[ConstExprPreter] Updated constant interpreter documentation

[nand]

Summary

Updated the documentation to better reflect features implemented on the
constexpr branch at https://github.com/nandor/llvm-project and extended
the TODO list with known missing features

[lebedev.ri]

This file needs linewrapping

[nand]

Wrapped to ~80 chars/line

[rsmith]

clang/docs/ConstantInterpreter.rst

118

object -> objects

167

Descriptor -> Descriptors

169–170

This sounds like this is talking about the memory layout of descriptors, but I think the text below is actually talking about the memory layout of blocks?

174

reserved -> reserves

How do you distinguish between initialized and in-lifetime-but-uninitialized primitives? Eg:

constexpr int f() {
  int a;
  return a; // error, a is in-lifetime but uninitialized
}

174

How do you represent the result of casting a pointer to an integer (which we permit only when constant-folding, but nonetheless we do permit)?

182

when -> When

The overwhelmingly common case is the set of initialized elements is [0, 1, ..., K) for some K. Have you considered instead storing this value as a union of an InitMap* and an integer, using the bottom bit to indicate which case we're in? (We don't need to allocate the map at all except in weird cases where someone makes a hole in the array through a pseudo-destructor or allocates out-of-order with construct_at or similar.)

How do you distinguish between in-lifetime-but-uninitialized elements and out-of-lifetime elements? For example:

using T = int;
constexpr int f(bool b) {
  int arr[5];
  arr[3].~T();
  arr[0] = 1; // ok, uninitialized -> initialized
  if (!b)
    arr[3] = 1; // error, arr[3] is not in lifetime
  else
    std::construct_at(arr + 3, 0); // ok, not in lifetime -> in lifetime and initialized
  return arr[3];
}

Maybe we should use two bits per primitive in the InitMap case and store both "initialized" and "in-lifetime"?

194–195

field -> fields

From the description below, it looks like sizeof(InlineDescriptor) is currently 16. That seems unnecessary: We could easily get this down to 8 bytes by bit-packing the offset and the flags. (Restricting ourselves to 2^59 bytes for each record seems unproblematic.) I suspect it might even be OK to pack this into 4 bytes; that'd still allow us to support objects whose representations are up to 128 MiB -- though perhaps that's getting a little too close to territory that programs might actually want to enter.

201

It's not completely clear to me what this would mean for a base class. Is the idea that this tracks whether base classes are in their period of construction / destruction, so that you can determine the dynamic type of the object?

204

I assume this is actually more generally tracking whether the subobject is within its lifetime?

223–224

This seems problematic -- we need to distinguish between pointers with value zero and null pointers to support targets where they are different. Perhaps we could instead represent null pointers as a new tag in the tagged union, and reserve a zero TargetPointer for only those cases where a pointer is zero but not null? (See APValue::isNullPointer() and LValue::IsNullPtr for how we track that in the old constant evaluator.)

231–232

I would say "pointers and pointer-like types", since at least member pointers are not actually a kind of pointer.

328

behavious -> behaviour

329–334

Why do we need all three of these? If this is replacing the APValue forms with a null base and only an offset, a single value seems sufficient.

331

ajusts -> adjusts

[nand]

addressed comments, fixed typos

[nand]

Thanks for the comments! I tried to clarify what could be done in the future and what is already supported.

clang/docs/ConstantInterpreter.rst

174

Lifetime is handled by invalidating pointers, whereas descriptors and inline descriptors keep track of initialised bits.

In this particular case, which is not yet supported since the interpreter presently expects all variables to be initialised, the byte code generator will have to emit an opcode that fetches the local and checks the initialised bit. Since currently all locals are assumed to be initialised, the opcode for fetching a local does not perform this check. For primitives, this bit will probably be part of the block.

174

This is still on the TODO list.

First of all, there should be a fast path which detects common pointer -> int -> pointer conversions and avoids all cast, creating opcodes to emit diagnostics.

For the generic case, codegen for pointer-to-int will fail with a note and compilation will be re-attempted, classifying pointer-wide integers and pointers as a primitive type capable of holding either a pointer or an integer.

182

This is a great suggestion - I think the initmap could also be a rolling counter.

I was not aware of the case that you have mentioned - destructors do pose a problem and another map will be required.

194–195

Descriptors could be compacted - for now, I have been focusing on feature completeness and tried to avoid performance optimisations.

201

Yes, updated the docs.

204

It's only for active union fields - maybe it can be merged with the initialised bit later on.

223–224

Hmm, I was not aware of this - another item could be added to the union without too much problem. Do you have an example of such a target?

329–334

Required for compatibility with the atIndex() method, which is used by the opcode computing array offsets.

[rsmith]

Thanks! I'm happy for you to go ahead landing patches that implement the direction documented here. (Let me know if you want me to review them anyway, otherwise I'm happy to assume you've had someone else look over them already.)

clang/docs/ConstantInterpreter.rst

167–170

distinguished -> distinguishes

223–224

It looks like the only case where this happens right now is for the OpenCL local address space on AMDGPU. Example:

echo 'unsigned long f() { constexpr local int *p = 0; constexpr unsigned long n = __builtin_constant_p(1) ? (unsigned long)p : 0; return n; }' | ./build/bin/clang -x cl -cl-std=clc++ -target amdgcn - -emit-llvm -S -o -

reveals the null pointer value there is -1.

328

(Typo still present.)

329–334

OK. Tracking all three seems like it shouldn't be necessary for correctness, but if it makes the implementation easier, then that seems fine.

331

(Typo still present.)

[nand]

fixed typos

clang/docs/ConstantInterpreter.rst

 ====================
 Constant Interpreter
 ====================
 
 .. contents::
    :local:
 
 Introduction
 ============
 
-The constexpr interpreter aims to replace the existing tree evaluator in clang, improving performance on constructs which are executed inefficiently by the evaluator. The interpreter is activated using the following flags:
+The constexpr interpreter aims to replace the existing tree evaluator in 
+clang, improving performance on constructs which are executed inefficiently 
+by the evaluator. The interpreter is activated using the following flags:
 
-* ``-fexperimental-new-constant-interpreter`` enables the interpreter, emitting an error if an unsupported feature is encountered
+* ``-fexperimental-new-constant-interpreter`` enables the interpreter, 
+emitting an error if an unsupported feature is encountered
 
 Bytecode Compilation
 ====================
 
-Bytecode compilation is handled in ``ByteCodeStmtGen.h`` for statements and ``ByteCodeExprGen.h`` for expressions. The compiler has two different backends: one to generate bytecode for functions (``ByteCodeEmitter``) and one to directly evaluate expressions as they are compiled, without generating bytecode (``EvalEmitter``). All functions are compiled to bytecode, while toplevel expressions used in constant contexts are directly evaluated since the bytecode would never be reused. This mechanism aims to pave the way towards replacing the evaluator, improving its performance on functions and loops, while being just as fast on single-use toplevel expressions.
-
-The interpreter relies on stack-based, strongly-typed opcodes. The glue logic between the code generator, along with the enumeration and description of opcodes, can be found in ``Opcodes.td``. The opcodes are implemented as generic template methods in ``Interp.h`` and instantiated with the relevant primitive types by the interpreter loop or by the evaluating emitter.
+Bytecode compilation is handled in ``ByteCodeStmtGen.h`` for statements 
+and ``ByteCodeExprGen.h`` for expressions. The compiler has two different 
+backends: one to generate bytecode for functions (``ByteCodeEmitter``) and 
+one to directly evaluate expressions as they are compiled, without 
+generating bytecode (``EvalEmitter``). All functions are compiled to 
+bytecode, while toplevel expressions used in constant contexts are directly 
+evaluated since the bytecode would never be reused. This mechanism aims to 
+pave the way towards replacing the evaluator, improving its performance on 
+functions and loops, while being just as fast on single-use toplevel 
+expressions.
+
+The interpreter relies on stack-based, strongly-typed opcodes. The glue 
+logic between the code generator, along with the enumeration and 
+description of opcodes, can be found in ``Opcodes.td``. The opcodes are 
+implemented as generic template methods in ``Interp.h`` and instantiated 
+with the relevant primitive types by the interpreter loop or by the 
+evaluating emitter.
 
 Primitive Types
 ---------------
 
 * ``PT_{U|S}int{8|16|32|64}``
 
-  Signed or unsigned integers of a specific bit width, implemented using the ```Integral``` type.
+  Signed or unsigned integers of a specific bit width, implemented using 
+  the ```Integral``` type.
 
 * ``PT_{U|S}intFP``
 
-  Signed or unsigned integers of an arbitrary, but fixed width used to implement
-  integral types which are required by the target, but are not supported by the host.
-  Under the hood, they rely on APValue. The ``Integral`` specialisation for these
-  types is required by opcodes to share an implementation with fixed integrals.
+  Signed or unsigned integers of an arbitrary, but fixed width used to 
+  implement integral types which are required by the target, but are not 
+  supported by the host. Under the hood, they rely on APValue. The 
+  ``Integral`` specialisation for these types is required by opcodes to 
+  share an implementation with fixed integrals.
 
 * ``PT_Bool``
 
-  Representation for boolean types, essentially a 1-bit unsigned ``Integral``.
+  Representation for boolean types, essentially a 1-bit unsigned 
+  ``Integral``.
 
 * ``PT_RealFP``
 
-  Arbitrary, but fixed precision floating point numbers. Could be specialised in
-  the future similarly to integers in order to improve floating point performance.
+  Arbitrary, but fixed precision floating point numbers. Could be 
+  specialised in the future similarly to integers in order to improve 
+  floating point performance.
 
 * ``PT_Ptr``
 
-  Pointer type, defined in ``"Pointer.h"``.
+  Pointer type, defined in ``"Pointer.h"``. A pointer can be either null, 
+  reference interpreter-allocated memory (``BlockPointer``) or point to an
+  address which can be derived, but not accessed (``ExternPointer``).
 
 * ``PT_FnPtr``
 
-  Function pointer type, can also be a null function pointer. Defined in ``"Pointer.h"``.
+  Function pointer type, can also be a null function pointer. Defined 
+  in ``"FnPointer.h"``.
 
 * ``PT_MemPtr``
 
-  Member pointer type, can also be a null member pointer. Defined in ``"Pointer.h"``
+  Member pointer type, can also be a null member pointer. Defined 
+  in ``"MemberPointer.h"``
+
+* ``PT_VoidPtr``
+
+  Void pointer type, can be used for rount-trip casts. Represented as 
+  the union of all pointers which can be cast to void. 
+  Defined in ``"VoidPointer.h"``.
+
+* ``PT_ObjCBlockPtr``
+
+  Pointer type for ObjC blocks. Defined in ``"ObjCBlockPointer.h"``.
 
 Composite types
 ---------------
 
-The interpreter distinguishes two kinds of composite types: arrays and records. Unions are represented as records, except a single field can be marked as active. The contents of inactive fields are kept until they
-are reactivated and overwritten.
+The interpreter distinguishes two kinds of composite types: arrays and 
+records (structs and classes). Unions are represented as records, except 
+at most a single field can be marked as active. The contents of inactive 
+fields are kept until they are reactivated and overwritten. 
+Complex numbers (``_Complex``) and vectors 
+(``__attribute((vector_size(16)))``) are treated as arrays.
 
 
 Bytecode Execution
 ==================
 
-Bytecode is executed using a stack-based interpreter. The execution context consists of an ``InterpStack``, along with a chain of ``InterpFrame`` objects storing the call frames. Frames are built by call instructions and destroyed by return instructions. They perform one allocation to reserve space for all locals in a single block. These objects store all the required information to emit stack traces whenever evaluation fails.
+Bytecode is executed using a stack-based interpreter. The execution 
+context consists of an ``InterpStack``, along with a chain of 
+``InterpFrame`` objects storing the call frames. Frames are built by
+call instructions and destroyed by return instructions. They perform 
+one allocation to reserve space for all locals in a single block. 
+These objects store all the required information to emit stack traces 
+whenever evaluation fails.
 
 Memory Organisation
 ===================
 
 Memory management in the interpreter relies on 3 data structures: ``Block``
-object which store the data and associated inline metadata, ``Pointer`` objects
-which refer to or into blocks, and ``Descriptor`` structures which describe
-blocks and subobjects nested inside blocks.
+object which store the data and associated inline metadata, ``Pointer`` 
+objects which refer to or into blocks, and ``Descriptor`` structures which 
+describe blocks and subobjects nested inside blocks.
 
 Blocks
 ------
 
-Blocks contain data interleaved with metadata. They are allocated either statically
-in the code generator (globals, static members, dummy parameter values etc.) or
-dynamically in the interpreter, when creating the frame containing the local variables
-of a function. Blocks are associated with a descriptor that characterises the entire
-allocation, along with a few additional attributes:
-
-* ``IsStatic`` indicates whether the block has static duration in the interpreter, i.e. it is not a local in a frame.
-
-* ``IsExtern`` indicates that the block was created for an extern and the storage cannot be read or written.
-
-* ``DeclID`` identifies each global declaration (it is set to an invalid and irrelevant value for locals) in order to prevent illegal writes and reads involving globals and temporaries with static storage duration.
+Blocks contain data interleaved with metadata. They are allocated either 
+statically in the code generator (globals, static members, dummy parameter 
+values etc.) or dynamically in the interpreter, when creating the frame 
+containing the local variables of a function. Blocks are associated with a 
+descriptor that characterises the entire allocation, along with a few 
+additional attributes:
+
+* ``IsStatic`` indicates whether the block has static duration in the 
+interpreter, i.e. it is not a local in a frame.
+
+* ``DeclID`` identifies each global declaration (it is set to an invalid 
+and irrelevant value for locals) in order to prevent illegal writes and 
+reads involving globals and temporaries with static storage duration.
+
+Static blocks are never deallocated, but local ones might be deallocated 
+even when there are live pointers to them. Pointers are only valid as 
+long as the blocks they point to are valid, so a block with pointers to 
+it whose lifetime ends is kept alive until all pointers to it go out of 
+scope. Since the frame is destroyed on function exit, such blocks are 
+turned into a ``DeadBlock`` and copied to storage managed by the
+interpreter itself, not the frame. Reads and writes to these blocks are 
+illegal and cause an appropriate diagnostic to be emitted. When the last 
+pointer goes out of scope, dead blocks are also deallocated.
+
+The lifetime of blocks is managed through 3 methods stored in the 
+descriptor of the block:
+
+* **CtorFn**: initializes the metadata which is store in the block, 
+alongside actual data. Invokes the default constructors of objects 
+which are not trivial (``Pointer``, ``RealFP``, etc.)
 
-Static blocks are never deallocated, but local ones might be deallocated even when there are live pointers to them. Pointers are only valid as long as the blocks they point to are valid, so a block with pointers to it whose lifetime ends is kept alive until all pointers to it go out of scope. Since the frame is destroyed on function exit, such blocks are turned into a ``DeadBlock`` and copied to storage managed by the interpreter itself, not the frame. Reads and writes to these blocks are illegal and cause an appropriate diagnostic to be emitted. When the last pointer goes out of scope, dead blocks are also deallocated.
-
-The lifetime of blocks is managed through 3 methods stored in the descriptor of the block:
-
-* **CtorFn**: initializes the metadata which is store in the block, alongside actual data. Invokes the default constructors of objects which are not trivial (``Pointer``, ``RealFP``, etc.)
 * **DtorFn**: invokes the destructors of non-trivial objects.
+
 * **MoveFn**: moves a block to dead storage.
 
-Non-static blocks track all the pointers into them through an intrusive doubly-linked list, this is required in order to adjust all pointers when transforming a block into a dead block.
+Non-static blocks track all the pointers into them through an intrusive 
+doubly-linked list, required to adjust all pointers when transforming a 
+block into a dead block.
 
 Descriptors
 -----------
 
-Descriptor are generated at bytecode compilation time and contain information required to determine if a particular memory access is allowed in constexpr. Even though there is a single descriptor object, it encodes information for several kinds of objects:
+Descriptor are generated at bytecode compilation time and contain information 
+required to determine if a particular memory access is allowed in constexpr. 
+Even though there is a single descriptor object, it encodes information for 
+several kinds of objects:
 
 * **Primitives**
 
   A block containing a primitive reserved storage only for the primitive.
 
 * **Arrays of primitives**
 
-  An array of primitives contains a pointer to an ``InitMap`` storage as its first field: the initialisation map is a bit map indicating all elements of the array which were initialised. If the pointer is null, no elements were initialised, while a value of ``(InitMap)-1`` indicates that the object was fully initialised. when all fields are initialised, the map is deallocated and replaced with that token.
+  An array of primitives contains a pointer to an ``InitMap`` storage as its 
+  first field: the initialisation map is a bit map indicating all elements of 
+  the array which were initialised. If the pointer is null, no elements were 
+  initialised, while a value of ``(InitMap*)-1`` indicates that the object was 
+  fully initialised. when all fields are initialised, the map is deallocated 
+  and replaced with that token.
 
-  Array elements are stored sequentially, without padding, after the pointer to the map.
+  Array elements are stored sequentially, without padding, after the pointer 
+  to the map.
 
 * **Arrays of composites and records**
 
-  Each element in an array of composites is preceded by an ``InlineDescriptor``. Descriptors and elements are stored sequentially in the block. Records are laid out identically to arrays of composites: each field and base class is preceded by an inline descriptor. The ``InlineDescriptor`` has the following field:
+Each element in an array of composites is preceded by an ``InlineDescriptor`` 
+which stores the attributes specific to the field and not the whole 
+allocation site. Descriptors and elements are stored sequentially in the block. 
+Records are laid out identically to arrays of composites: each field and base 
+class is preceded by an inline descriptor. The ``InlineDescriptor`` 
+has the following field:
 
- * **Offset**: byte offset into the array or record, used to step back to the parent array or record.
+ * **Offset**: byte offset into the array or record, used to step back to the 
+ parent array or record.
  * **IsConst**: flag indicating if the field is const-qualified.
- * **IsInitialized**: flag indicating whether the field or element was initialized. For non-primitive fields, this is only relevant for base classes.
- * **IsBase**: flag indicating whether the record is a base class. In that case, the offset can be used to identify the derived class.
+ * **IsInitialized**: flag indicating whether the field or element was 
+ initialized. For non-primitive fields, this is only relevant for base classes.
+ * **IsBase**: flag indicating whether the record is a base class. In that case, 
+ the offset can be used to identify the derived class.
  * **IsActive**: indicates if the field is the active field of a union.
  * **IsMutable**: indicates if the field is marked as mutable.
 
-Inline descriptors are filled in by the `CtorFn` of blocks, which leaves storage in an uninitialised, but valid state.
+Inline descriptors are filled in by the `CtorFn` of blocks, which leaves storage 
+in an uninitialised, but valid state.
 
 Pointers
 --------
 
-Pointers track a ``Pointee``, the block to which they point or ``nullptr`` for null pointers, along with a ``Base`` and an ``Offset``. The base identifies the innermost field, while the offset points to an array element relative to the base (including one-past-end pointers). Most subobject the pointer points to in block, while the offset identifies the array element the pointer points to. These two fields allow all pointers to be uniquely identified and disambiguated.
+Pointers, implemented in ``Pointer.h`` are represented as a tagged union. Some of 
+these may not yet be available in upstream ``clang``.
+
+ * **BlockPointer**: used to reference memory allocated and managed by the 
+ interpreter, being the only pointer kind which allows dereferencing in the 
+ interpreter
+ * **ExternPointer**: points to memory which can be addressed, but not read by 
+ the interpreter. It is equivalent to APValue, tracking a declaration and a path 
+ of fields and indices into that allocation.
+ * **TargetPointer**: represents a target address derived from a base address 
+ through pointer arithmetic, such as ``((int *)0x100)[20]``. Null pointers are 
+ target pointers with a zero offset.
+ * **TypeInfoPointer**: tracks information for the opaque type returned by 
+ ``typeid``
+ * **InvalidPointer**: is dummy pointer created by an invalid operation which 
+ allows the interpreter to continue execution. Does not allow pointer 
+ arithmetic or dereferencing.
+
+Besides the previously mentioned union, a number of other pointers have 
+their own type:
+
+ * **ObjCBlockPointer** tracks Objective-C blocks
+ * **FnPointer** tracks functions and lazily caches their compiled version
+ * **MemberPointer** tracks C++ object members
+
+Void pointers, which can be built by casting any of the aforementioned 
+pointers, are implemented as a union of all pointer types. The ``BitCast`` 
+opcode is reponsible for performing all legal conversions between these 
+types and primitive integers.
+
+BlockPointer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Block pointers track a ``Pointee``, the block to which they point, along 
+with a ``Base`` and an ``Offset``. The base identifies the innermost field, 
+while the offset points to an array element relative to the base (including 
+one-past-end pointers). The offset identifies the array element or field 
+which is referenced, while the base points to the outer object or array which 
+contains the field. These two fields allow all pointers to be uniquely 
+identified, disambiguated and characterised.
 
 As an example, consider the following structure:
 
 .. code-block:: c
 
     struct A {
         struct B {
             int x;
             int y;
         } b;
         struct C {
             int a;
             int b;
         } c[2];
         int z;
     };
     constexpr A a;
 
-On the target, ``&a`` and ``&a.b.x`` are equal. So are ``&a.c[0]`` and ``&a.c[0].a``. In the interpreter, all these pointers must be distinguished since the are all allowed to address distinct range of memory.
-
-In the interpreter, the object would require 240 bytes of storage and would have its field interleaved with metadata. The pointers which can be derived to the object are illustrated in the following diagram:
+On the target, ``&a`` and ``&a.b.x`` are equal. So are ``&a.c[0]`` and 
+``&a.c[0].a``. In the interpreter, all these pointers must be 
+distinguished since the are all allowed to address distinct range of 
+memory.
+
+In the interpreter, the object would require 240 bytes of storage and 
+would have its field interleaved with metadata. The pointers which can 
+be derived to the object are illustrated in the following diagram:
 
 ::
 
       0   16  32  40  56  64  80  96  112 120 136 144 160 176 184 200 208 224 240
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   + B | D | D | x | D | y | D | D | D | a | D | b | D | D | a | D | b | D | z |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
       ^   ^   ^       ^       ^   ^   ^       ^       ^   ^       ^       ^
       |   |   |       |       |   |   |   &a.c[0].b   |   |   &a.c[1].b   |
       a   |&a.b.x   &a.y    &a.c  |&a.c[0].a          |&a.c[1].a          |
         &a.b                   &a.c[0]            &a.c[1]               &a.z
 
-The ``Base`` offset of all pointers points to the start of a field or an array and is preceded by an inline descriptor (unless ``Base == 0``, pointing to the root). All the relevant attributes can be read from either the inline descriptor or the descriptor of the block.
+The ``Base`` offset of all pointers points to the start of a field or 
+an array and is preceded by an inline descriptor (unless ``Base`` is 
+zero, pointing to the root). All the relevant attributes can be read 
+from either the inline descriptor or the descriptor of the block.
+
+
+Array elements are identified by the ``Offset`` field of pointers, 
+pointing to past the inline descriptors for composites and before 
+the actual data in the case of primitive arrays. The ``Offset`` 
+points to the offset where primitives can be read from. As an example, 
+``a.c + 1`` would have the same base as ``a.c`` since it is an element 
+of ``a.c``, but its offset would point to ``&a.c[1]``. The 
+array-to-pointer decay operation adjusts a pointer to an array (where 
+the offset is equal to the base) to a pointer to the first element.
+
+ExternPointer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Extern pointers can be derived, pointing into symbols which are not 
+readable from constexpr. An external pointer consists of a base 
+declaration, along with a path designating a subobject, similar to 
+the ``LValuePath`` of an APValue. Extern pointers can be converted 
+to block pointers if the underlying variable is defined after the 
+pointer is created, as is the case in the following example:
+
+.. code-block:: c
 
-Array elements are identified by the ``Offset`` field of pointers, pointing to past the inline descriptors for composites and before the actual data in the case of primitive arrays. The ``Offset`` points to the offset where primitives can be read from. As an example, ``a.c + 1`` would have the same base as ``a.c`` since it is an element of ``a.c``, but its offset would point to ``&a.c[1]``. The ``*`` operation narrows the scope of the pointer, adjusting the base to ``&a.c[1]``. The reverse operator, ``&``, expands the scope of ``&a.c[1]``, turning it into ``a.c + 1``. When a one-past-end pointer is narrowed, its offset is set to ``-1`` to indicate that it is an invalid value (expanding returns the past-the-end pointer). As a special case, narrowing ``&a.c`` results in ``&a.c[0]``. The `narrow` and `expand` methods can be used to follow the chain of equivalent pointers.
+  extern const int a;
+  constexpr const int *p = &a;
+  const int a = 5;
+  static_assert(*p == 5, "x");
+
+TargetPointer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+While null pointer arithmetic or integer-to-pointer conversion is 
+banned in constexpr, some expressions on target offsets must be folded, 
+replicating the behavious of the ``offsetof`` builtin. Target pointers 
+are characterised by 3 offsets: a field offset, an array offset and a 
+base offset, along with a descriptor specifying the type the pointer is 
+supposed to refer to. Array indexing ajusts the array offset, while the 
+field offset is adjusted when a pointer to a member is created. Casting 
+an integer to a pointer sets the value of the base offset. As a special 
+case, null pointers are target pointers with all offets set to 0.
+
+TypeInfoPointer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+``TypeInfoPointer`` tracks two types: the type assigned to 
+``std::type_info`` and the type which was passed to ``typeinfo``.
+
+InvalidPointer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Such pointers are built by operations which cannot generate valid 
+pointers, allowing the interpreter to continue execution after emitting 
+a warning. Inspecting such a pointer stops execution.
 
 TODO
 ====
 
 Missing Language Features
 -------------------------
 
-* Definition of externs must override previous declaration
 * Changing the active field of unions
-* Union copy constructors
-* ``typeid``
 * ``volatile``
 * ``__builtin_constant_p``
-* ``std::initializer_list``
-* lambdas
-* range-based for loops
-* ``vector_size``
 * ``dynamic_cast``
+* ``new`` and ``delete``
+* Fixed Point numbers and arithmetic on Complex numbers
+* Several builtin methods, including string operations and 
+``__builtin_bit_cast``
+* Continue-after-failure: a form of exception handling at the bytecode 
+level should be implemented to allow execution to resume. As an example, 
+argument evaluation should resume after the computation of an argument fails.
+* Pointer-to-Integer conversions
+* Lazy descriptors: the interpreter creates a ``Record`` and ``Descriptor`` 
+when it encounters a type: ones which are not yet defined should be lazily 
+created when required
 
 Known Bugs
 ----------
 
-* Pointer comparison for equality needs to narrow/expand pointers
-* If execution fails, memory storing APInts and APFloats is leaked when the stack is cleared
+* If execution fails, memory storing APInts and APFloats is leaked when the 
+stack is cleared