MPS Wiki

1. Introduction

This wiki is a collection of incomplete notes about the MPS, the precursor to more formal documentation.

See About the MPS Wiki↓ for an introduction.

Not confidential. Readership: MPS users and developers. Status: not authoritative.

2. Articles

Recommended; some relevance to client developers:

• glossary of MPS terminology
• modes of use of MPS
• the C-Stack, both generally and as used by the MPS

MPS Internals:

• rough timeline of MPS development
• the story of a garbage collection
• how a trace (collection, etc) works
• discussion of Allocation Point internals
• Describe methods and inheritance
• access: what happens when the mutator hits a (read or write) shield?
• buildsystem: the MPS build system

Sketchy, very incomplete, or arcane:

• issues with unmanaged workspace
• guide to poolamc.c
• theorem: collected statements about the MPS that are, or perhaps should be, true
• guide.hex.trans^∅ -- alpha-to-hex transliteration, used in Sigs.

3. About the MPS Wiki

The MPS Wiki is a wiki in the sense that it is an incomplete, evolving, informally structured collection of articles.

Here's a template for new articles.

Currently, only MPS developers at Ravenbrook may edit it, but we'd be very grateful for your comments, or articles you would like to contribute: please contact us.

Conventions

The following symbols are used in wiki articles:

^∅

This mark indicates a link to a document that is not publicly available

Often, this will be a historical document that, along with useful general information, contains some confidential material -- we just haven't had time to publish a 'declassified' version. If you suspect this is the case, please request that we do so.

↓

This mark indicates a link to another section in the same document

If you intend to read the whole document, you can skip these links and you will not miss out on any material.

A. References

B. Document History

  2006-05-25  RHSK  Created.
  2006-06-02  RHSK  Added template.  Articles: pool_classes, GC.
  2006-06-06  RHSK  Article: glossary.
  2006-06-06  RHSK  Article: Modes of use of MPS.
  2006-06-22  RHSK  Article: Allocation Point User Guide.
  2006-06-23  RHSK  Section: About the MPS Wiki
  2006-06-23  RHSK  Article: Allocation Point Internals
  2006-06-28  RHSK  Pool_classes article is now slightly useful
  2006-07-25  RHSK  Interrupts
  2006-07-25  RHSK  rename Interrupts as C-Stack
  2006-11-27  RHSK  Article: Timeline
  2006-11-28  RHSK  Article: RefMan Addenda
  2006-11-30  RHSK  Article: Story of a GC
  2007-01-12  RHSK  Article: Trace
  2007-01-18  RHSK  Article: PoolAMC
  2007-03-01  RHSK  Article: Theorem
  2007-04-26  RHSK  New categories on this index page.
  2007-03-01  RHSK  Article: Describe methods
  2007-09-27  RHSK  Article: access: when the mutator hits a shield
  2008-09-29  RHSK  Article: buildsystem: the MPS build system
  2009-12-01  RHSK  Link to guide.hex.trans.
  2012-10-18  GDR   Removed "RefMan Addenda", "Garbage Collection" and "Allocation Point User's Guide": moved these to the user documentation proper.

C. Copyright and License

This document is copyright © 2006-2009 Ravenbrook Limited. All rights reserved. This is an open source license. Contact Ravenbrook for commercial licensing options.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Redistributions in any form must be accompanied by information on how to obtain complete source code for the this software and any accompanying software that uses this software. The source code must either be included in the distribution or be available for no more than the cost of distribution plus a nominal fee, and must be freely redistributable under reasonable conditions. For an executable file, complete source code means the source code for all modules it contains. It does not include source code for modules or files that typically accompany the major components of the operating system on which the executable file runs.

This software is provided by the copyright holders and contributors "as is" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement, are disclaimed. In no event shall the copyright holders and contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.