Date   : Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:39:31 +0100
From   : kortink@... (John Kortink)
Subject: Basic6809 1.00

On Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:22:56 +0000, Phill Harvey-Smith
<afra@...> wrote:

>John Kortink wrote:
>> Introducing Basic6809.
>> 
>> Like Basic6502, which has been around for some time,
>> Basic6809 patches the ARM BASIC V module (a limited
>> number of versions is supported) to understand 'ancient'
>> assembly code, in this case for the 6809.
>
>Note this question is aimed at all, not just at John :)
>
>Which prompts me to ask a possibly contentious question :
>
>Why do people still use assembler embedded in basic programs to build 
>stuff with ? Especially considdering some of the limitations of such ?

I'd venture to guess because it's there and because
it's free.

There may be limitations of sorts. But also advantages
(it's far easier to use OS functions, post-fix code,
create powerful macros, and embed tables involving
complicated calculations, for example).

>[...]
>
>I have tried understanding the code of some projects (the menu program 
>for BeebMMC is one example that springs to mind), but the total lack of 
>formatting, comments and meaningfull names (all due to lack of memory), 
>make this task very difficult, in some ways I feel I would be better 
>working from a dissasembily, at least that way I know it's just code :)

Such chaos is not necessarily due to memory shortage
or the tools used. It's more likely programming style.

>Personally I prefer to use assemblers like BeebASM(6502) and 
>Toolshed(6809) as they allow me to not limit the size of my source 
>files, and so make my source more maintainable as I can lay it out in a 
>way that is easier to understand, plus I can add verbose comments 
>without fear of overflowing the memory limits of the assembler.

That, plus the speed and flexibility, is the point of my
patches.

Case in point is assembling all of GoMMC's source code
(roughly 200K), in around 3 seconds, towards files that
are immediately accessible on the BBC via 65Link. Pure
bliss.


John Kortink

-- 

Email    : kortink@...         
Homepage : http://www.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink

GoMMC, the ultimate BBC B/Master/Electron storage system :
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink/home/hardware/gommc

ReCo6502, the Acorn 6502 Second Processor on steroids :
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink/home/hardware/reco6502