Long-form notes on compiler architecture, runtimes and zero-knowledge tooling.
This article follows a three-bidder auction test from bounded TCP tasks to a detached Groth16 proof. It states the circuit claim precisely, separates host checks from proof constraints, explains the four public inputs and nine witness values, and records the security and engine boundaries the tests enforce.
Achronyme separates dynamic scripting, witness generation, and constraint emission into Akron, Artik, and Lysis. Each VM uses the memory model required by its job instead of sharing one general-purpose runtime.
ProveIR compiles a prove block into a parametric circuit template, stores it in the bytecode constant pool, and instantiates it with captured values at runtime. This article follows that template through classification, serialization, SSA lowering, optimization, and constraint generation.
A technical walk through Achronyme's circuit path: static validation, SSA lowering, optimization, witness layout, and the different cost models of R1CS and Plonkish arithmetization.
A comparison of stack and register bytecode using Achronyme's first VM rewrite. The register design enlarged individual instructions but reduced dispatches in the workloads measured at the time.