From fe2443a10773bfa1890342fc4240e9da71ff7527 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: kitty <nepeta@canaglie.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2026 15:55:08 +1100
Subject: some macros

---
 readme.md   | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 sanctuary.s | 46 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 2eb22a7..56a31fe 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ for amd64 linux systems.
 - `?`: boolean flag
 
 ## Glossary
+
 the following is a list of words available in this forth. (neither of these have been implemented yet i'm just putting them here in the meantime lol)
 
 ### `dp   ( -- a )`
@@ -20,3 +21,20 @@ the following is a list of words available in this forth. (neither of these have
 ### `here   ( -- a )`
 `here` yields the address of the first available byte
 in user memory.
+
+## dictionary format
+
+note that the string length of one byte limits a word's name to 255 characters.
+
+| field | size |
+| :---- | :--- |
+| link to previous word | 8 bytes |
+| flag field | 1 byte |
+| string length | 1 byte |
+| string | <256 bytes |
+| code | variable length |
+
+## reserved registers
+
+the registers `r14` and `r15` are reserved for the parameter stack
+and the top of stack respectively.
diff --git a/sanctuary.s b/sanctuary.s
index ad8720f..5859ac1 100644
--- a/sanctuary.s
+++ b/sanctuary.s
@@ -1,7 +1,51 @@
 ; sanctuary
 
-section .bss
+; macros {{{
+; in this forth pspush and pspop are only necessary if you need to
+; go deeper into the stack.
+; TODO: error handling (once i add that)
+%macro pspush 1
+	lea r14, [r14-8]
+	mov qword [r14], r15
+	mov r15, %1
+%endmacro
+
+%macro pspop 1
+	mov %1, r15
+	mov r15, qword [r14]
+	lea r14, [r14+8]
+%endmacro
+
+%define s_latest 0
+
+%macro defdict 3 ; name label flags
+	%strlen slen %1
+	global lfa_%2
+	lfa_%2: dq s_latest
+	%define s_latest lfa_%2
+	ffa_%2: db %3
+	nfa_%2: db slen
+		db %1
+%endmacro
 
+%macro defcode 3
+	defdict %1, %2, %3
+	%2:
+%endmacro
+
+; this is just taken from jewelforth, and does not correspond
+; to how user variables are planned to work in sanctuary
+; so todo make better later? i don't know if it really matters
+; because it will only apply to builtin variables.
+%macro defvar 3
+	%2: dq %4
+	defdict %1, %2, %3
+	; pspush qword %2 ; todo
+	%2:
+%endmacro
+; }}}
+
+section .bss
 resq 4091
 wstk: resq 1
 
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