Compiler

This document describes the bytecode compiler and virtual machine at a high
level for language tooling and implementation work. It is intentionally brief;
the Go implementation is the source of truth.

Pipeline overview

1. Parsing: source is tokenized and parsed into an AST.
2. Compilation: the compiler emits bytecode instructions and a constant pool.
3. Execution: the VM evaluates bytecode with a stack-based model.

Bytecode model

• Constant pool: literals and compiled functions live in a constant pool
  referenced by index.
• Instruction stream: opcodes are encoded in big endian with optional
  operands.
• Stack: most instructions pop operands and push results.
• Control flow: conditional and unconditional jumps alter the instruction
  pointer.

Functions and closures

Functions compile to bytecode chunks with metadata such as arity. Closures carry
their captured environment and are invoked through the call opcode in the VM.

Core opcodes