Guru
Joined: 07/09/2016
Location: United KingdomPosts: 2170
| Posted: 05:11pm 23 Nov 2021 |
Some of the code that I saw was contained in Beeb Basic inline assembler ASM[...] statements, so yeah, not really basic but using it as a container.
35 years ago, my then employer used Amstrad CPC6128s (suitably gutted) as controllers for RADAR consoles they manufactured - it was an inexpensive, well-thought out & engineered Z80 platform with upto a MB of RAM, the same on sideways ROMs with FAR CALLing and easy IO expansion and the PSU in the monitor would go down to 90VAC - way better than an IBM PC which meant it was great for deployment in third world contries where the power was flaky.
One of my tried an tested methods on them was to write and debug systems in BASIC and then hand-compile, into assembler, assemble with Cromemco's ASM ported to CP/M. The output HEX file was then loaded to memory with a home-grown basic loader and saved out as a binary. It was a joy due largely to the very well written and documented firmware. I used to love that. It was a nice environment and hand-compiling a basic listing was a lot of fun and paid instant benefits. Although the toolchain looks a nightmare compared to modern methods (well, not too much) it was a breeze and wasn't cumbersome.
Edited 2021-11-24 03:25 by CaptainBoing