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Builtins

This module contains builtins functions and constants. It is automatically loaded and you don’t need to prefix the module name to call its functions. For example it is not necessary to write __builtins__.print() but only print() will suffice. The explicit name __builtins__ must be used when there is a need to modify a builtin name. For example, to change the default stream it is necessary to write __builtins__.__default_stream=mystream.

Builtins Constants

Zerynth VM defines the following Python builtin constants:

False

False()

The false value of the bool() type. Assignments to False are illegal and raise a :exc:SyntaxError.

True

True()

The true value of the bool() type. Assignments to True are illegal and raise a :exc:SyntaxError.

None

None()

The sole value of the type NoneType. None is frequently used to represent the absence of a value, as when default arguments are not passed to a function. Assignments to None are illegal and raise a :exc:SyntaxError.

Zerynth VM recognizes a set of pre-defined uppercase names representing constants:

  • Pin Names:

    • D0 to D127 representing the names of digital pins.

    • A0 to A127 representing the names of analog pins.

    • LED0 to LED32 representing the names of the board leds.

    • BTN0 to BTN32 representing the names of the board buttons.

  • Pin Modes and Values:

    • INPUT, OUTPUT, INPUT_PULLUP, INPUT_PULLDOWN, OUTPUT_PUSHPULL, OUTPUT_OPENDRAIN, INPUT_ANALOG representing pin modes.

    • LOW, HIGH representing digital pin states.

  • Time Units:

    • MICROS to select microseconds

    • MILLIS to select milliseconds

    • SECONDS to select seconds

  • Peripherals Names:

    • SERIAL0 to SERIAL7 representing the name of the nth serial port of a board.

    • ADC0 to ADC7 representing the name of the nth analog to digital converter of a board.

Builtin Exceptions

Zerynth VM exceptions are different from Python exceptions. In Python, exceptions are very powerful because they are implemented as classes, contain error messages, and one can examine the full exceution stack when an exception is raised. However, in the embedded world, resources are precious and keeping class definition in memory, creating a class instance everytime an exception is raised, can be very resource-consuming.

Zerynth VM exceptions are therefore implemented as error codes with optional static error messages organized as a tree:

Exception
  +-- StopIteration
  +-- ArithmeticError
  |    +-- FloatingPointError
  |    +-- OverflowError
  |    +-- ZeroDivisionError
  +-- AttributeError
  +-- LookupError
  |    +-- IndexError
  |    +-- KeyError
  +-- MemoryError
  +-- NameError
  +-- PeripheralError
  |    +-- InvalidPinError
  |    +-- InvalidHardwareStatusError
  |    +-- HardwareInitializationError
  +-- IOError
  |    +-- ConnectionError
  |    |    +-- ConnectionAbortedError
  |    |    +-- ConnectionRefusedError
  |    |    +-- ConnectionResetError
  |    +-- TimeoutError
  +-- RuntimeError
  |    +-- NotImplementedError
  |    +-- UnsupportedError
  +-- TypeError
  +-- ValueError

This way, the inheritance mechanism of classes is mantained and trasposed to the exception matching mechanism transparently. The following is valid Zerynth code:

try:
    # raise ZeroDivisionError
    x = 1/0
except ArithmeticError as e:
    print(e)

The main difference between Zerynth exceptions and Python exceptions is in the way new exceptions are created and used. To create a user defined exception in Zerynth you need to use the following code:

new_exception(MyExceptionName, MyExceptionParent, MyErrorMessage)

The builtin function new_exception always needs 2 arguments and an optional message:

  • the first one is the user defined exception name

  • the second is the name of the parent exception in the exception tree

  • the third one is a static error message, where static in this context means both that it is not stored in ram as a Python string and that it can be defined only once and never changed later.

Behind the scenes MyExceptionName is created and placed under MyExceptionParent in the exception tree. An exception object is returned. The exception object can only be compared to other exceptions, printed (as an error code plus message error) or raised again.

When an exception is printed, the error message is concatenated with the error code and, if the exception has been raised, with the bytecode position where the error happened.

Zerynth exceptions are not garbage collected. They also are not scoped: this means that an exception defined in a module is not contained in that module, but it is moved at builtin scope, so that it can be accessible by all other modules simply by name. This feature has a drawback: two modules defining an exception with the same name, can’t be compiled in the same program. Exception names must be manually scoped by correctly choosing them (i.e. preprending the module name to the actual name).

Builtin GPIO Functions

Zerynth VM extends Python with builtins functions to handle the General Purpose Input Output pins of the embedded device. These functions resembles the ones used by Arduino, but are more flexible.

pinMode

pinMode(pin, mode)

Sets the pin pin in mode mode. Allowed values for mode are INPUT, OUTPUT, INPUT_PULLUP, INPUT_PULLDOWN, OUTPUT_PUSHPULL, OUTPUT_OPENDRAIN, INPUT_ANALOG

digitalRead

digitalRead(pin)

Returns the state of the pin pin. The state can be LOW or HIGH

digitalWrite

digitalWrite(pin, val)

Sets the pin pin to the value val. If val is zero, pin is set to LOW, otherwise to HIGH

pinToggle

pinToggle(pin)

Sets the pin pin to the value opposite to the current pin value. If value is zero, pin is set to HIGH, otherwise to LOW

analogRead

analogRead(pin, samples=1)

Reads analog values from pin that must be one of the Ax pins. If samples is 1 or not given, returns the integer value read from pin. If samples is greater than 1, returns a tuple of integers of size samples. The maximum value returned by analogRead depends on the analog resolution of the board.

analogRead works by calling the adc driver (Analog to Digital Converter) that must be imported and configured:

# import the adc driver
import adc

# adc is now configured with default parameters, analogRead can be used as
x = analogRead(A3)

analogRead also accepts lists or tuples of pins and returns the corresponding tuple of tuples of samples:

import adc

x = analogRead([A4,A3,A5],6)

this piece of code sets x to ((…),(…),(…)) where each inner tuple contains 6 samples taken from the corresponding channel. To used less memory, the inner tuples can be bytes(), or shorts() or normal tuples, depending on the hardware resolution of the adc unit. The number of sequentials pins that can be read in a single analogRead call depends on the specific board.

The analogRead function is provided as a builtin to ease the passage from the Arduino Wiring to Zerynth. However the preferred way to read an analog pin in Zerynth is:

# import the adc driver
import adc

x = adc.read(A3)
analogWrite

analogWrite(pin, period, pulse, time_unit=MILLIS, npulses=0)

Activate PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) on pin pin (must be one of the PWMx pins). The state of pin is periodically switched between LOW and HIGH according to parameters:

  • period is the duration of a pwm square wave

  • pulse is the time the pwm square wave stays in the HIGH state

  • time_unit is the unit of time period and pulse are expressed in time_unit

A PWM wave can be depicted as a train of elements like this:

HIGH  _________________          _________________
     |                 |        |                 |
     |                 |        |                 |
_____|                 |________|                 |____ LOW

     <-----PULSE------>
     <-----PERIOD-------------->

Here are some examples:

#Remember to import the pwm module
import pwm

# A 1000 milliseconds wave that stays HIGH for 100 milliseconds and LOW for 900
analogWrite(D5.PWM,1000,100)

# A 500 microseconds wave that stays HIGH for 10 microseconds and LOW for 490
analogWrite(D5.PWM,500,10,MICROS)

# Disable pwm
analogWrite(D5.PWM,0,0)

Some boards have restrictions on how pwm pins can be used, refer to the single board documentation for details.

The parameter npulses is used to specify a limited train of pulses. When npulses is zero or less, PWM is activated on the pin and the function returns. When npulses is more than zero, analogWrite becomes blocking and returns only after a number of pulses equal to npulses has been generated on the pin; PWM is disabled on return. For very small pulses in the range of a few ten microseconds, the actual number of pulses produced may be greater than npulses by one or two units.

The analogWrite function is provided as a builtin to ease the passage from the Arduino Wiring to Zerynth. However the preferred way to use pwm in Zerynth is:

# import the pwm driver
import pwm

pwm.write(D3.PWM,400,10,MICROS)

onPinRise(pin, fun, \*args, debounce=0, time_unit=MILLIS)

Executes fun with arguments \*args everytime pin goes from LOW to HIGH. If fun is None the corresponding interrupt is disabled. Each Zerynth VM has its own maximum number of slots for pin interrupts: if they are all full, a RuntimeError is raised.

Can be used together with onPinFall() on the same pin.

fun is executed in a high priority thread that takes control of the mcu and puts to sleep every other thread. Therefore fun should contains fast code.

debounce and time_unit are used to define a timeout such that fun is called only if pin stays high for all the duration of the timeout.

onPinFall(pin, fun, \*args, debounce=0, time_unit=MILLIS)

Executes fun with arguments \*args everytime pin goes from HIGH to LOW. If fun is None the corresponding interrupt is disabled. Each Zerynth VM has its own maximum number of slots for pin interrupts: if they are all full, a RuntimeError is raised.

Can be used together with onPinRise() on the same pin.

fun is executed in a high priority thread that takes control of the mcu and puts to sleep every other thread. Therefore fun should contains fast code.

debounce and time_unit are used to define a timeout such that fun is called only if pin stays high for all the duration of the timeout.

Builtin Functions

int

int(x=0, base=10)

Return an integer object constructed from a number or string x, or return 0 if no arguments are given. If x is a floating point number, it is truncated towards zero.

If x is not a number or if base is given, then x must be a string, bytes(), or bytearray() instance representing an :integer in radix base. Optionally, the literal can be preceded by + or - (with no space in between) and surrounded by whitespace. A base-n literal consists of the digits 0 to n-1, with a to z (or A to Z) having values 10 to 35. The default base is 10. The allowed values are 0 and 2-36. Base-2, -8, and -16 literals can be optionally prefixed with 0b/0B, 0o/0O, or 0x/0X, as with integer literals in code. Base 0 means to interpret exactly as a code literal, so that the actual base is 2, 8, 10, or 16, and so that int('010', 0) is not legal, while int('010') is, as well as int('010', 8).

type

type(x)

Return an integer representing the type of x. The following are the builtin constants returned by type():

PSMALLINT, PINTEGER, PFLOAT, PBOOL, PSTRING, PBYTES, PBYTEARRAY, PSHORTS, PSHORTARRAY, PLIST, PTUPLE, PRANGE,
PFROZENSET, PSET, PDICT, PFUNCTION, PMETHOD, PCLASS, PINSTANCE, PMODULE, PITERATOR,
PNONE, PEXCEPTION, PNATIVE, PSYSOBJ, PDRIVER, PTHREAD
thread

thread(fun, \*args, prio=PRIO_NORMAL, size=-1)

Function fun is launched in a new thread using args as its parameters. fun must be a normal function or a methods, other callables are not supported yet.

prio sets the thread priority and accepts one of PRIO_LOWEST, PRIO_LOWER, PRIO_LOW, PRIO_NORMAL, PRIO_HIGH, PRIO_HIGHER, PRIO_HIGHEST. size is the memory in bytes , reserved for the thread inner workings. Negative values select the VM default size.

Returns the created thread, already started. Raises :exc:RuntimeError if no more threads can be created.

sleep

sleep(time, time_unit=MILLIS)

Suspend the current thread for time expressed in time_units. All the other threads are free to continue their execution. If time_unit is MICROS, sleep does not suspend the current thread, but starts polling the cycles counter in a loop.

For high precision sleep refer to :mod:`hwtimers

random() random(a, b)

Returns a random integer. If a and b are given, the random integer is contained in the range [a,b]. If the board has a builtin Random Number Generator, it is used.

range

range(stop)` `range(start, stop, )

Creates a range object.

bytearray

bytearray()

Return a new array of bytes. A bytearray is a mutable sequence of integers in the range 0 <= x < 256. It has most of the usual methods of mutable sequences, described in typesseq-mutable, as well as most methods that the bytes() type has, see Bytes and Bytearray Operations.

The optional source parameter can be used to initialize the array in a few different ways:

  • If it is a string, bytearray() then converts the string to bytes.

  • If it is an integer, the array will have that size and will be initialized with null bytes.

Without an argument, an array of size 0 is created.

bytes

bytes()

Return a new “bytes” object, which is an immutable sequence of integers in the range 0 <= x < 256. bytes() is an immutable version of bytearray() – it has the same non-mutating methods and the same indexing and slicing behavior.

Accordingly, constructor arguments are interpreted as for bytearray().

shortarray

shortarray()

Return a new array of shorts. A shortarray is a mutable sequence of integers in the range 0 <= x < 65536. It has most of the usual methods of mutable sequences, described in typesseq-mutable, as well as most methods that the shorts() type has, see shorts-methods.

The optional source parameter can be used to initialize the array in a few different ways:

  • If it is an integer, the array will have that size and will be initialized with zeros.

  • If it is a sequence, the array will be a copy of source with its elements converted into shorts. If the conversion is not possible, an exception is raised.

Without an argument, an array of size 0 is created.

shorts

shorts()

Return a new shorts object, which is an immutable sequence of integers in the range 0 <= x < 65536. shorts() is an immutable version of shortarray() – it has the same non-mutating methods and the same indexing and slicing behavior.

Accordingly, constructor arguments are interpreted as for shortarray().

enumerate

enumerate(iterable, start=0)

Return an enumerate object. iterable must be a sequence, an iterator, or some other object which supports iteration. The __next__() method of the iterator returned by enumerate() returns a tuple containing a count (from start which defaults to 0) and the values obtained from iterating over iterable.

It is normally used in for loops:

ints = [10,20,30]
for idx, val in enumerate(ints):
    print(idx, val)

# prints out the following:
>>> 0 10
>>> 1 20
>>> 2 30

In this version of the VM, enumerate works only for primitive iterable types, not yet for instances with __next__ and __iter__ methods.

reversed

reversed(seq)

Return a reverse iterator. seq must be an object which has a __reversed__() method or supports the sequence protocol (the __len__() method and the __getitem__() method with integer arguments starting at 0).

In this version of the VM, reversed works only for primitive iterable types, not yet for instances with __next__ and __iter__ methods.

ord

ord(c)

Given a string representing one character, return an integer representing that character. For example, ord('a') returns the integer 97. This is the inverse of chr().

When c is a literal string, the compiler macro __ORD© can be used to reduce code size. For example:

x = ord(":")

is valid Zerynth code. During its execution a string must be created containing “:” and ord must be called on it. After ord is executed the created string is probably immediately garbage collected. In the embedded world, this is time and resource consuming. The operation ord(":") can be executed during compilation because the result is known before the execution of the Zerynth program. To enable this feature use the following code:

x = __ORD(":")

Now, no string is created and no function is called, because the compiler knows that you want to assign to x the result of ord(":") (which is 58). The compiler transforms our program to a faster and equivalent version:

x = 58
chr

chr(i)

Return the string representing a character whose byte representation is the integer i. For example, chr(97) returns the string 'a'. This is the inverse of ord(). ValueError will be raised if i is outside the valid range.

isinstance

isinstance(object, class)

Return true if the object argument is an instance of the class argument, or of a (direct, indirect) subclass thereof. If object is not an object of the given type, the function always returns false. If class is not a class, a TypeError exception is raised.

In this version of the VM, isinstance is still not compliant with the Python one. It is suggested to use isinstance to determine the hierarchy of instances and to use type() for primitive types.

print

print(\*args, sep=" ", end="\\n", stream=None)

Print objects to the stream stream, separated by sep and followed by end. sep, end and stream, if present, must be given as keyword arguments.

All non-keyword arguments are converted to strings like str() does and written to the stream, separated by sep and followed by end. Both sep and end must be strings. If no objects are given, print() will just write end.

The stream argument must be an object with a write(string) method; if it is not present or None, __default_stream will be used.

Whether output is buffered is usually determined by stream.

abs

abs(x)

Return the absolute value of a number. The argument may be an integer or a floating point number.

all

all(iterable)

Return True if all elements of the iterable are true (or if the iterable is empty). Equivalent to:

def all(iterable):
    for element in iterable:
        if not element:
            return False
    return True
any

any(iterable)

Return True if any element of the iterable is true. If the iterable is empty, return False. Equivalent to:

def any(iterable):
    for element in iterable:
        if element:
            return True
    return False
sum

sum(iterable, )

Sums start and the items of an iterable from left to right and returns the total. start defaults to 0.

max

max(\*args)

Return the largest item in args.

min

min(\*args)

Return the smallest item in args.

len

len(s)

Return the length (the number of items) of an object. The argument may be a sequence (such as a string, bytes, tuple, list, or range) or a collection (such as a dictionary, set, or frozen set), or any instance defining the method __len__.

hex

hex(x, prefix="0x")

Convert an integer number to a lowercase hexadecimal string prefixed with prefix (if not given “0x” is used), for example:

>>> hex(255)
'0xff'
>>> hex(-42)
'-0x2a'

See also int() for converting a hexadecimal string to an integer using a base of 16.

str

str(x="")

Return a string version of x. If x is not provided, returns the empty string. Returns the “informal” or nicely printable string representation of object. For string objects, this is the string itself. For primitive types like list, tuples, dicts a standard representation is returned. For all other types, the method str is called.

dict

dict()

dict

dict(\*args)

Return a new dictionary initialized from an optional *args. If no *args is given, an empty dictionary is created. If a single positional argument is given and it is a mapping object, a dictionary is created with the same key-value pairs as the mapping object. Otherwise, if more than a positional argument is given, each pair of arguments is inserted in the dictionary with the first argument of the pair being the key and the second argument the value. If a key occurs more than once, the last value for that key becomes the corresponding value in the new dictionary. If the number of positional arguments is odd, the value for the last key is None.

set

set()` `set(\*args)

Return a new set initialized from an optional *args. If no *args is given, an empty set is created. If a single positional argument is given and it is an iterable object, a set is created and filled with the values of the iterable. Otherwise, if more than a positional argument is given, each argument is inserted in the set.

frozenset

frozenset()

frozenset

frozenset(\*args)

Return a new frozenset initialized from an optional *args. If no *args. If no *args is given, an empty frozenset is created. If a single positional argument is given and it is an iterable object, a frozenset is created and filled with the values of the iterable. Otherwise, if more than a positional argument is given, each argument is inserted in the frozenset.

open

open(file, mode="rb")

Return an object similar to a stream with read and write methods. The object class depends on the type of file opened.

If file starts with “resource://”, open returns a ResourceStream of a flash saved resource.