Map Manipulation Opcodes

This section documents the maps instructions available in CandleVM.

For operand encodings, see the executable format reference.

Maps

All map instructions require an ObjectRef value to a Map. Map keys and values can be of all types.

Opcode byte	Opcode	Operand bytes	Behavior
44	NewMap	destination: register	Allocates an empty map and stores its ObjectRef value.
45	MapLen	destination: register, map: register	Stores the number of key/value pairs as a numeric value (Byte for lengths 0–255, otherwise Number).
46	MapContains	destination: register, map: register, key: register	Stores whether the map contains the key. For ObjectRef values this is reference-ID equality.
47	MapGet	destination: register, map: register, key: register	Loads the mapped value; a missing key raises MapKeyNotFound.
48	MapSet	map: register, key: register, value: register	Inserts or replaces the key's value.
49	MapRemove	map: register, key: register	Removes the key and discards its value; a missing key raises MapKeyNotFound.