neo-go/docs/vm.md

NEO-GO-VM

A cross platform virtual machine implementation for avm compatible programs.

Installation

VM is provided as part of neo-go binary, so usual neo-go build instructions are applicable.

Running the VM

Start the virtual machine:

$ ./bin/neo-go vm

    _   ____________        __________      _    ____  ___
   / | / / ____/ __ \      / ____/ __ \    | |  / /  |/  /
  /  |/ / __/ / / / /_____/ / __/ / / /____| | / / /|_/ /
 / /|  / /___/ /_/ /_____/ /_/ / /_/ /_____/ |/ / /  / /
/_/ |_/_____/\____/      \____/\____/      |___/_/  /_/


NEO-GO-VM >

Usage

    _   ____________        __________      _    ____  ___
   / | / / ____/ __ \      / ____/ __ \    | |  / /  |/  /
  /  |/ / __/ / / / /_____/ / __/ / / /____| | / / /|_/ /
 / /|  / /___/ /_/ /_____/ /_/ / /_/ /_____/ |/ / /  / /
/_/ |_/_____/\____/      \____/\____/      |___/_/  /_/


NEO-GO-VM > help

Commands:
  astack       Show alt stack contents
  break        Place a breakpoint
  clear        clear the screen
  cont         Continue execution of the current loaded script
  estack       Show evaluation stack contents
  exit         Exit the VM prompt
  help         display help
  ip           Show current instruction
  istack       Show invocation stack contents
  loadavm      Load an avm script into the VM
  loadgo       Compile and load a Go file into the VM
  loadhex      Load a hex-encoded script string into the VM
  ops          Dump opcodes of the current loaded program
  run          Execute the current loaded script
  step         Step (n) instruction in the program

You can get help for each command and its parameters adding help as a parameter to the command:

NEO-GO-VM > step help

Usage: step [<n>]
<n> is optional parameter to specify number of instructions to run, example:
> step 10

Loading in your script

To load an avm script into the VM:

NEO-GO-VM > loadavm ../contract.avm
READY: loaded 36 instructions

Run the script:

NEO-GO-VM > run
[
    {
        "value": 1,
        "type": "BigInteger"
    }
]

You can also directly compile and load .go files:

NEO-GO-VM > loadgo ../contract.go
READY: loaded 36 instructions

To make it even more complete, you can directly load hex strings into the VM:

NEO-GO-VM > loadhex 54c56b006c766b00527ac46c766b00c391640b006203005a616c756662030000616c7566
READY: loaded 36 instructions
NEO-GO-VM > run
[
    {
        "value": 10,
        "type": "BigInteger"
    }
]

Running programs with arguments

You can invoke smart contracts with arguments. Take the following roll the dice smartcontract as example.

package rollthedice

import "github.com/CityOfZion/neo-go/pkg/interop/runtime"

func Main(method string, args []interface{}) int {
    if method == "rollDice" {
        // args parameter is always of type []interface, hence we need to 
        // cast it to an int.
        rollDice(args[0].(int))
    }
    return 0
}

func rollDice(number int) {
    if number == 0 {
        runtime.Log("you rolled 0, better luck next time!")
    }
    if number == 1 {
        runtime.Log("you rolled 1, still better then 0!")
    }
    if number == 2 {
        runtime.Log("you rolled 2, coming closer..") 
    }
    if number == 3 {
        runtime.Log("Sweet you rolled 3. This dice has only 3 sides o_O")
    }
}

To invoke this contract we need to specify both the method and the arguments.

The first parameter (called method or operation) is always of type string. Notice that arguments can have different types, they can inferred automatically (please refer to the run command help), but in you need to pass parameter of specific type you can specify it in run's arguments:

NEO-GO-VM > run rollDice int:1

The method is always of type string, hence we don't need to specify the type.

To add more than 1 argument:

NEO-GO-VM > run someMethod int:1 int:2 string:foo string:bar

Currently supported types:

• bool (bool:false and bool:true)
• int (int:1 int:100)
• string (string:foo string:this is a string)

Debugging

The neo-go-vm provides a debugger to inspect your program in-depth.

Stepping through the program

Step 4 instructions.

NEO-GO-VM > step 4
at breakpoint 3 (DUPFROMALTSTACK)
NEO-GO-VM 3 >

Using just step will execute 1 instruction at a time.

NEO-GO-VM 3 > step
at breakpoint 4 (PUSH0)
NEO-GO-VM 4 >

Breakpoints

To place breakpoints:

NEO-GO-VM > break 10
breakpoint added at instruction 10
NEO-GO-VM > cont
at breakpoint 10 (SETITEM)
NEO-GO-VM 10 > cont

Inspecting stack

Inspecting the evaluation stack:

NEO-GO-VM > estack
[
    {
        "value": [
            null,
            null,
            null,
            null,
            null,
            null,
            null
        ],
        "type": "Array"
    },
    {
        "value": 4,
        "type": "BigInteger"
    }
]

There are more stacks that you can inspect.

• astack alt stack
• istack invocation stack