MODS is a toolkit to aid in the coding of Lua assembly. MODS includes a custom linker and assembler. Together they can easily be used to code in LASM.
In order to better understand the abilities of Lua assembly, read A No-Frills Introduction to Lua 5.1 VM Instructions.
MODS can be used as a library or a standalone application.
$ ./mods input.lasm -o output.luac
| flags | description |
|---|---|
-o / --output |
Change output file |
-s / --strip |
Strips debugging information of existing bytecode |
-d / --disassemble |
Disassemble .luac bytecode file |
-- include the mods directory directly in the root source directory
local mods = require 'MODS.src.mods'
function test()
print("Hello, world!")
end
local bytecode = string.dump(test)
print(mods.disassemble(bytecode)).name "@MODS/test.lua"
.options 0, 0, 0, 2
GETGLOBAL 0, <"print">
LOADK 1, <"Hello, world!">
CALL 0, 2, 1
RETURN 0, 1
MODS employs a simple syntax that closely matches the structure of Lua bytecode. Nearly every aspect of the emitted bytecode can be controlled. Before learning the syntax utilized in MODS, however, it is important to understand Lua assembly in general as explained by this document.
Anything following a semicolon (;) is ignored.
; This is a comment
INSTRUCTION 0, 1, 2 ; this is also a constant
Instructions are identifiers followed by a comma-separated list of parameters. These parameters may be labels, constants, or just numbers that control special semantics.
.options 0, 0, 0, 3
GETGLOBAL 0, <"print">
LOADK 1, <"Hello, world!"> ; parameters inside arrow brackets are automatically declared constants
LOADK 2, <333/106> ; they can perform simple math!
CALL 0, 2, 1
RETURN 0, 1
MODS is licensed under the terms of the MIT license. See ./LICENSE for a full description thereof.