Architecture

Althread is a statically typed language that is compiled into instructions for the Althread virtual machine. This virtual machine is a program that executes Althread program instructions. These instructions are low-level operations that manipulate program data, but are not as low-level as instructions on a physical machine. The Althread virtual machine is designed to be easy to implement and understand, while remaining sufficiently performant to execute programs of a reasonable size.

Execution on the Althread virtual machine is similar to running a program on a standard computer, with execution stacks per process, where local variables are stored, and a shared memory area. The virtual machine is described in detail in the Virtual Machine section.

To be executed on the virtual machine, an Althread program must be compiled into instructions. The Althread compiler is a program that takes an Althread program as input and produces a data structure that is directly used by the virtual machine (at the moment, it is not possible to store the compiled version of a program).

The Althread compiler is described in detail in the Compiler section. It should be noted that the compiler performs no optimization; it simply translates the program into instructions.