Zane Hambly

Compilers, emulators, and the occasional impossible project

I build compilers, emulators, and language servers, usually for systems that have not had new tooling in decades. The work is built from original specifications, declassified documentation, and primary sources. If there is a spec, I read it. If there is a manuscript, I implement from it. If the documentation is in a filing cabinet in Kansas, I send an email.

Based in New Zealand. Student at AUT.

Sketch of a desk with dual monitors, headphones, and a mug

Writing

Voyager FDS Emulator

The only emulator for the computer leaving the solar system. Built from original JPL documentation found in a university archive in Kansas, after NASA said no and a chain of links from a blog to Reddit to Hackaday led to a filing cabinet in Wichita. Now being put on a chip the width of a human hair.

BarraCUDA

An open-source CUDA compiler written from scratch in C99. Three backends: AMD, NVIDIA, and Tenstorrent. Tested by simulating nuclear reactors, because orthodox was never really the plan.

HALMAT

Reconstructing the Space Shuttle's undocumented compiler intermediate language. All 180 opcodes across 9 classes, recovered by parsing 630 source files that nobody had touched since the 1990s. Built on Ron Burkey's Virtual AGC project.

MPB

Mainframe Package Bureau. A package manager for COBOL, HLASM, REXX, PL/I, and JCL, standing on fifty years of communal generosity that started with Arnold Casinghino mailing magnetic tapes through the post in 1975.

Projects

Compilers

  • BarraCUDA CUDA compiler in C99. AMD, NVIDIA, Tenstorrent.
  • Karearea Fortran 77 compiler. 735/735 SLATEC files. PE-COFF and ELF.
  • Wasabi WebAssembly to x86-64 AOT compiler.
  • Plankalkul World's first high-level language, 1945. From Zuse's manuscripts.
  • FLOW-MATIC Grace Hopper's 1955 business language. COBOL's ancestor.

Emulators

Sunflower sketch

Mainframe

  • z390 Portable mainframe emulator. Core contributor.
  • MPB Package manager for COBOL, HLASM, REXX, PL/I, JCL.
  • zblas z/OS native BLAS in HLASM. z13+ vector SIMD.
  • HLASM Strong Type VS Code LSP with type checking for registers and macros.
  • HLASM for Notepad++ Column-aware syntax highlighting.

Language Servers

  • JOVIAL J73 syntax, diagnostics, navigation.
  • HAL/S Space Shuttle flight software.
  • CMS-2 US Navy shipboard systems.
  • CORAL 66 British military real-time.
  • CHILL ITU telecom standard.
  • MUMPS Healthcare IT.
  • RACF IBM mainframe security.

Scientific Computing

  • Moa Monte Carlo neutron transport. C99, GPU-accelerated via BarraCUDA.
  • SLATEC Modernising the SLATEC numerical library.
  • DCUHRE Multi-dimensional adaptive integration.

Chip Design

  • Takahe Universal hardware synthesis. Thirteen computing paradigms. SKY130.
  • Voyager FDS on silicon The JPL flight computer. 58 gates. Fabrication-ready.
  • Ruru Probabilistic processor. Distributions as a data type.
  • Qsim 8-qubit quantum gate simulator on silicon.

Other

  • HALMAT Space Shuttle compiler language, reconstructed.
  • KW-26 ROMULUS Cold War teleprinter cipher. Reconstructed from declassified docs.
  • Olint OCaml linter with auto-fix support.
  • Plankalkul IDE VS Code extension with 2D grid editor.
  • Kea Preemptive real-time OS for RISC-V.
Grand Tour NZ 2021 patch

Contact

[email protected]

GitHub

Student at AUT. Right to work in New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and the EU.