliss-36 may allocate  local
                variables to the registers.

<name>          A name is 1 to 6 characters from the set  "*A" - "*Z",
                "*a" - "*z",  "*0" - "*9",  "$", "&", "*_".  The first
                character must not be a digit.  Characters  after  the
                first  six  are  not  used for name resolution.  Lower
                case  letters  are  converted  to  uppercase,  "&"  is
                converted  to  "."  and "_" is converted to "%".  This
                conversion  is  used  in  the  Bliss-36  compiler   to
                translate "_" into a character acceptable in RADIX50.

                Names are looked up in one of three symbol  tables  in
                this order:

                1.  The SIX12 macro table

                2.  the SIX12 operator/command table

                3.  the DDT symbol table

                In the case of multiple DDT symbol tables,  where  one
                is  in  the TOPS-10 high segment and another is in the
                TOPS-10 low segment, there are more complex rules  for
                symbol  resolution  in  the  DDT  symbol  table.   See
                section 17.4.  The value of a name is the  address  or
                offset  obtained  from  the DDT symbol table.  (Module
                names, which also occur in the DDT symbol  table,  are
                ignored during name lookup).

?<name>         ?  allows  the  name  which  follows  to  include  the
                characters

                "."  and  "%",  so  the  transliteration  of  "$"   is
                converted  to "." and "_" is converted to "%" .  Names
                are typed out using "." and "_".

                Names are looked up in one of three symbol  tables  in
                this order:


                                - 15 -

BASIC BLISS OPERATORS                                         Page 4-5


                1.  The SIX12 macro table

                2.  the SIX12 operator/command table

                3.  the DDT symbol table


                In the case of multiple DDT symbol tables,  where  one
                is  in  the TOPS-10 high segment and another is in the
                TOPS-10 low segment, there are more complex rules  for
                symbol  resolution  in  the  DDT  symbol  table.   See
                section 17.4.  The value of a name is the  address  or
                offset  obtained  from  the DDT symbol table.  (Module
                names, which also occur in the DDT symbol  table,  are
                ignored  during  name lookup).  ("&" and "_") need not
                be  used.   If  %n  is  used  after  such  a  name  to
                disambiguate it, a space must separate the %n from the
                name.  The name may also  begin  with  a  digit,  e.g.
                "?01$A" is recognized as an identifier.

                        &?.JBSYM
                        116 == 116
                        &.?.JBSYM
                        -447765030 == 777330,,PAT..+100

name %n         Refers to the n'th entry in the DDT symbol  table  for
                the  name  (for "n" greater than zero).  (Module names
                are ignored and not counted).  If  a  name  is  unique
                within  a  module,  it  may  be qualified with the "\"
                qualifier (see below).  A name which is qualified with
                "\" may not be further qualified with "%".

name %0         Refers to the SIX12 command or operator with the given
                name.   This  is  required  when  a  macro  definition
                conflicts with a SIX12 operator name, and the operator
                name is required.

module\name     Qualifies a name to lie within a module.  Thus, if the
                name  is  unique in the module, qualification with "%"
                (see above) is not required.   The  rules  for  simple
                names  (e.g.,  the  use  of  "?"  to enable the use of
                special characters in the  name)  apply  to  both  the
                module name and the symbol name.  If a QUALIFY command
                (see chapter 16) is given, the module  name  (but  not
                the \) may be omitted.

                        &C
                        .^
                        Multiple entries in DDT symbol table for C
                        &PRS C
                        C%1     400360  Own     SIG     Routine
                        C%2       5645  Own     FOO..   0
                        &SIG\C
                        400360 == C


                                - 16 -

BASIC BLISS OPERATORS                                         Page 4-6


                Using default qualification to search the SIG module's
                DDT symbol-table would be done with

                        &QUALIFY SIG
                        &\C
                        400360 == C
                        &?FOO..\C
                        5645 == C
















































                                - 17 -













                              CHAPTER 5

                          PEEKING AND POKING



One basic requirement on a debugger is  the  ability  to  examine  and
modify program locations.

The only standard operator for changing memory locations is assignment
(=),  which should need no explanation.  We should point out, however,
that SIX12 never associates from right to left.  Therefore,

        A = B = C = 0

will not work in SIX12.  In order to discourage accidental use of this
construct,  the  assignment  operator is defined to have no value.  In
the example above, the address of B would be stored  into  A,  then  a
syntax  error  would  occur  since  the  second  =  would have no left
operand.

One Bliss-compatible method for examination of  program  locations  is
provided  by  the  dot  *.   operator.   As  we  mentioned  in passing
previously, SIX12 prints out the result of every evaluated expression.
Thus  one  need  only  type  .ALPHA to see the contents of ALPHA;  for
example, a terminal interaction could look like this:

        &.FLAGS,.PNTR
        677  ==     677
        5737  ==     FFAREA+5

    (Note: & is SIX12's prompt character).


A DDT-like notation has also been implemented.  The operator "/", used
in  a  postfix  fashion, prints out the contents of the fullword whose
address is its argument:

        &STACKCNT/
        STACKC/   566005322  == 566,,SPACE+203


The infix operator "*!" does the same thing for a consecutive  set  of
words;  A*!n prints n words beginning at A.  For example:



                                - 18 -

PEEKING AND POKING                                            Page 5-2



        &BUFF!3
        BUFF/            57  == 57
        BUFF+1/         122  == 122
        BUFF+2/           0  == 0

In addition, unless the user has explicitly disabled  console  polling
(see  chapter  9),  typing any line termination character (TOPS-10) or
any character (TOPS-20) will terminate long typeouts.

In all cases, values or contents are first printed numerically (in the
default  radix),  then  in  symbolic  halfword format (like DDT $R $H;
offsets are in the default radix).  Whenever the left half looks  like
an  "interesting" byte pointer[1], the byte pointer values are printed
out in decimal following the symbolic name.  If the default BASE of  8
is  used,  a  #  will  precede  the  values  of  the  position or size
designators if they are greater than 7.

        &IBUFPTR/
        IBUFPT/         4400017360 == IDTREE+316,,BUF+4<0,#36>

When an address is given which is outside the user's address space,  a
?   is  printed  as  a  value;  for multiword displays, the displaying
ceases.

        &?.JBREL/
        .JBREL/   34177 == 34177
        &35000/
        35000/    ?
        &34176!200
        34176/    0
        34177/    0
        35000/    ?
        &
















    ------------------------------

[1]  The  definition  of  "interesting"  is  subject  to  change,  but
    presently  includes  such  things  as <n,7>, <n,8>, <n,9>, <0,18>,
    <18,18> and <0,36>.

                                - 19 -













                              CHAPTER 6

                        BREAKPOINTING, TRACING



The other basic requirement for a debugger is  the  ability  to  trace
execution  of  a program and stop it ('break') where necessary.  As we
said earlier, SIX12 does this on a routine level.  The  operators  are
given  in  terms  of setting (and later clearing) actions on routines.
Any of these actions may be set conditionally.  Conditions  are  fully
general  because  they are given as SIX12 expressions.  When required,
the text given is evaluated;  it must yield 1 in the low-order bit  of
its  value  for  the  action to be taken.  (If the expression yields a
vector value, only the first word is considered;  a test which  yields
a null value always fails.) For instance, simple conditions might be

        .FLAGS<17,1>
or
        .CCOUNT  GTR  0

Note:  it should be apparent that setting a conditional  action  on  a
frequently-   called   routine  can  cause  substantial  overhead  and
significantly degrade execution speed.  For simple conditions such  as
the  examples,  a  conditional  breakpoint  for which the condition is
satisfied executes about  8500  instructions  between  the  breakpoint
instruction  and  requesting  input  from  the  user;   a  conditional
breakpoint for which the condition is  not  satisfied  executes  about
2500 instructions.

The standard syntax for setting unconditional actions is

        action-name  listofroutines
e.g.,
        BREAK  R2,PRINT,ERR3

The syntax for setting conditional actions is

        IF  |text of condition test|  action-name  listofroutines
e.g.,
        IF |.VALUE<10,1>| TRACE TESTIT

where "|" delimits the text which is saved  for  evaluation.   (The  $
character  could  also be used, but you can't backspace over it).  Two
notes:  IF is a noise word and can be dropped.  Commas in  a  list  of
routines  can  be  replaced  by spaces.  Never drop commas surrounding

                                - 20 -

BREAKPOINTING, TRACING                                        Page 6-2


anything but a simple operand (number,symbol).  Thus, in

        TRACE  T34, .PNTR, EXIT

the commas are necessary, but they aren't for

        TRACE  T34 EXIT METOO

The same applies to commas  anywhere  else  in  SIX12  (e.g.,  routine
calls).

The syntax for clearing actions is

        Daction-name  listofroutines

i.e.  same mnemonic with D prefixed, as

        DBREAK  ZURICH

This clears either conditional or unconditional action.   The  actions
and conditions for them may be examined with the PRINT ACTION command.

Conditional and unconditional actions do not coexist.  There cannot be
both  conditional  and  unconditional instances of a given action on a
given routine, nor can there be more than one  condition  governing  a
given   action  on  a  given  routine.   Thus,  if  a  conditional  or
unconditional break is set on a routine, any previously set  break  of
any type on the same routine is cleared, but other actions, say trace,
on that routine are unaffected.

For actions which take place after a routine has executed,  the  value
of  the routine may be tested.  Normally this is in the VREG, but from
SIX12 it must be accessed as the variable SIXVREG, e.g.,

        &if |.sixvreg eql 0| abreak getpointer


The possible actions are:

BREAK list      Stop execution at routine entry, with the message

                        <=> At: routine from call-loc
                        Actuals: values


ABREAK list     Stop execution at routine exit, with the message

                        <=> After: routine  Value: value == symbolic


DABREAK list    Remove ABREAKs from the routines listed.

DBREAK list     Remove BREAKs from the routines listed.

TRACE list      Prints a message  when  routine  is  entered  or  left

                                - 21 -

BREAKPOINTING, TRACING                                        Page 6-3


                without breaking.  The messages look like this:

                        --> routine  from call-loc
                        Actuals: values
                        <-- routine  Value: value == symbolic


TRACE AFTER list
                Initiates trace mode when the routine is  entered,  so
                that  all  routine  calls and returns are traced until
                the routine is exited.  The original routine call  and
                return  are not traced.  (No, Virginia, it won't screw
                up if the routine is recursive!)

TRACE FROM list
                Equivalent  to  TRACE  plus  TRACE  AFTER;   thus  the
                routine and its subroutines are traced.

DTRACE list     Remove TRACEs from the routines listed.

DTRACE FROM list
                Remove TRACE FROMs from the routines listed.

DTRACE AFTER list
                Remove TRACE AFTERs from the routines listed.

OPAQUE list     Tracing and single-stepping are  turned  off  when  an
                OPAQUE  routine  is  entered, and remain off until the
                matching exit.  This lends a degree of abstraction  to
                tracing and single-stepping.  OPAQUE 'outranks' TRACE;
                thus, even if routines with TRACEs  set  on  them  are
                called  within  the  scope  of an OPAQUE, they are not
                traced.

OPAQUE AFTER list
                This does OPAQUE except that  the  routine  itself  is
                traced.   Since we know that no trace printout will be
                required between entry and exit, paper is conserved by
                not printing a separate tracing notice for exit:

                        --> routine from call-loc
                        Actuals: values   Value: value == symbolic

                (assuming of course  that  tracing  was  on  when  the
                routine was entered).

DOPAQUE list    Remove OPAQUEs from the routines listed.

DOPAQUE AFTER list
                Remove OPAQUE AFTERs from the routines listed.

COPAQUE         This command sets an internal  switch  so  that  calls
                made  on  user  routines from SIX12 will not be traced
                even if SETTRACE is in effect.  This  is  useful  when
                the  user has debug-printout routines which are called

                                - 22 -

BREAKPOINTING, TRACING                                        Page 6-4


                from SIX12,  or  has  user-defined  operator  routines
                which  are  called  from  SIX12.   If  SETTRACE  is in
                effect, it is turned off for the duration of the call.
                By default, the COPAQUE switch is normally turned off,
                and must be set by the user.

NOCOPAQUE       This command resets the internal switch to its default
                value set at initialization, so that calls on routines
                made from SIX12 will be traced if  a  SETTRACE  is  in
                effect.

TRACE, TRACE AFTER, TRACE FROM, OPAQUE and OPAQUE  AFTER  control  the
trace facility during program execution.  The user may turn tracing on
or off  by  means  of  the  SETTRACE,  CLRTRACE,  GOTRACE,  and  GOCLR
operators,  overriding  OPAQUEs or TRACEs.  (see Getting In and Out of
SIX12, chapter 7).  (The TRACE and  OPAQUE  operators  merely  set  or
reset a switch controlling the printing of trace output.  The user can
set or clear this switch before resuming program execution.)


                                 NOTE

               Conditional actions set on routine exits
               may  need  to  test  the value which the
               routine is  returning.   This  value  is
               available  as the contents of the global
               SIXVREG.  In general,  the  user  should
               never  attempt  to  access any registers
               directly in SIX12 expressions.  However,
               SIXVREG  can  be treated the same as the
               VREG (e.g., it can be modified, and  the
               new  value  will  be  in  the  VREG when
               program execution resumes).



Conditionals may also be used to modify the execution of a program  in
certain restricted ways.  For example, consider a routine MOVEIT which
is given a pointer to a value, but  is  expecting  a  value  (as,  for
example,  might be caused by calling it passing the name of a variable
instead of its contents).  This situation may be rectified as follows:

        &if |(1%A = ..1%A; 0)| break moveit


The compound expression assigns to the first parameter the contents of
the  word  pointed to by the first parameter, and then returns a false
value, so the break does not actually take effect.

It is not  possible,  however,  to  conditionally  take  actions,  for
example,  to assign the value 10 to a variable if its value is greater
than 62.  Nonetheless,  this  technique  with  conditionals  sometimes
saves a lengthy recompilation to fix a simple error.



                                - 23 -













                              CHAPTER 7

                     GETTING IN AND OUT OF SIX12



By getting into SIX12 we mean stopping execution of the  user  program
and  causing  SIX12  to  begin  reading  and  executing user commands.
Getting out is the reverse process of resuming user execution.



7.1  GETTING IN


      -  One method of entering SIX12 during execution  is  through  a
         (previously set) breakpoint;  see chapter 6.

      -  Another  is  through  a  break  caused  by   terminal   input
         monitoring,  or  the  MONITOR  (of data locations) operation.
         See chapter 9 and chapter 10.

      -  You can enter SIX12  before  program  execution  begins  (but
         after  stack  initialization)  by  entering  DDT  and setting
         SIXSTA (STARTFLG in module  SIX12)  to  1.   Normally  SIXSTA
         (STARTFLG)  is set to a true value, so SIX12 will normally be
         entered when execution commences.  However, if  it  has  been
         set  to  a false value (see section 17.2), it may be set true
         again by the following:

                .get program
                .ddt
                sixsta! 1 <cr>
                $G
                SIX12 V8-4 (TOPS-10 I/O) for Bliss-36
                &

         Here $ = <escape>, and & is SIX12's prompt for an input.   Of
         course,  you  could also force an exit after making the patch
         and save the core image.

      -  You can get into SIX12 from DDT by

                SIXDDT$G.

         See Concerning DDT, chapter 8.

                                - 24 -

GETTING IN AND OUT OF SIX12                                   Page 7-2


      -  You can explicitly call SIX12 from your  program.   Call  the
         external name "SIX12" with one parameter, e.g.,

                external routine SIX12;

                SIX12( 123 );     ! Fall into Debugger at command-level.

         SIX12 prints the parameter value and stop location:

                PAUSE 123 AT <location>
                &





7.2  GETTING OUT

Getting out of SIX12 is accomplished by executing one of 3 operators:

GO              resumes user program without any special action.

GOTRACE         turns on tracing before starting.   This  cancels  the
                effect  of  any active OPAQUE.  Equivalent to typing a
                SETTRACE and a GO.

GOCLR           turns off  tracing  before  starting;   equivalent  to
                giving CLRTRACE and a GO.

RETURN expression
                The action of this depends on how you got into SIX12.

                 -  If you entered by setting SIXSTA  (STARTFLAG)  and
                    having SIX12 recognize this at program entry, then
                    the expression becomes the value of the CCL flag.

                 -  If you entered by an explicit call on  SIX12,  the
                    expression   is   the   value   of   the  SIX12(x)
                    expression.

                 -  If you are at a routine exit, by either setting an
                    ABREAK (including implicit ABREAKs set by STEP and
                    OK),  or  by  MONITOR  detecting  a  change  in  a
                    variable   or   by   console   polling,  then  the
                    expression  becomes  the  value  returned  by  the
                    routine.

                 -  If you are at a routine entry, either by  a  BREAK
                    (including  implicit  BREAKs  set  by  STEP) or by
                    MONITOR detecting  a  change  of  a  value  or  by
                    console polling, then the execution of the routine
                    is suppressed.  Control returns to its caller with
                    the  value  of  the  expression.   Thus  RETURN is
                    useful   for   hand-   simulating   unwritten   or
                    malfunctioning code.

                                - 25 -

GETTING IN AND OUT OF SIX12                                   Page 7-3


STEP

<line-feed>     This  effectively  sets  an  ABREAK  at  the   current
                routine,  and  a  BREAK  at every routine which may be
                called from the current routine, then allows execution
                to  proceed  much as GO does.  This command allows you
                to single-step through the program.  Typing <linefeed>
                will  have  the same effect.  If single-step execution
                reaches a routine which  is  OPAQUE,  the  single-step
                breakpoints  are suppressed until control returns from
                that routine.  This is extremely  convenient  for  the
                same reasons OPAQUE is useful for tracing.

OK              This  effectively  sets  an  ABREAK  at  the   current
                routine,  and then allows execution to proceed much as
                GO does.  This command,  particularly  in  conjunction
                with STEP, allows you to avoid single-stepping through
                a routine you know already works.



7.3  KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE

SIX12 prompts with an ampersand character, &.  In  addition,  assorted
status may appear with the prompt:

      -  On nested SIX12 calls, the  depth  of  nesting  in  SIX12  is
         printed,

                4:&

         which indicates that this is the  fourth  recursive  call  of
         SIX12.  The first level of call would be shown as "1:" except
         this is so common that the number is suppressed.

      -  If output is going to the line printer (see section  12)  and
         not to the terminal, a "-" is printed to the left of the "&"

                2:-&

         This is so you don't wonder why SIX12  has  suddenly  stopped
         printing.   If LPTDUP is set, so that output goes to both the
         terminal and the line printer, then the "-" is not printed.

      -  If NODEBUG mode is set (chapter 16), an N will print  to  the
         left,  indicating  you  are  in  NODEBUG  mode.  In addition,
         certain commands will issue a warning message when  they  are
         executed.








                                - 26 -

GETTING IN AND OUT OF SIX12                                   Page 7-4



                4:-N&break foo
                Warning: You are in NODEBUG mode
                4:-N&ok
                Operation makes no sense in NODEBUG mode
                4:-N&debug
                4:-&

















































                                - 27 -













                              CHAPTER 8

                            CONCERNING DDT



8.1  CONTROL TRANSFERS BETWEEN SIX12 AND DDT

We have not tried to duplicate  the  many  useful  facilities  already
available in DDT.  Instead, we have implemented easy transfers between
SIX12 and DDT.

You can get into DDT[1] from SIX12 by issuing the command

        DDT

To return to SIX12, type SIXRET$X to DDT.

If you are in DDT but you didn't get there from SIX12, you  can  enter
SIX12 by typing

        SIXDDT$G

Subsequently issuing GO to SIX12 returns you to  DDT.   (Clearly,  you
must not do this if the stack has been destroyed.)

A valid stack must be available before calling SIXDDT.  If  necessary,
this can be set using the global symbol SIXSP.

        SIXSP/  0       -200,,STACK

will set up a stack of 200 (octal) words at location STACK.

Once a stack has been set up, SIX12 may be called.  If SIX12  has  not
been  initialized,  you  must  initialize  it  by  calling  one of the
routines SIX10, SIX36C or SIX36, depending upon the version  of  SIX12
in use.  If you enter SIX12 by letting SIXSTA (STARTFLG) have a "true"
value, then SIX12 is automatically initialized for you.   (It  may  be
necessary  to  set  up a stack even if SIX12 has been initialized, for

    ------------------------------

[1] In TOPS-10, you must have linked DDT into your  program  with  the
    /DEBUG  linker switch.  On TOPS-20, if nothing is mapped at 770000
    (octal), SYS:UDDT.EXE is  dynamically  merged  into  your  address
    space.

                                - 28 -

CONCERNING DDT                                                Page 8-2


example,  if  the  stack  pointer  register  has  been   inadvertently
destroyed).



8.2  CAUTIONS WITH DDT BREAKPOINTS

The SIX12 linkage in Bliss-36 produces the following  instructions  at
the head of each routine

        DEBUG. routine
        CAI     n
        ; n instructions for routine setup

If you set a DDT breakpoint at any of the n instructions following the
CAI  instruction,  it  will  not  be  seen.   [2]  Therefore, to set a
breakpoint early in the routine, you must set it somewhere after the n
instructions following the CAI.



8.3  MODIFYING ACS FROM DDT

If you enter DDT via SIX12's DDT command, the user program ACs are not
available.   Instead,  the  ACs contain information peculiar to SIX12.
These ACs may be arbitrarily destroyed while inside  SIX12,  as  SIX12
preserves  them before it transfers control into DDT and restores them
when you return via the SIXRET$X DDT command.

To modify the  user  program  ACs,  it  is  necessary  to  set  a  DDT
breakpoint and modify the ACs at that point.
















    ------------------------------

[2] This is done by black magic;  what appears to happen is  that  DDT
    will  not  take a breakpoint instruction which is executed because
    it is the target of an XCT instruction,  and  SIX12  uses  an  XCT
    instruction  to  execute  the  first n instructions of the routine
    setup.  Other explanations may apply.   This  explanation  is  not
    warranted against defects.

                                - 29 -













                              CHAPTER 9

                       CONSOLE INPUT MONITORING



If a line termination character is typed when the program is not in  a
TTY  input  wait, SIX12 will shortly fake a breakpoint at some routine
entry or exit, and process the line as command input.  Unlike  earlier
versions of SIX12, TOPS-10 does this on a line, rather than character,
basis.  TOPS-20 does it on  a  character  basis.   In  addition,  long
typeouts  from some operators, such as !, will be terminated by typing
a  line  termination  (TOPS-10)  or  any  (TOPS-20)  character.   This
monitoring  is  the  normal  state  for  SIX12.   It  can be disabled,
permitting  type-ahead,  by  the  *DISABLE*  operator  but   will   be
automatically  re-enabled  whenever  a  break  occurs  (for some other
reason, of course).  If you issue DISABLE and subsequently  regret  it
(e.g., get caught in an endless loop), you can re-enable monitoring by
entering DDT and setting SIXENB (ENABFLG in module SIX12) to  1;   the
normal procedure is

        ^C
        ^C
        ^T
        <message with interrupted PC value - remember this!>

        .DDT
        
        SIXENB! 1 <cr>
        <PC-value>$G
        <CR>
        &


Here $ = <escape>;  & is SIX12's prompt for an input.

To  permanently  disable  polling,  the  *POLLOFF*  command   can   be
issued.This  permanent  disabling can be reset by issuing the *POLLON*
command.Usually, the purpose of this is so a system can be released to
users with SIX12 still present (very useful for experimental systems).
The SIXNPL (NOPOLLFLG) flag controlled by POLLON and POLLOFF can  also
be set with DDT, so the typical way of setting a file up for users is

        .get MYPROG
        .DDT
        SIXNPL/ 0      1<cr>

                                - 30 -

CONSOLE INPUT MONITORING                                      Page 9-2


        SIXSTA/ -1      0<cr>
        calli 12$X
        EXIT
        .SAV (or SSAV, or NSAV or NSSAVE)
        MYPROG saved
        .

The primary distinction between DISABLE and POLLOFF  is  that  DISABLE
disables  console  polling only until the next SIX12 event which calls
the SIX12 command interpreter, at which point polling  is  re-enabled,
while  POLLOFF  absolutely  positively  disables console polling until
SIXNPL is reset either with DDT or the POLLON command.












































                                - 31 -













                              CHAPTER 10

                         MONITORING VARIABLES



SIX12 can keep track of the contents of specified  program  locations,
and  report  when  they  change.   The contents of each location being
monitored are compared against its last  reported  contents  at  every
routine  call  and  return.  When any changes are found, SIX12 reports
them and, if  requested,  stops  program  execution  (the  same  as  a
breakpoint).  The monitoring message is one of

*** Before routine-name from caller     at an entry
*** During routine-name                 at an exit

followed by a list of changes found, in the format

M- location   Old: oldvalue   New: newvalue
W- location   Old: oldvalue   New: newvalue

where "M-" indicates the variable was detected by a  MONITOR  command,
and  "W-"  indicates the variable was detected by a WATCH command.  If
any MONITOR variable changed, SIX12 stops and enters command mode;  if
all the variables were selected by WATCH, SIX12 continues executing.

The syntax for requesting monitoring is

        MONITOR  listoflocations
        WATCH    listoflocations

where each location may be a word address or a byte pointer, as in

        MONITOR  ACCUM, BUFHDR<0,#18>, FLAGS<#30,1>, 41

The syntax for stopping monitoring is

        DMONITOR listoflocations
        DWATCH   listoflocations

For example, the request shown could lead to a message as follows:

        *** During GETCHR
        M- ACCUM Old: 122        New: 56
        M- FLAGS<#30,1> Old: 1  New: 0
        &

                                - 32 -

MONITORING VARIABLES                                         Page 10-2


where & indicates that SIX12 is waiting for a command.  When the  user
issues GO, execution will proceed from the exit of GETCHR.


                                 NOTE

               Values are always printed in the default
               radix.  When a monitoring request is not
               for a fullword, the  position  and  size
               fields are printed in decimal.



The variables being monitored and their current "old  values"  can  be
examined using the PRINT MONITOR command;  see chapter 13.

The DMONITOR and DWATCH  commands  are  identical,  and  can  be  used
interchangeably;  DWATCH was added for symmetry and completeness.

It is not necessary to DMONITOR a location in order to  WATCH  it,  or
DWATCH  it in order to MONITOR it.  The MONITOR and WATCH commands, if
the location is already defined in the table,  will  change  the  flag
indicating whether it is a monitored or watched location.

































                                - 33 -













                              CHAPTER 11

                     MACROS AND SYMBOL DEFINITION



As a more or less free spin-off  from  conditional  actions,  we  have
implemented simple text substitution macros (no arguments at present).
The format for defining a macro is

MACRO name=|macro text|

where "|" delimits the macro text on both sides (the  <ESC>  character
could  also  be  used, but you can't backspace over it).  The macro is
invoked merely by writing its name, as in

        &MACRO CALLR=|R4P(.A, #37)|
        &RESULT = CALLR
        &CALLR
        5004  == BUFFER+345


Macros can be deleted by the operator

        FORGET  listofnames

e.g.,

        &FORGET CALLR

Space for the text is not reclaimed.  See Disk I/O, chapter 12, for  a
recovery  method  if  you  run  out  of  text  space.  The PRINT MACRO
operation can be used to examine the text of a macro;  see chapter 13.
Macro  names  always  have precedence over both operators and symbols;
but a name followed by %n is never taken to be a macro.

New entries can be made in the DDT symbol  table;   these  names  will
also be available to DDT.  The format is

        BIND  name = expression

The name is defined as a global (in module PAT..) with value  that  of
the result of evaluating the expression.  For example,

        &BIND  POINT= .PNTR
        &POINT

                                - 34 -

MACROS AND SYMBOL DEFINITION                                 Page 11-2


        1234567 == 1,,234567
        &DDT

        POINT=1,,234567         $P
        &


The BIND operation should be used rather than MACRO to define  a  name
with  a  constant  value,  as  table  lookup is much faster than macro
substitution.  BIND is a good way to create debugging temporaries with
user-specified names.  For example,

        &BIND MYTEMP = .?.JBFF<0,#18>; ?.JBFF = .?.JBFF + 1
or
        &BIND DBGCHR= SIXPAT[2]

(SIXPAT[2] names the third of a set of temporary locations  set  aside
in SIX12 for debugging use.  See Appendix A).

The values of all of the BIND declarations may be seen  by  using  the
PRM operator (chapter 13) to print out the module PAT...

        &PRM ?PAT..
        PAT..    6214   Module         4 symbols
        POINT  234567   Global  PAT..
        MYTEMP  34144   Global  PAT..  0
        DBGCHR  17622   Global  PAT..  176





























                                - 35 -













                              CHAPTER 12

                      LINE PRINTER AND DISK I/O



Normally, all output from SIX12 is directed to  the  user's  terminal.
Under  certain circumstances (such as when tracing, or dumping a large
area of memory), it may be preferable to save the output on  disk,  or
send  it  to  the  line  printer.  SIX12 contains a facility for doing
this, which is controlled by the following operators:

LPTOPEN         Opens a file named SIX12.LPT on logical device  SIX12:
                if  it  exists,  or  if it does not, on logical device
                LPT:.  It  does  not  initiate  output  to  the  file.
                (Normally, by assigning the logical name LPT:  to some
                other device in advance, the user can cause the output
                to   go   anywhere.    However,   this  is  frequently
                inconvenient, since all output destined for  the  LPT:
                will  go  to  that device.  Forgetting to deassign the
                logical device produces unexpected results from  other
                programs.   Therefore,  logical device SIX12:  is used
                if it is assigned, since it is very  unlikely  such  a
                device name will conflict with any other program.)

LPTON           Sets the output switch for output to  the  file.   All
                subsequent printout from SIX12 (except error messages)
                will be directed to  the  file,  not  printed  on  the
                terminal.   This  will  be  indicated  by  a "-" which
                prints to the left of the prompt character.

                        &lptopen
                        &foo
                        34412 == foo
                        &lpton
                        -&foo
                        -&lptoff
                        &


LPTOFF          Resets the output switch for output to  the  terminal.
                It  does  not close the file, so that more file output
                may be done later in the same file.

LPTDUP          Sets the output switch for output to both terminal and
                file simultaneously.  This allows the user to obtain a

                                - 36 -

LINE PRINTER AND DISK I/O                                    Page 12-2


                transcript  of  the  terminal  session,   particularly
                useful  when  long debug printouts are made.  However,
                this  applies  only  to  output  generated  by  SIX12.
                Output  generated  by a routine called from SIX12 will
                go wherever that routine puts  it.   Since  output  is
                coming  to  the  terminal,  the  "-"  printed with the
                prompt in LPTON mode is not printed.

LPTCLOSE        Closes the file opened by LPTOPEN.   All  file  output
                between  one  pair  of  LPTOPEN  and  LPTCLOSE forms a
                single file, no matter how  many  LPTONs  and  LPTOFFs
                have intervened.

An automatic LPTOFF is executed at  every  break.   Thus  output  will
normally  go  to  the  terminal  during  user interaction.  LPT I/O on
TOPS-10 uses logical channel 17 (octal).  Do not use LPT I/O when your
program is using channel 17 (octal).

An option is provided for saving the state of SIX12 on  a  disk  file,
and  restoring  it  at  a later debugging session without having to do
considerable type-in, or save the whole core image.

SAVE 'filespec' saves  all  presently  defined  macros,  requests  for
                monitoring, and routine actions (including conditions)
                in a disk file specified by filespec, which  is  input
                as  a  string  and  must be enclosed by single quotes.
                The default extension is ".612".

LOAD 'filespec' deletes any existing macros, monitoring  requests,  or
                routine  actions,  then  loads  the information in the
                SAVE-written file  named  by  filespec.   The  default
                extension is ".612".  A null extension may be obtained
                by specifying only the "." in the filespec.

      -  SAVE and LOAD on TOPS-10 use logical channel 16 (octal).  You
         can  use them in a program using that channel just as long as
         you do not issue them when your program has something open on
         16 (octal).

      -  The  monitor  and  routine-actions  tables  contain  absolute
         memory  addresses.   Thus  SAVE/LOAD  should  not  be used to
         preserve monitors or routine actions across a program relink.
         Use STORE/RECALL for this.

      -  Since all previously existing macros  are  deleted  by  LOAD,
         text  space  is compacted.  The correct way to recover from a
         'No space for macro text' error is  to  delete  any  unneeded
         macros, then

                &SAVE 'TEMP'
                &LOAD 'TEMP'





                                - 37 -

LINE PRINTER AND DISK I/O                                    Page 12-3


      -  The device specified (default  "DSK:")  must  be  capable  of
         supporting 36-bit binary I/O.


In order to save the state across a link, or to have a file of "stored
commands"  available,  the  commands  STORE  and RECALL are available.
They are exactly like SAVE and LOAD, except the file is an ASCII  text
file  and  thus may be edited or altered by the user.  RECALL does not
clear the SIX12 state before it is executed,  so  a  user  may  RECALL
several sets of commands in sequence.

The default extension, as in SAVE/LOAD, is ".612".  Likewise, the  I/O
on  TOPS-10  is done using channel 16 (octal).  The output device must
support ASCII data mode.  Thus, it is possible to see all of the SIX12
state in a single command, by typing:

            &STO 'TTY:'

The file may contain line  numbers,  and  if  it  does  they  will  be
stripped  off.   If  an error occurs, the offending input line will be
printed, the error message will be issued, and input will terminate.



































                                - 38 -













                              CHAPTER 13

                               DISPLAY



SIX12  has  facilities  for  printing  some  information  in  a   more
meaningful  format  than  could  be  obtained  from  dot or slash.  In
particular,  special  operators  are  available  for  displaying   the
run-time stack, the symbol table, and SIX12's internal tables.



13.1  DISPLAYING ROUTINE-CALL STACK

These operators display the run-time stack in terms of routine calls.

CALLS           displays the complete stack of  routine  calls.   Each
                call is displayed in the format

                        routine     from    calling-loc
                        Actuals: values


                The first line (i.e., the current routine) is prefixed
                with  "B:" (for Before) if execution is stopped at the
                routine's entry, or "A:" (for After), if at its  exit,
                as in

                        A:IMHERE        from CALLER+17
                        Actuals:  1: 5      2: 0
                        CALLER  from    MAIN.F+12
                        Actuals:  1: 45

                which indicates that we are at the exit  of  'IMHERE'.
                This display also prints out what handlers are enabled
                for each routine, and whether or not a signal is being
                processed.    The   condition  handling  features  are
                described in chapter 14.

LCALLS          displays the call stack plus the locals area for  each
                routine  (including saved registers)-- this may not be
                very useful to a user  not  familiar  with  the  Bliss
                runtime  environment.   Locals are displayed after the
                call to the routine which owns them.   In  particular,
                Bliss-36   "local"  declarations  do  not  necessarily

                                - 39 -

DISPLAY                                                      Page 13-2


                allocate the variable onto the stack.

CALL n          displays the most-recent calls on the stack.  If n  is
                omitted  (i.e.,  CALL  is used as a nullary operator),
                only  the  last  call  (to  the  present  routine)  is
                printed.

LCALL n         works like CALL but also displays locals.



13.2  SYMBOL-TABLE SEARCHING

These operators are included for searching the symbol table.

PRS symbollist  For each symbol given, PRS prints every entry  in  the
                symbol table, in the format

                    name%ordinal     value   type    module  contents

                For instance,

                    &PRS  CTYPE,CX

                    CTYPE%1        400360  Own     MAIN..  Routine
                    CTYPE%2_*        5601  Own     INPU..  0
                    CX%1           500040  Global  DECL..  Routine w/debug

                    &
                    &PRS MAIN..

                    MAIN..         400010 \Module          211 symbols


                A * next to a name (following the ordinal) means  that
                that  entry  will  not be used for typeout by SIX12 or
                DDT (i.e., $K has been performed on it by DDT).  A "\"
                next to the word "Module" indicates this module is the
                default module selected by the QUALIFY command.  A "^"
                to  the left of the name indicates the name appears in
                the high segment symbol table (if there are two symbol
                tables;   see  section 17.4).  If the value is a valid
                memory location, and contains what looks like a DEBUG.
                UUO  or  the  first  instruction  of  a  routine entry
                sequence,  then  the  phrase  "Routine   w/debug"   or
                "routine"  will  be printed out.  Otherwise, the octal
                contents of the location will be printed.

PRM module-list This operator takes either no operands or a vector  of
                module  names.   The  null operand case will cause the
                names of all the modules to be listed, along with  the
                location  where  each  is  loaded  and  the  number of
                symbols in each module.  If a list of module names  is
                given, it will list each module and the symbols within
                it.  A "^" to the left of the name indicates the  name

                                - 40 -

DISPLAY                                                      Page 13-3


                was  found  in  the  high  segment  symbol  table (see
                section 17.4).

                    &prm

                    SIX12  400123  Module          653 symbols
                    USERA  500666  Module          111 symbols
                    ...
                    &prm xback

                    XBACK   454115  Module          4 symbols
                    P.AAA   454115  Own     XBACK   251653325130
                    P.AAB   454117  Own     XBACK   251653325130
                    XPO$BA  454121  Global  XBACK   Routine


SEARCH 'partially-specified-symbol'
                This allows searches using the "wild-card"  convention
                that question-mark means any character, as in

                    &SEARCH 'P?C?'
                    PICK     500050  Own     TABL..  Routine
                    PACE       3001  Global  INPU..  17,,INPU.O+27
                    &SEARCH '??????'
                    (prints every entry in symbol table)

                The partially-specified symbol (only one  per  search)
                must  be  entered  in  single quotes.  SEARCH does not
                print ordinals (the %-qualification).  A  "^"  to  the
                left of the name indicates the symbol was found in the
                high segment symbol table.

WHERE expression
                Takes an  expression  or  vector  of  expressions  and
                prints  out the module and symbol which are closest to
                the expression values.

                    &WHERE 410317,.foo
                    410317: Module thud, XYZ+117
                    410113: Module AB.., C+2
                    &


HELP            Prints out a list of all the  operators.   PRINT  OPER
                can   be   used   to  make  inquiries  about  specific
                operators.



13.3  EXAMINING THE STATE OF SIX12

The PRINT operation displays the state of SIX12.

PRINT OPER name
PRINT OPER "char"

                                - 41 -

DISPLAY                                                      Page 13-4


                displays the definition (priority and routine name for
                each defined parse) of the specified operator, as in

                        PRINT OPER AND
                        PRINT OPER "_^"

                        Note: Priorities are displayed in decimal.

                If SIX12 has  suppressed  its  internal  symbols  (see
                SIXLSF  in section 17.2), the routine name printed for
                default operators will be incorrect.

PRINT MACRO name
                prints the  text  of  the  macro  named  'name'.   For
                instance,

                        PRINT MACRO CALLR

                If the macro name is omitted, all macro names and text
                are displayed.

PRINT ACTION actionname routine
                prints the status  of  the  specified  action  on  the
                specified routine.  The action must be given as one of

                        BREAK ABREAK OPAQ OPAQAFT TRACE TRACEAFT OK ALL

                (remember that TRACE FROM = TRACE + TRACE AFTER).  The
                "OK"  action  will indicate the (always unconditional)
                temporary breakpoint set on a routine from which an OK
                has  been  done.   If the routine name is omitted, the
                actions for all routines are  printed.   The  possible
                responses are

                1.  Action not set

                2.  Unconditional

                3.  the text of the condition test

                For example,

                        &PRINT BREAK OPAQ XYZ

                        Action not set

                        &PRINT ACTION ABREAK PPP
                        .X LSS 3


PRINT WATCH
PRINT MONITOR   Prints the locations being monitored and  the  current
                recorded "old value" stored in each.

                        &PRINT MONITOR

                                - 42 -

DISPLAY                                                      Page 13-5


                        M- FOO = 4407 == TEST.O+23
                        W- BAZ<18,18> = -773465  == 777777,,4313
                        &



                                         NOTE

                    The byte pointer position and size values  are
                    printed in decimal.  The initial flag, "M-" or
                    "W-", indicates whether or not the location is
                    being monitored by a MONITOR or WATCH command.
                    PRINT MONITOR and PRINT  WATCH  are  identical
                    commands.



                In addition, the STORE operator can be used  to  print
                the entire set of conditionals, breakpoints, monitors,
                etc.  on the user's terminal by doing

                        &STO 'tty:'



13.4  WRITING YOUR OWN PARAMETER DISPLAY

The default SIX12 parameter display is very simple, and  not  entirely
satisfactory  for  all applications.  It is possible to write your own
parameter display routine and value display  routine  by  setting  the
symbol  SIXHDR to contain the name of some user-defined routine.  This
routine is called with the following parameters:

        (address, name, parmptr, nparms, kind)

where the parameters are defined as:

address         The address of the routine  just  called  or  returned
                from.

name            The name of the routine just called or returned  from,
                in SIXBIT.

parmptr         At a routine entry (see kind, below), the  address  of
                the first actual parameter to the routine;  the second
                actual is at this address +1, etc.  At a routine exit,
                this  is  the  pointer  to the value returned, and the
                number of parameters is given as 1.

nparms          The number of actual parameters to the routine.

kind            A value of 1 if this is a routine entry, a value of  0
                if  this is a routine exit.  Other values, such as for
                displays of locals, may eventually be supplied,  so  a
                simple   true/false   test   should  not  be  used  to

                                - 43 -

DISPLAY                                                      Page 13-6


                distinguish the two cases.

The user must return a value to indicate if the user has  handled  the
printing  of  the  parameter  list,  or if SIX12 should.  A true value
returned by the user handler indicates  that  the  user  has  actually
processed  the  routines;   a  false  value indicates that the default
SIX12 display should be used.

The user can use the output routine SIXOCH, which takes a parameter of
the  single  character  to  be  written, and outputs it to the desired
devices;  thus, if LPTON or LPTDUP  modes  are  set,  output  will  be
diverted to or copied to the transaction file.

The user may also call  the  routine  SIXDPY,  which  takes  a  single
parameter,  which  is  an  address  to be printed symbolically.This is
printed (via SIXOCH) on the output device(s).   This  routine  may  be
called  whenever  the  user  wishes the default SIX12 display for some
parameter.

The user may use the entry point SIXXEQ to execute any SIX12  command,
but  in  particular may pass in the string representing a routine name
(as a qualified name with a module name, or  with  a  %-suffix).   The
value  of  SIXXEQ  is  the  value  of  the expression passed in, so in
particular the address of the routine will be returned.  This  may  be
used  for  comparison  with  the  address  passed  to the user routine
specified in SIXHDR.  The intent of this is to allow the user to  read
in  a  text file of routine names and printout requests and be able to
relate the external string name to the internal address when SIXHDR is
called.


                            Important Note

               The string  passed  to  SIXXEQ  must  be
               terminated  with  a  delete-  code,  177
               (octal)!!!




















                                - 44 -













                              CHAPTER 14

                          CONDITION HANDLING



There are several aspects  of  condition  handling  brought  about  by
SIX12.

      -  The user should be able to invoke any of the functionality of
         the condition handler mechanism from within SIX12.

      -  The condition handler should not interfere  with  the  user's
         interaction with SIX12.

      -  SIX12 should be able to monitor what the condition handler is
         doing.


The user may wish to invoke  the  condition  handler  functions  in  a
variety of ways for a variety of reasons.  Typical scenarios might be:

      -  The user, at a breakpoint or other point at which  SIX12  has
         control,  wishes  to  raise  a  signal,  most likely with the
         intent of terminating the current execution path.

      -  The user has set a breakpoint at a condition handler  routine
         and  wishes to take an action different than what the routine
         would do, e.g., to resignal when the  routine  would  resume,
         unwind when the routine would resignal, etc.

      -  The user wishes to return to a previous  level  of  SIX12  in
         order to resume debugging in that context.


These are all supported in the  current  implementation  of  condition
handling in SIX12.

The condition handling mechanism may be  invoked  from  SIX12  by  the
following commands:

SIGNAL expression
                This operator takes a single value, the  value  to  be
                signalled, and raises that signal.  The value returned
                is the value returned in the mechanism vector  by  the
                conditional  handler which was invoked.  No additional

                                - 45 -

CONDITION HANDLING                                           Page 14-2


                parameters may be passed to the handler.  If an Unwind
                operation is performed, control returns to the handler
                for the Unwind, and will not return to SIX12.

UNWIND          This operation is valid only if SIX12  is  in  control
                while  a  signal  is  being  handled.   It invokes the
                SETUNWIND() operation.  When control leaves SIX12, the
                Unwind will begin (i.e., via GO, RETURN, etc.).

RESIGNAL expression
                This operator is valid only if SIX12 has control at  a
                condition  handler  routine, e.g., by a BREAK, ABREAK,
                or single-step operation which puts SIX12  in  control
                at  the  handler routine.  If no operand is given, the
                current signal is resignalled;  thus, it is simply the
                equivalent  of  the  SIX12  command  RETURN  0.  If an
                operand is given, this operand becomes the new  signal
                value in the signal vector.

RESUME expression
                This operator is valid only if SIX12  has  control  at
                the  condition  handler routine (see RESIGNAL, above).
                If no operand is given, this is simply the  equivalent
                of  the  SIX12  command  RETURN  1.   If an operand is
                given, this operand becomes the value returned to  the
                SIGNAL call.

BACKTO expression
                This operator is valid whenever a  recursive  call  on
                SIX12  has  been  made.   It invokes a special signal,
                SIXUNW, which tells SIX12 to unwind back to a previous
                level, given as the only operand.

                        5:&backto 2
                        2:&

                If the user program is set up  to  call  SIX12  on  an
                error,  this  provides  a  way  of  returning  to  the
                previous incarnation of SIX12.  An attempt to go  back
                to a non-existent level is an error;  an attempt to go
                back to the current level is a null operation.

POP expression  This is  the  same  function  as  BACKTO,  except  the
                operand is the number of levels to return, rather than
                the index of the level to return to.  If no operand is
                given,  "1" is assumed.  At level 5, the following two
                commands will both return to level 2:

                        5:&BACKTO 2
                        2:&
                        ....
                        5:&POP 3
                        2:&



                                - 46 -

CONDITION HANDLING                                           Page 14-3


Whenever SIX12 is entered, it establishes a condition handler to  trap
all signals which may be raised by calls which may be made to the user
program.  The action of this handler is to print out the message  that
the  signal has been intercepted, then call SIX12 recursively to allow
the user to examine the state.  When a RETURN or GO  is  issued,  this
handler resignals.

A SIGNAL issued from SIX12 is also first intercepted by this handler.

Conspicuous by its absence is SIGNAL_STOP;  this is because resumption
of  a  SIX12  signal  would  only  return to SIX12, which is harmless,
whereas a resumption of a SIGNAL_STOP is probably an  error,  but  the
user  almost  certainly  does  not want to exit to the monitor, but to
return to SIX12!

In addition, SIX12 establishes a default condition  handler  in  SIX12
initialization,  so  that  any  signal  not  caught  anywhere else, or
resignalled indefinitely,  is  ultimately  caught  by  this  outermost
handler.   It  issues  a  message  indicating that the outermost SIX12
handler has been called, and  then  enters  SIX12  command  mode.   An
attempt  to  RESIGNAL  out  of  this  handler will give control to the
default Bliss-36 condition handler, which issues an error message  and
exits  to  the monitor.  An attempt to set UNWIND and resume execution
will terminate the program, since this handler is  established  before
calling the main routine of the user program.  What the user should do
here is to print the call stack, discover which, if any, handlers  are
invoked,  and  set  breakpoints  where  appropriate.   A  GO  to  this
outermost handler indicates a resumption is desired.   If  the  signal
was  raised  by  a  SIGNAL_STOP,  then the normal Bliss-36 SIGNAL_STOP
mechanism will terminate the program upon exit from SIX12.

Special checks are made in the various routines which  print  out  the
call stack, e.g., the CALL, CALLS, LCALL, and LCALLS commands, as well
as printout at breakpoints.  These checks will print out the  handlers
which  are  established  for routines, indicate when a SIGNAL is being
handled or an unwind is in progress, and print out the  parameters  to
the handler routines in a more useful format than the normal parameter
printout.

In the example below, the routine BH is an active handler routine  for
some outer routine.

        <=>At BH from FOO+26
        Signalv at 4416 =[1]: 22
        Mechanismv at 4424 =[1]: 4407
        Enablev at 4430 =[3] 3347 XYZ+22 FOO
        &CALLS
        B: BH from FOO+26
        Signalv at 4416 =[1]: 22
        Mechanismv at 4424 =[1]: 4407
        Enablev at 4430 =[3] 3347 XYZ+22 FOO
        *** SIGNAL(22) ***
        FOO from BAZ+7
        Actuals: 1: .STACK+214,,GORP<0,#36>
        ...

                                - 47 -













                              CHAPTER 15

                          APR ERROR RECOVERY



It is frequently the case that  users  write  debugging  aid  routines
which  they  can  call  from  SIX12.   Sometimes  these are invoked by
extended SIX12 operators, which can be defined as in chapter  18,  and
sometimes they are done as routine calls to be made from SIX12 command
level.

In any case, when debugging it is particularly annoying to call one of
these  routines, and for one of several reasons take an APR trap (such
as an illegal memory reference trap).  Getting back to  the  level  of
SIX12  from  which  the  call  was  made  is  extremely difficult, and
typically is not worth the effort.

The reasons such a call might fail are

     1.  The routine which has been called does not work.

     2.  The routine works, but the data passed is incorrect  and  the
         routine is not robust enough to cope with this.

     3.  The routine works, but an incorrect value or address has been
         passed because the user mis-typed it.

Recovery from this state is  possible  by  using  the  BACKTO  or  POP
commands described in chapter 14.  Consider the following example:

        &foo/
        34567
        &PrintIt(345667)
        ?
        ?Ill mem ref at user pc 405162
        .

In this example, the user (or perhaps, the user's keyboard)  typed  an
extra  6  in the address.  To recover, and return to SIX12, proceed as
follows:

        .DDT
        SIXDDT$G
        2:&pop
        &

                                - 48 -













                              CHAPTER 16

                       MISCELLANEOUS OPERATORS




QUALIFY name    Sets the default module name  for  symbols  which  are
                qualified with the null module name (see section 4.3).
                A symbol is qualified with a  null  module  name  when
                only  the  "\"  character appears, with no module name
                before it.

BASE n          Sets the default base to be n, and prints the new base
                in  decimal.   Subsequent input numbers are assumed to
                be in this base, and output will appear in  this  base
                (except for items specified to appear in the alternate
                base, either decimal  or  octal  by  means  of  the  #
                operator).   If  n  is omitted BASE prints the current
                base.  The initial default BASE is 8 (for octal).  The
                special  case of BASE 0 resets the base to the initial
                base (octal), no matter what it was set to.

WBASE n         Sets the  maximum  displacement  to  be  allowed  when
                printing    symbolic    addresses    in    the    form
                'symbol+offset'.  If "n" is omitted, WBASE prints  the
                current  offset  value using the current default base.
                base.  The WBASE is initialized to 1000 (octal).

SETTRACE        Turns on  the  trace  flag.   When  execution  resumes
                tracing  will  begin  immediately.   This  cancels the
                effects of any active OPAQUE.   The  GOTRACE  operator
                described earlier is equivalent to

                        SETTRACE ; GO


CLRTRACE        Turns off the trace flag.  This cancels the effects of
                an  active  TRACE  AFTER  or a previous SETTRACE.  The
                GOCLR operator described earlier is equivalent to

                        CLRTRACE; GO





                                - 49 -

MISCELLANEOUS OPERATORS                                      Page 16-2


NODEBUG         This performs

                        &.JB41 = #255000000000
                        &GO

                    Note:#255000000000 (octal) is a JFCL 0,0

                Thus, the DEBUG.  UUO is rendered a no-op.   This  can
                be  used  to  improve  execution  time if you are only
                running a program without intending to debug  it.   In
                addition,  should  you  reenter  SIX12 after this, the
                prompt will include a notation that you are in NODEBUG
                mode.

DEBUG           This undoes the  modification  of  the  UUO  intercept
                location  by  establishing  the linkage instruction to
                SIX12.  Unlike the NODEBUG operator, this does not  do
                a GO.  This is useful if you have at some point done a
                NODEBUG and now have entered SIX12 (either through DDT
                or an error call) and wish to turn debugging back on.

RESET           Performs a RESET (UUO or JSYS).  All currently  opened
                files are closed, and various appropriate resetting of
                the job state is  done  by  the  monitor.   Note  that
                neither  SIX12  nor the program are reset or restarted
                by this command.

IDENT           Prints  out  the  version  of   SIX12,   the   runtime
                environment  it  expects (TOPS-10 or TOPS-20), and the
                linkage conventions in effect.

                For example:

                    &IDENT

                    SIX36 V8-6 (TOPS-20 I/O) for Bliss-36
                    Using default linkage with registers (decimal)
                    Stack pointer:      15
                    Frame pointer:      13
                    Value register:      1
                    Preserved registers:  14,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,0
                    Non-preserved registers: 5,4,3,2


!               An exclamation point at the start of a line  indicates
                a comment and the remainder of the line is ignored.










                                - 50 -













                              CHAPTER 17

                             USING SIX12



17.1  GENERAL USAGE

The modules to be debugged must be compiled as follows:

      -  Each module to be debugged must be compiled  with  the  DEBUG
         switch  set.   This can be accomplished by including DEBUG in
         the module head, or by specifying "/DEBUG"  in  the  compiler
         command  string.   It  is not necessary that all modules in a
         program be compiled with DEBUG.  However, if the main  module
         is  not  compiled  with  the  DEBUG switch, SIX12 will not be
         properly initialized, and there is the possibility of getting
         the message:

                ?Halt at user pc n

         where the instruction at user pc n is a DEBUG. UUO.  If  this
         is  the  case, call one of the initialization routines SIX10,
         SIX36C or SIX36 as described in Appendix A.

      -  Should you come up in "old SIX12", (typically V6.24),  it  is
         likely that your MAIN module was compiled with an old version
         of Bliss-36.  If so, it contains  a  .REQUEST  of  SIX12.REL.
         The  new SIX12 is included in the BLISS OTS library.  You can
         force loading of the new  SIX12  by  explicitly  loading  the
         module SIX36 from the appropriate OTS file.


Once you have compiled all your files, link them with the  appropriate
version  of  SIX12 and DDT;  be sure that local symbols are loaded for
your program files.  There are several version of SIX12, depending  on
the  version  of  Bliss  being  used, the linkage conventions, and the
underlying operating system.  The Bliss-36  compiler  will  include  a
.REQUEST linker directive to obtain the appropriate version.



    ------------------------------

[1] On TOPS-20, DDT can be implicitly merged at execution  time.   See
    Chapter 8, Concerning DDT.

                                - 51 -

USING SIX12                                                  Page 17-2


17.2  LINK-TIME OPTIONS

Using either the TOPS-10 or TOPS-20 linker, options may be selected at
link  time  for SIX12 switches SIXSTA (STARTFLG), SIXENB (ENABFLG) and
SIXNPL (NOPOLLFLG).  The LINK switch /DEFINE:  can be used  to  define
initial values for these switches:

Location    LINK name       Default value    Complement
--------    ---------       -------------    ----------

SIXSTA      SIXSTF          -1               /DEFINE:SIXSTF:0
SIXENB      SIXENF          -1               /DEFINE:SIXENF:0
SIXNPL      SIXPOL           0               /DEFINE:SIXPOL:-1
            SIXLSF          -1               /DEFINE:SIXLSF:0

The values which have runtime locations assigned may also  be  set  at
execution  time  using  DDT  or  SIX12  itself;   for  example, SIXSTA
(STARTFLG) may be defined false (/DEFINE:SIXSTF:0) but set true before
execution  begins  by  using  DDT.   Such  redefinition will cause the
linker  to  issue  a  "multiply  defined  symbol"  warning  when   the
definition in the SIX12 module is encountered, but this message should
be ignored.

The symbol SIXLSF determines if SIX12 will delete its local symbols at
startup.   Ordinarily,  SIX12  deletes all of its local symbols except
STARTFLG (SIXSTA), ENABFLG (SIXENB) and NOPOLLFLG  (SIXNPL).   Setting
SIXLSF to 0 at link time will suppress this automatic deletion, and is
normally only done when a SIX12 maintainer is working  on  SIX12.   If
the  SIX12 local symbols are left in, they frequently cause "Ambiguous
symbol" errors because they conflict with user-defined symbols.   When
the  symbols  are  deleted,  the  SIX12  symbol  table  is  compacted.
Although this saves no space (the space  saved  is  not  reclaimed  or
reused  in  any  way),  it  saves  time because symbol table search is
linear, and SIX12 defines nearly 600 deletable symbols.



17.3  TOPS-10 USAGE

The easy way to load SIX12 is with the monitor DEBUG command:

        .DEBUG  your program files,REL:SIXB12

If you prefer to use LINK directly, you can issue

        .R LINK
        */DEBUG  your program files,REL:SIXB12
        */GO

If space is at a premium, you can save about  1200  words  by  loading
SIX12 without its local symbols, as in

        .DEBUG  your program files,REL:SIXB12%"NOLOCALS"

(All global symbols in SIX12 begin with the  letters  S  I  X.)  SIX12

                                - 52 -

USING SIX12                                                  Page 17-3


normally  purges  all of the SIX12 local symbols from the symbol table
(except for STARTFLG, ENABFLG and NOPOLLFLG).   This  saves  time  and
prevents "Ambiguous symbol" error messages.



17.4  SIX12 AND OVERLAYS

SIX12 does not work particularly well with overlay  systems  based  on
the  overlay  handler  supported  by  LINK.   However,  there are some
modifications which have been made to allow those programs which  have
user-built  overlay  systems using either the GETSEG UUO on TOPS-10 or
the GET JSYS on TOPS-20 to interact more gracefully with  SIX12.   The
/SEGMENT  switch  to the Linker can be used to force the code into the
correct segment.

In order to simplify some of  the  discussion  below,  the  term  "low
segment" when applied to TOPS-20 will refer to the resident pages, and
"high segment" to the set of pages  which  are  swapped  in  for  each
overlay.   If  the  addresses  of the overlay segments are not greater
than the addresses of the resident segment, SIX12  will  probably  not
work correctly.

In order to work at all with an overlay system, SIX12 must  be  loaded
in  the  low  segment  so that it is always at the same address.  Each
overlaid high segment must have its own symbol  table,  and  they  all
must  overlay  with the same offset (e.g., if one segment is loaded at
location 600000 , all the segments must be loaded at  600000  ).   The
symbol  table  for  the  common  code must be in the low segment (this
symbol table can contain symbols for one of the overlaid high segments
as  well);   the  symbol tables for each of the overlaid high segments
must be in the respective high  segments  (except  for  one  which  is
typically  the first segment used, which may be shared with the symbol
table for the resident segment).  The Linker  /SYMSEG  switch  can  be
used to force the symbol table into the correct segment.

The high segment symbol table is found (typically) by looking  at  the
location  .JBHSM relative to the high segment offset .JBHGH.  However,
in TOPS-20 systems, if the high segment is  relocated  with  the  /SET
switch  the  value of .JBHGH is not changed (this happens correctly in
TOPS-10 systems), and the value .HIGH.  must be  used.   Consequently,
there is a complex rule for searching symbol tables.

      -  If the symbol .HIGH.   is  defined,  and  is  different  from
         .JBHGH,  it  is  used  as  the  start  of  the  high segment;
         otherwise .JBHGH is used.

      -  If the value stored in .JBHSM from  the  start  of  the  high
         segment  is  the same as the value stored in .JBSYM, there is
         only one symbol table and it is searched.

      -  If the value stored in .JBHSM from  the  start  of  the  high
         segment  is  different from the value stored in .JBSYM, there
         are two symbol tables.  In this case:


                                - 53 -

USING SIX12                                                  Page 17-4


          *  The high segment symbol table is searched first.

          *  If the symbol is not found in the high segment table, the
             low segment symbol table is searched.  Note that this may
             occasionally produce strange results if the  low  segment
             table contains symbols from the initial segment.

          *  Ambiguous symbols whose ambiguity arises because they are
             defined  uniquely  in  the  high segment symbol table but
             have a duplicate (and different) definition  in  the  low
             segment table will not be treated as ambiguous;  the high
             segment definition is considered the correct one.  If the
             ambiguity  arises  exclusively in the high segment symbol
             table, the symbols are treated as ambiguous.



The address of the high segment symbol table is recomputed after  each
entry  into  SIX12 and after each call to a user routine or invocation
of a user-defined operator, since any of these conditions could change
the  high segment symbol table.  If the high segment disappears, SIX12
will continue to work correctly  providing  the  common  symbol  table
defined in .JBSYM is in the low segment.

These rules appear complex, but seem to  provide  reasonable  behavior
when overlay systems are used.  The correct rules may actually be more
complex.



17.5  SIX12 AND USER UUO HANDLERS

The debugging linkages generated by  the  DEBUG  switch  use  the  037
(octal) user UUO.  If your program does not use user UUOs (opcodes 001
(octal)-037 (octal)), you can skip the following.  If you do use UUOs,
you must

      -  Not use opcode 037 (octal),

      -  Arrange for your UUO handler to link to SIX12 properly.  This
         is  merely  a  matter  of getting the proper jump address for
         SIX12's UUO entry point.  This is  available  as  the  global
         symbol  SIXUUO.You  may  also  retrieve the jump address from
         location .JB41 before loading it with a branch  to  your  own
         handler.    (SIX12   loads  .JB41  with  a  PUSHJ  to  itself
         immediately   after   stack   initialization.)    Your    UUO
         initialization code would look something like:

                Global
                    UUOROUTS    : VECTOR[ %O'40' ];
                External Routine
                    UUOSwitch
                External
                    %Name('.JB41');
                .

                                - 54 -

USING SIX12                                                  Page 17-5


                .
                UUOROUTS[%O'037'] = .%Name(.JB41)<0,18>;

                ! Put  PUSHJ SREG,UUOSWITCH  into loc.  41
                !

                %Name('.JB41') = %O'260'^27 or 15<0,0>^23 or UUOSwitch<0,0>;

         where the routine UUOSwitch

                Machop  JRST = %O'254';

                Global Routine UUOswitch =
                    JRST(0,UUOROUTS[ %Name('.JB41') ],0,1);

         must be in a module which is compiled without DEBUG switches.








































                                - 55 -













                              CHAPTER 18

                     DEFINING YOUR OWN OPERATORS





                          CAVEAT Programmer

               This code  was  not  thoroughly  tested,
               after it was converted to Bliss-36.



As previously advertised, SIX12 is capable  of  easy  extension.   The
method for this is normally to define new operators or revise standard
ones to suit your needs.  (Please review what we said about  operators
under 'SIX12 expressions', if it is not fresh in your mind.)



18.1  WHAT DEFINES AN OPERATOR

The syntax (print name, priority, possible parses) of an  operator  is
defined  by  an  entry  in a syntax analyzer table.  Its semantics are
defined by a routine which the table entry points to.  To evaluate the
operator,  the  analyzer  calls  this routine using a standard linkage
convention.  The content of this section is a description  of  1)  the
linkage  convention and 2) the proper method for making entries in the
syntax table.

Linkage:  Since operands and values can be vectors, it is not possible
to  transfer  them  by standard Bliss linkage.  Instead, variables are
set to point to an operand and give its length.  The variables are:

SIXLP           Contains a pointer to  the  first  word  of  the  left
                operand.  (Undefined if no left operand.)

SIXLC           Contains the number of  words  in  the  left  operand.
                (Zero if no left operand.)

SIXRP           Like SIXLP, except points to corresponding values  for
                the right operand.

SIXRC           Contains the number of words  in  the  right  operand.

                                - 56 -

DEFINING YOUR OWN OPERATORS                                  Page 18-2


                (Zero if no right operand).

These variables are set at the routine call;  the routine may  destroy
them  if  it  wishes.   (The  contents  of  the  operands  may also be
destroyed.) To return a  value,  the  routine  should  set  these  two
variables before returning:

SIXVP           Must contain the address of  the  first  word  of  the
                value.  (The left half of SIXVP is ignored.)

SIXVC           Must contain the number of words in the value.

If no value is to be returned these  can  be  left  unmodified.   (The
criterion for finding a value is that SIXVC be positive;  it is set to
zero before calling the routine.) Note that operands  and  values  are
always vectors of fullwords.

An evaluating routine may need to determine what  parse  it  has  been
called  under.  The parse in use can always be determined by examining
SIXLC and SIXRC, but a more convenient way  is  provided.   Evaluating
routines  are called with a single parameter (standard Bliss linkage),
which has the value

            0       for null parse (no operands)
            1       for prefix parse (a right operand only)
            2       for postfix parse (a left operand only)
            3       for infix parse (both operands);

thus bit 0 denotes the presence of a right operand and bit 1 that of a
left  operand.   We  suggest  examining the source of SIX12 to see the
best ways to code operators.  The macro Apply and the  routines  XBASE
and LPAREN are particularly good objects of study.

For each operator symbol, the table of operators contains  the  symbol
itself  (print  name),  and  information  on each of the four possible
parses for the symbol.  This information consists of the  priority  of
operation  and  the  address of the evaluating routine for that parse.
(If both are zero, the  parse  does  not  apply.)  Priorities  are  in
increasing  sequence,  that is an operator of priority 15 is evaluated
before one of  priority  14.   If  the  user  is  making  a  permanent
modification  to  SIX12,  he  should  modify  the  table in the source
program;  this is explained by notes in  the  source.   Otherwise,  in
order to avoid recompiling SIX12, the user can create his new routines
separately, compile them,  link  them  together  with  SIX12  and  the
program to be debugged, and modify the operator table at run-time.  To
facilitate this approach, the linkage variables  explained  above  are
all  global  names,  and  both  an  operator  and a global routine are
provided for modifying the table at run-time.








                                - 57 -

DEFINING YOUR OWN OPERATORS                                  Page 18-3


18.1.1  Important Restriction

The routine which is called to execute the operator, and any  routines
it calls to do its work, must not have debug linkages!!!  This is very
important!  If any routine is called during the processing of a  SIX12
operator  which  itself  contains  debug  linkages,  the  contents  of
locations SIXLP, SIXLC, SIXRP and SIXRC will be destroyed.   In  cases
where  it is not possible to call service routines which have not been
compiled with debug linkages, or the possibility of debug linkages  is
suspected,  then  the  parameters  must be copied to local storage and
never again referred to via  the  locations  in  SIX12.   The  routine
actually  called  to  execute the operator must never be compiled with
debug linkages, since the debug call will destroy SIXLP, SIXLC,  SIXRP
and SIXRC before the operator routine even gets to see them!



18.2  DEFINING OPERATORS FROM SIX12

The  DEFINE  command  allows  you  to  add  new  operators  at   SIX12
command-prompt  level.   These  definitions would typically be kept as
commands in an ascii file and incorporated using a RECALL command.

DEFINE name,parse = priority,routine
DEFINE "char",parse = priority,routine

                sets the parse information as requested.  "Parse"  can
                be one of keywords

                        NULL        PREFIX       POSTFIX      INFIX

                or a literal in the range 0..3.  Note  that  only  the
                specified parse is affected;  the others remain set as
                before.  (If a new operator symbol is  being  defined,
                the  other 3 are initialized to zero, i.e.  "parse not
                applicable".) For example,

                        DEFINE SIXBIT,PREFIX = 100,CONVRT

                where CONVRT names a routine to translate ASCII inputs
                to  SIXBIT  outputs,  could  be  used to implement the
                SIXBIT stringtype.  Once this has  been  entered,  the
                user could issue

                        & FILNAM = SIXBIT 'ABCDEF'

                Again,

                        DEFINE "?",0 = 10,DISPLAY

                would make it possible to call the routine DISPLAY  by
                typing  a  question  mark.  (If no value were required
                from "?" and DISPLAY expected no arguments, this could
                be   done   even  if  DISPLAY  had  not  been  written
                explicitly as a SIX12 operator...) Thus

                                - 58 -

DEFINING YOUR OWN OPERATORS                                  Page 18-4


                        & ?
                        (output from DISPLAY)
                        &


                The PRINT OPER operation can be  used  to  verify  the
                effects  of  DEFINE.   Remember  that  priorities  are
                printed in decimal by PRINT OPER.

                Certain characters  are  illegal  as  single-character
                user-defined operators;  see page 9.



18.3  DEFINING OPERATORS FROM A USER PROGRAM

Many applications programs would like to have SIX12 operators defined,
but  do  not  wish to require users to always define them at the SIX12
command level (even using the RECALL command).  Therefore, the  global
entry  point is available to user programs.  The user program may call
SIXOP during initialization to enter new operators in the table.   The
general form of the SIXOP call is:

        SIXOP(name,parse,priority,routine)

where

name            is  either  a  SIXBIT  name  for  the  operator,  left
                justified in a word, or a single ASCII 7-bit character
                in the left halfword.  (e.g., (%C'~'^18) in  Bliss-36,
                to define the operator ~).

parse           is 0, 1, 2 or 3 for null,  prefix,  postfix  or  infix
                parse, as described in section 18.

priority        is the priority of the operator;  see the SIX12 source
                for  determining  the  exact  priority  (however, most
                prefix commands like BREAK have priority 20  and  most
                nullary commands have priority 50).

routine         is the address of a routine to call for the operator.

An example is to define a command BP which prints its arguments out as
byte pointers:

        SIXOP(%sixbit 'BP',1,50,outbp);










                                - 59 -

DEFINING YOUR OWN OPERATORS                                  Page 18-5


where routine "outbp" is defined as

        Global Routine OutBP(ptype):NoValue=
        begin
        ! Implements the BP n,n,n,...  command
        ! The parse type code (ptype) is ignored,
        ! since only prefix parse is recognized
        ! this routine will fail if "outoct" or "write" contain debug
        ! linkages or call any routines with debug linkages
        external SIXRP: ref vector;
        external SIXRC;

        incr i from 0 to .SIXRC-1  do
            begin
            outoct(.SIXRP[.i]<0,18>);
            write("<");
            outdec(.SIXRP[.i]<30,6>);
            write(",");
            outdec(.SIXRP[.i]<24,6>);
            write(">");
            end;
        end;


An example of a routine which returns a value is given below.   It  is
important  to  note  that the user is responsible for finding space to
store the result pointed to by SIXVP.  There are many  ways  of  doing
this,  but  the  simplest  is  to allocate an own variable and put its
address into SIXVP.  The extent of the variable must be  greater  than
that  of  the  routine  stack frame so a local variable will not work.
For simple values, a single word can be allocated;  for vector values,
a  multiple  word value must be allocated.  The Bliss-36 routine below
allocates a 20-word vector, and assumes that no call will pass in more
characters  than  will fit;  if necessary, a bounds check could be put
in, but that would unnecessarily  complicate  this  example.   In  any
case,  SIX12  will  copy  the  result  out  before  it calls any other
routine.   Thus  the  variable   is   both   serially   reusable   and
"re-entrant".

This routine implements the  SIXBIT  operator  described  above.   The
"cvsix" call converts a single character from ASCII to SIXBIT.















                                - 60 -

DEFINING YOUR OWN OPERATORS                                  Page 18-6



    global routine CONVRT:NoValue=
    begin
    ! converts ASCII value to SIXBIT
    ! SIXRC is the count of the number of words in the ASCII string
    ! SIXRP points to the words
    ! SIXVC will contain the number of words of SIXBIT
    ! SIXVP will contain the addresses of each of the words
    !
    ! we cannot convert a SIXBIT operand longer than 20
    ! words (100 characters)

    own SIXBITVALUE: Vector[20];

    local OutPtr, InPtr, InCnt;

    external SIXRC;
    external SIXRP: ref VECTOR;

    InCnt = .SIXRC * 5;             ! 5 chars/word

    OutPtr = ch$ptr(SIXBITVALUE);
    InPtr = ch$ptr(SIXRP[0]);

    decr i from .InCnt to 0 do
        ch$wchar_a(cvsix(ch$rchar_a(InPtr)),OutPtr);

    SIXVC = ch$allocation(ch$diff(OutPtr,ch$ptr(SIXBITVALUE)));
    SIXVP = SIXBITVALUE
    end;


























                                - 61 -













                              APPENDIX A

              GLOBAL ENTRY POINTS, VALUES AND DATA AREAS




Symbol            Description

SIX10                   Initialization entry used for Bliss-10.
SIX12                   User callable entry point to explicitly invoke SIX12;
                        called with one parameter.
SIX36C                  Initialization entry used for Bliss-36.
SIX36                   Initialization  entry used for Bliss-36 with extended
                        addressing PDP-10s; currently unused.
SIXDDT                  Jump  address to start SIX12 from DDT using SIXDDT$G.
                        A valid stack pointer (register SIXSP) must be set up
                        first,  if  necessary.    If  SIX12  has   not   been
                        initialized,  then  use PUSHJ SIXSP,SIXxxx$X instead,
                        where SIXxxx is SIX10, SIX36  or  SIX36C.    GO  from
                        SIX12 will return to DDT.
SIXDPY                  A  routine  of  one parameter; when called, it prints
                        out the name+offset of  the  address  passed  as  the
                        parameter.    This  is useful when the user wishes to
                        write other routines  (such  as  APR  trap  routines)
                        which  would  like to be able to print out a symbolic
                        address.
SIXENB                  Global symbol for  ENABFLG,  which  controls  console
                        polling.
SIXENF                  Initial  value of SIXENB (ENABFLG).  May be redefined
                        using LINK.
SIXHDR                  Normally 0, can be set  to  the  address  of  a  user
                        routine  which  is  a  handler  for  printing out the
                        parameters to a routine.  Thus, non-standard linkages
                        or formatted printout can be done.
SIXNPL                  Global name of NOPOLLFLG, which permanently  disables
                        console polling.
SIXOCH                  Routine  entry  point  to print a single character on
                        the selected output devices  (e.g.,  LPT  when  LPTON
                        mode  is  selected,  LPT  and TTY when LPTDUP mode is
                        selected).  Takes a single parameter,  the  character
                        to be printed.
SIXOSA                  Routine  entry  point to print an ASCIZ string on the
                        terminal using the SIX12 internal  routine  for  this
                        purpose.    Called with one parameter, the address of
                        the beginning of the string.  If the address  is  not

                                - 62 -

GLOBAL ENTRY POINTS, VALUES AND DATA AREAS                    Page A-2


                        valid,  nothing  is  printed  and  the  value of this
                        routine is 0; if the address is valid, the  value  is
                        1.
SIXOP                   User-callable  entry  point  for  defining  new SIX12
                        operators.
SIXPAT                  Twenty  word  patch  area.    BIND  may  be  used  to
                        establish symbolic names  for variables the user sets
                        in this area, e.g.

                            &BIND CHECKIT = SIXPAT[4]
                            &if |.CHECKIT| BREAK someroutine
                            &CHECKIT = 1

SIXPOL                  Initial   value   of  SIXNPL  (NOPOLLFLG).    May  be
                        redefined using LINK.
SIXRET                  Instruction to return to SIX12 using  SIXRET$X.  This
                        is equivalent to JRST @.JBOPC$X or $P.
SIXSP                   Stack register name (suppressed for typeout).
SIXSTA                  Global name for STARTFLG.  Controls  automatic  entry
                        to SIX12 at startup.
SIXSTF                  Initial  value of SIXSTA(STARTFLG).  May be redefined
                        using LINK.
SIXSTK                  Contains the value of the stack pointer register when
                        SIX12 is initialized.
SIXUNW                  The low-order 18 bits are used as the  value  of  the
                        unwind  signal  for  the BACKTO command.The user must
                        write code so that only the  low-order  18  bits  are
                        examined  when  comparing  this value.  The user must
                        never do a SETUNWIND() call and  then  resignal  this
                        signal,  or  SIX12  will  become  terriblly confused.
                        This value  is  currently  7170  (octal).    It  is
                        recognized  that this could conflict with some signal
                        value established by the user.  Thus, the Linker  can
                        be  used  as  described in section 17.2 to change the
                        value of this signal:

                        /DEFINE:SIXUNW:12345

                        would change the value to 12345.    Of  course,  this
                        will cause a multiply-defined-symbol warning from the
                        linker.
SIXUUO                  Address of SIX12 handler for DEBUG. UUO.
SIXXEQ                  A  routine  of  one  parameter, a pointer to a string
                        terminated with a DEL code (177 (octal)).  The string
                        is evaluated  as  a  SIX12  command,  and  the  value
                        returned,  if  any,  becomes the value of SIXXEQ.  If
                        there is any error, if the string pointer  is  not  a
                        valid  address,  or  if  the string pointer is 0, the
                        value returned is 0.







                                - 63 -













                              APPENDIX B

                           BUILDING A SIX12



This chapter tells how to compile a version of SIX12 from source files
(such as a release tape).

The file SIX12.B36 should be compiled as follows to obtain  particular
variations:

    Variation                   Command Line to Build
    ---------                   ---------------------

    TOPS-10, B10 Linkages       BLISS SIX12/VARIANT:10/TOPS10

    TOPS-10, B36 Linkages       BLISS SIX12/TOPS10

    TOPS-20, B36 Linkages       BLISS SIX12/TOPS20

The module SIX36 must then be replaced in  the  appropriate  OTS  file
using  MAKLIB.  The differences between the OTS files are discribed in
the following table.

    OTS File            Usage
    ---------           ----------------------------

    B361AB.REL          Tops-10, KA-10, B36 Linkages

    B361AT.REL          Tops-10, KA-10, B10 Linkages

    B361LB.REL          Tops-10, KL-10, B36 Linkages

    B361LT.REL          Tops-10, KL-10, B10 Linkages

    B362LB.REL          Tops-20, KL-10, B36 Linkages

    B362PB.REL          Tops-20, KL-10, B36 Linkages, Extended Addressing



                             Restriction

               The Bliss10 linkage conventions will not
               work correctly in a JSYS environment.

                                - 64 -

BUILDING A SIX12                                              Page B-2


B.1  UNUSUAL REGISTER ALLOCATIONS

It is sometimes the case that in order to  interface  to  an  existing
system,  a  Bliss-36  system  must  adopt  conventions  other than the
standard conventions.  Usually this  affects  the  stack  pointer  and
value  return  register  allocations,  but other effects are possible.
SIX12 provides much of this configuration  ability.   In  addition  to
selecting  which  features  of  the  running  system are selected (for
example, TOPS-10 or TOPS-20 I/O),  the  register  set,  basic  linking
conventions, and other information about the execution environment may
be tailored by use of these files.

Examine the source for SIX12.B36  to  see  how  the  LINKAGE_REGS  are
established.    Great  care  must  be  taken  to  prevent  SIX12  from
"trashing" your program.  In particular, look at the routines UUOH and
CALLEM.








































                                - 65 -













                              APPENDIX C

                            ERROR MESSAGES




Unknown symbol

    Description:    The name could not be  found  in  the  DDT  symbol
                    table  or the SIX12 operator-table (when qualified
                    with %0).

    User Action:    Either the symbol is misspelled or symbols  aren't
                    loaded.

Illegal character

    Description:    The indicated character is not a valid constituent
                    for any command or symbol.

    User Action:    Correct the command line.

Syntax error

    Description:    An invalid command or non-numeric characters in  a
                    digit string or a malformed symbol-name.

    User Action:    Correct the command line.

Incorrect number of arguments

    Description:    A field-reference was not of the form "base<p,s>";
                    or  a structure reference was made with other than
                    1 (for a VECTOR) or 3 (for a BLOCK)  parameter(s);
                    or  the  DEFINE command has an incorrect number of
                    operands;  or the  PRINT  command  has  the  wrong
                    number of operands.

    User Action:    Correct the command line.

Unmatched brace

    Description:    A mismatch in the number (or placement)  of  "( )"
                    or "< >" pairs.


                                - 66 -

ERROR MESSAGES                                                Page C-2


    User Action:    Correct the expression.

Base must be from 2 to 10 decimal

    Description:    The BASE operator only supports radix 2 thru radix
                    10.

    User Action:    Use a valid radix value in the BASE command

<name>:  No debug linkage found for this routine

    Description:    A DEBUG.  UUO ( opcode 037 octal ) was  not  found
                    for the mentioned routine.

    User Action:    Recompile the module with /DEBUG.

Invalid equals

    Description:    The "=" operator has been misused.

    User Action:    Correct the command line.

ACTION type must be one  of:   BREAK,  ABREAK,  OPAQ,  OPAQAF,  TRACE,
                    TRACEA or ALL

    Description:    A PRINT ACTION command  has  not  indicated  which
                    action(s) should be displayed.

    User Action:    Correct the command.

Improper file-spec

    Description:    The quoted-string provided as  a  file-spec  could
                    not  be  parsed  according  to  the host operating
                    system rules.

    User Action:    Correct the file-spec.

Open failure

    Description:    A file could not be opened.  On TOPS-20,  this  is
                    followed by the text for the last JSYS error.

    User Action:    Determine why the file couldn't be opened.

Transmission error

    Description:    An i/o error has occurred  in  writing  some  file
                    produced   by  the  SAVE  or  STORE  command.   On
                    TOPS-10, the output file is deleted.  Or,  an  i/o
                    error  occurred in reading some file with the LOAD
                    or RECALL command.

    User Action:    Determine why the file couldn't be accessed.


                                - 67 -

ERROR MESSAGES                                                Page C-3


No space for macro text

    Description:    There is no more room for defining macros.

    User Action:    See the discussion of LOAD and SAVE in Chapter 12.
                    If   the   message   persists   after  compressing
                    macro-text,  you   can   recompile   SIX12   after
                    increasing the value of the literal NMACROS.

No space for macro name definition

    Description:    The file used to LOAD from contains too many macro
                    definitions.

    User Action:    Use the  FORGET  command  to  remove  macros  from
                    SIX12.   If  this  fails,  recompile  SIX12  after
                    increasing the value of the literal NMACROS.

Name already defined

    Description:    The macro you are declaring already exists.

    User Action:    Change the name or use FORGET to  delete  the  old
                    definition.

No space for symbol definition

    Description:    Either there is  no  patch-space  (module  "PAT.."
                    isn't  in the DDT symbol table) or the patch space
                    is full.

    User Action:    Make more patch-space available.

Digit invalid for base

    Description:    The value being processed contained  digits  which
                    are invalid in the current radix.

    User Action:    Enter the number in the current radix,  or  change
                    the radix.

Actual/Local index out of range

    Description:    The   index   of   a   non-existant    local    or
                    actual-parameter was specified.

    User Action:    An LCALLS command will  display  the  actuals  and
                    locals  to show what the valid range for the index
                    is.

:<field-ref>:  invalid field reference (byte pointer)

    Description:    The specified byte-pointer  for  a  fetch,  store,
                    WATCH  or  MONITOR command had a non-zero indirect
                    or index field, or a bad  value  for  position  or

                                - 68 -

ERROR MESSAGES                                                Page C-4


                    size.

    User Action:    Correct the expression.

Line printer file not open

    Description:    The LPTON or LPTDUP  command  was  issued  without
                    issuing a LPTOPEN.

    User Action:    Issue a LPTOPEN command.

Line printer file still open

    Description:    A RESET command is illegal when the  LPT  file  is
                    still open.

    User Action:    Issue a LPTCLOSE command to close the output file.

DDT not loaded

    Description:    This message will occur when the  DDT  command  is
                    given  to  SIX12  and  DDT  is  not  present.   On
                    TOPS-10, this usually means that .JBDDT  does  not
                    point to the DDT entrypoint.

    User Action:    On TOPS-10, relink with DDT.  On TOPS-20,  ^C  and
                    enter DDT with the DDT command.

Multiple definitions in DDT symbol table for <name>

    Description:    SIX12  is  unable  to  resolve  which  of  several
                    symbols should be used.

    User Action:    Use the PRS command to determine which symbol  you
                    are  interested  in.   Then use %-qualification or
                    module-qualification to access the symbol.

OK works only at routine entry

    Description:    The  OK  command  can  only  be  issued   from   a
                    BREAK-point (routine-entry).  It is meaningless at
                    an ABREAK-point (routine-exit).

    User Action:    Type GO instead.

Ambiguous command name

    Description:    Not enough characters were supplied  to  determine
                    which SIX12 operator is being referenced.

    User Action:    Type more characters of the operator.

Valid only when in signal handler routine

    Description:    UNWIND, RESUME  or  RESIGNAL  commands  cannot  be

                                - 69 -

ERROR MESSAGES                                                Page C-5


                    issued unless you are presently inside a condition
                    handler.

    User Action:    Don't do these commands when you aren't at a BREAK
                    or ABREAK for the handler.

<address>:  Ill Mem Ref

    Description:    The specified address is non-existant.  (TOPS-10)

    User Action:    Correct the expression.

<address>:  Refers to non-existent page

    Description:    The specified address is non-existant.  (TOPS-20)

    User Action:    Correct the expression.

Already at top SIX12 level

    Description:    Attempt to do a POP or BACKTO command when already
                    at the outermost invocation of SIX12.

    User Action:    None.

You are already above level <number>

    Description:    A BACKTO <number> command was given when SIX12 was
                    already above the level specified.

    User Action:    Correct the command.

Which Parse?

    Description:    The DEFINE command didn't correctly specify  which
                    parse  (NULL,  PREFIX, POSTFIX or INFIX) was being
                    defined.

    User Action:    Correct the command.

<address>:  Memory Write Protected

    Description:    An assignment expression failed because of  memory
                    protection.

    User Action:    Correct the assignment expression destination.

<address>:  Memory Read Protected

    Description:    The  specified   address   cannot   be   accessed.
                    (Execute only).

    User Action:    Correct  the  expression  being  used  to   access
                    memory.


                                - 70 -

ERROR MESSAGES                                                Page C-6


Warning:  You are in NODEBUG mode

    Description:    A reminder that  if  you  were  to  enter  a  "GO"
                    command  that  SIX12  will not gain control at any
                    SIX12-breakpoints.

    User Action:    If you want to re-enter "DEBUG"  mode,  issue  the
                    DEBUG command.

Operation makes no sense in NODEBUG mode

    Description:    The command just issued won't have any  effect  as
                    long as NODEBUG is active.

    User Action:    Issue the DEBUG command to re-enter debug-mode and
                    re-issue the command which caused this message.

Module is in different high segment

    Description:    The specified module  qualification  refers  to  a
                    module   name  which  is  inaccessible;   or,  the
                    nullary QUALIFY command  couldn't  print  out  the
                    name of the default qualification module.

    User Action:    Correct the expression.

Could not find SS$UNW in symbol table

    Description:    The BACKTO and POP commands cannot be used  unless
                    this    symbol   is   defined,   indicating   that
                    condition-handling support  is  linked  in.   This
                    should never occur unless the DDT symbol table has
                    been corrupted or  has  not  been  loaded  in  the
                    image.

    User Action:    Something is  wrong  with  the  DDT  symbol-table.
                    Determine the problem and correct it.



















                                - 71 -

                                                          Page Index-1


                                INDEX




#
  change input radix . . . . . . .  3-2
%
  %0 six12 symbol-table  . . . . .  4-5
  %a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-4
  %l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-4
  %n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-5
  actual parameters, accessing . .  4-4
  disambiguate identifiers . . . .  4-5
  local variables, accessing . . .  4-4
( )
  compound expression  . . . . . .  4-1
  routine call . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
(halt at user pc)
  tops-10  . . . . . . . . . . . .  2-1
(illegal instruction)
  tops-20  . . . . . . . . . . . .  2-1
*  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
+  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
-  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
.
  fetch operator . . . . . . . . .  4-2
/
  DDT examine  . . . . . . . . . .  4-1, 5-1
  infix divide . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
<line-feed>  . . . . . . . . . . .  7-3
<p,s>
  byte pointers  . . . . . . . . .  4-2
=  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-2
?
  escape convention  . . . . . . .  4-4
[  ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-2
^  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
|
  conditional text delimiter . . .  6-4
  macro text delimiter . . . . . .  11-1

ABREAK
  stop after execution . . . . . .  6-2
AND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
APR trap recovery  . . . . . . . .  15-1
ATRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3

BACKTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14-2
BASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3-2, 16-1
BIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11-1
BLOCK structure  . . . . . . . . .  4-3
BLOCKVECTOR structure  . . . . . .  4-3
BREAK

                                - 72 -

                                                          Page Index-2


  at routine-entry . . . . . . . .  6-2

CALLS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-1
CLRTRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16-1
COPAQUE  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3

DABREAK
  delete after-breaks  . . . . . .  6-2
DBREAK
  delete entry breaks  . . . . . .  6-2
DEBUG  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16-2
DEFINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18-3
DISABLE
  suppress input monitoring  . . .  9-1
DMONITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10-1
DOPAQUE  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3
DOPAQUE AFTER  . . . . . . . . . .  6-3
DTRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3
DTRACE AFTER . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3
DTRACE FROM  . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3
DWATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10-1

EQL  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1

FORGET . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11-1

GEQ  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
GO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7-2
GOCLR  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7-2
GOTRACE  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7-2
GTR  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1

HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-3

IDENT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16-2
Ill mem ref
  re-entering SIX12  . . . . . . .  15-1
Illegal operators  . . . . . . . .  3-4

LCALLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-1
LEQ  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
Linker options . . . . . . . . . .  17-2
LOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-2
LPTCLOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-2
LPTDUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-1
LPTOFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-1
LPTON  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-1
LPTOPEN  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-1
LSS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1

MACRO  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11-1
Macro
  recovering memory  . . . . . . .  12-2
MONITOR  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10-1
Monitoring

                                - 73 -

                                                          Page Index-3


  input  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9-1
  variables  . . . . . . . . . . .  10-1

Name qualification . . . . . . . .  4-6
Names, syntax  . . . . . . . . . .  4-4
NEQ  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
NOCOPAQUE  . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-4
NODEBUG  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16-2
NOT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1

OK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7-3
OPAQUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3
OPAQUE AFTER . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3
Operator, illegal  . . . . . . . .  3-4
OR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1

POLLOFF
  terminate input monitoring . . .  9-1
POLLON
  restore input monitoring . . . .  9-1
POP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14-2
PRINT ACTION . . . . . . . . . . .  13-4
PRINT MACRO  . . . . . . . . . . .  13-4
PRINT MONITOR  . . . . . . . . . .  13-4
PRINT OPER . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-3
PRINT WATCH  . . . . . . . . . . .  13-4
PRM
  print modules  . . . . . . . . .  13-2
PRS
  print symbols  . . . . . . . . .  13-2

QUALIFY
  name qualification . . . . . . .  16-1
Quoted strings . . . . . . . . . .  3-2

Radix of numbers . . . . . . . . .  3-2
RECALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-3
REF-structure  . . . . . . . . . .  4-3
RESET  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16-2
RESIGNAL . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14-2
RESUME . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14-2
RETURN . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7-2
Routine calls  . . . . . . . . . .  4-1

SAVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-2
SEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-3
SETTRACE . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16-1
Shift  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-1
SIGNAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14-1
SIXREF . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4-3
STEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7-3
STORE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12-3
Structure access . . . . . . . . .  4-3
Structure BLOCK  . . . . . . . . .  4-3
Structure VECTOR . . . . . . . . .  4-3

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                                                          Page Index-4


Structure, REF-  . . . . . . . . .  4-3

TRACE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-2
TRACE FROM . . . . . . . . . . . .  6-3

UNWIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14-2
User-enhancement
  defining operators . . . . . . .  18-1
  SIXDPY . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-6
  SIXOCH . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-6
  SIXXEQ . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-6
User-enhancements
  parameter display  . . . . . . .  13-5
  return-value display . . . . . .  13-5

VECTOR structure . . . . . . . . .  4-3
Vector structure . . . . . . . . .  4-3

WATCH  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10-1
Watching variables
  see monitoring
WBASE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16-1
WHERE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13-3

































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