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Proofreaders Wanted - Aztec64 Assembler Notes Draft Copy [message #210152] Wed, 07 August 2013 19:54 Go to next message
Bill Buckels is currently offline  Bill Buckels
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Registered: November 2012
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I have placed a draft copy of a short document on using the AS65 assembler
for the C65 cross-compiler on the Aztec C Website at the following link.

http://www.aztecmuseum.ca/docs/Aztec64_AssemblerNotes_Aug201 3.pdf

I probably have many glaring errors in this document, and since I don't want
to provide incorrect information, I have decided to come to the experts
(you folks) and ask for necessary corrections.

The goal here is to make sure everything is documented as it works.

You will probably want to work a little with the assembler, but if you have
Windows 7 or 8 you will need VirtualBOX and FreeDOS. DOSBox works fine in
Vista and if you have saved a Windows XP Machine you can just use this as
is.

Some Unises like Ubuntu have MS-DOS emulators that will run this just fine
as well.

You can forward any corrections in PM if you don't wish to post them. Or go
ahead and post them.

I haven't looked at this in several years now, but it still works nicely,
and it's nice to know that a 30 year old compiler is still alive and well.

Just as an aside, I recently began to port some floating point routines from
the Apple II DOS 3.3 native mode version of this compiler (which has long
been superceded by several newer versions) and I will likely supplement the
floating point math routines with additional functionality shortly.

There seems to be a renewed interest lately in everything from differential
equasions to randomization using floating point values, so I thought I'd add
everything I could port and beef-this up a bit.

If anyone else has a copy of the original MS-DOS disks, I would still like
an undamaged set of disk images so I could complete this with the missing
bits and reduce my dependency on borrowing tools from other Aztec C
cross-compilers of this vintage.

The manual would be appreciated as well.

All the best,

Bill Buckels
Re: Proofreaders Wanted - Aztec64 Assembler Notes Draft Copy [message #210153 is a reply to message #210152] Thu, 08 August 2013 20:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Anton Treuenfels is currently offline  Anton Treuenfels
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Registered: December 2011
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"Bill Buckels" <bbuckels@mts.net> wrote in message
news:ktup61$3em$1@speranza.aioe.org...
> I have placed a draft copy of a short document on using the AS65 assembler
> for the C65 cross-compiler on the Aztec C Website at the following link.
>
> http://www.aztecmuseum.ca/docs/Aztec64_AssemblerNotes_Aug201 3.pdf

Just looking through that document, you might want to make it little clearer
when mentioning K&R's 'The C Programming Language' if you're referring to
the original (first) or ANSI (second) edition.

Anton Treuenfels
Re: Proofreaders Wanted - Aztec64 Assembler Notes Draft Copy [message #210156 is a reply to message #210153] Fri, 09 August 2013 20:51 Go to previous message
Bill Buckels is currently offline  Bill Buckels
Messages: 1418
Registered: November 2012
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Senior Member
"Anton Treuenfels" <teamtempest@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Just looking through that document, you might want to make it little
> clearer when mentioning K&R's 'The C Programming Language' if you're
> referring to the original (first) or ANSI (second) edition.

Hi Anton,

Good point. Since AS65 1.03 was released in 1983 and the second edition
wasn't published until 1988, I never gave it much thought.

By the time K&R's second edition was published AS65 version 3.2b for the
Apple II had already been released for a year (June 1987), and Manx Software
Systems had ceased compiler development for both the Commodore 64 and the
Apple II. When I bought both compilers in 1990 it was to take a contract in
my spare time to develop programs for old computers that had been passed
down from the high schools to the elementary schools across Canada. By 1993
even the schools weren't buying any more Apple II and C64 programs, and I
was trying to sell them Multimedia Programs written for Windows 3.1 in my
spare time, while writing MS-DOS programs in my day job.

AS65 1.03 was the last Manx C64 assembler. AS65 3.2b was their last Apple
II assembler.

By the way that text is taken directly from the original CII Compiler
Manual.

I have found several typos in that document that I'll fix shortly and I'll
be sure to give a little history including the clarification for the
reference to K&R... but having said that, it is generally implicit in the
style which long predates Ansi C.

Having coded in C right through the '80's and through that whole period of
standardization and then the general move to C++ by some of us, I admit that
I just think such things are common knowledge when it comes to old
compilers. Clearly a sign of aging...

Bill
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