int32 failure in Raku

Question

While working with the NCurses module I ran into some strange behavior that I've distilled in the repl as:

> my $c = ' '.ord
32
> $c.WHAT
(Int)
> my int32 $n = ' '.ord
32
> $n.WHAT
Bytecode validation error at offset 128, instruction 20:
operand type 32 does not match register type 24 for op getlex_ni in frame <unit>

> my int32 $m = 32
32
> $m.WHAT
Bytecode validation error at offset 128, instruction 20:
operand type 32 does not match register type 24 for op getlex_ni in frame <unit>

> my int32 $j = int32( 32 )
Cannot invoke this object (REPR: P6int; int32)
  in block <unit> at <unknown file> line 1

The problem is that wborder is defined with a signature of (NCurses::WINDOW, int32, int32, int32, int32, int32, int32, int32, int32 --> int32) but none of my attempts to come up with an int32 version of 32 have worked yet. I'm sure I'm missing something but I've no idea what.

Chian

I see 4 apparently unrelated things. ➊ "Bytecode validation" error. This looks like a REPL bug. It applies without regard to 32. For example, my uint $a; ends up with the same error. ➋ "Cannot invoke this object" error. This looks like a mistake you're making. You're invoking a call on an object that isn't callable. It applies to any such object. For example, X() ends up with a similar result because X is an Exception, and exceptions aren't callables. ➌ The number 32. ➍ Discussion of Ncurses and wborder. I hear you're suggesting they're connected but I don't see the connection. – Ideogram

The connection is that I'm unable in actual code (not REPL) to use an actual 32 or any variation of the same as a parameter in the wborder call. Past experience in C led me to believe that it should accept char in those 6 positions. Something not possible with the existing declaration of int32 in Raku. I suppose a good start would be how to declare an in32 with a value of 32 and go from there. That is what I was doing in the REPL. – Chian

Others may see why you're explaining the connection between ➊, ➋, ➌, and ➍ by introducing another seemingly random ➎th element (about ➏ positions). But I'm not Bruce (Will Is Powerful). Maybe it's best if we both give up on riddles. ;) As you suggest, let's restart with how to declare an int32 with a value of 32. For a variable, it's my int32 $foo = 32;. Aiui this binds $foo so it corresponds to the integer 32 using an in-memory representation that's the underlying platform's C int32_t (signed integer) type. – Ideogram

Hi again. I hope you got through 2020 relatively unscathed, and wish you a better 2021. Were you using EVAL? I think it would likely be helpful to core devs if you could let them know in this ticket: A straight EVAL bug involving accessing some types of natives from surrounding scope. If you are, well, it looks like that ticket explains your problem. – Ideogram