stavm

Stavm is a compact, stack-based virtual machine designed for education and small-scale embedded systems. It provides a minimal yet expressive instruction set, a reference interpreter, and simple tooling to assemble and run programs.

The project began in the early 2020s as an open-source effort to teach concepts of computer architecture and bytecode execution. It was developed by researchers at a university and released under a permissive license to encourage experimentation and learning across platforms.

Architecture and execution: Stavm uses a stack-based model with a small address space, a deterministic fetch-decode-execute loop, and a memory model consisting of a linear RAM, a program counter, and a stack. The instruction set includes arithmetic, logic, memory access, control flow, and calling conventions, designed to be straightforward for learners while still expressive enough for practical tasks.

Tools and language: Stavm ships with an assembler (stavm-asm) and a reference compiler that translates a high-level Stavm language to bytecode. Programs are runnable on Stavm interpreters across platforms, including microcontrollers and desktop environments, enabling cross-platform experimentation and prototyping.

Impact and status: Stavm is used in classrooms and maker projects to illustrate compact VM design and deterministic behavior. Active development continues with community contributions, tutorials, and example projects that demonstrate portability and minimal resource usage.