Re: Best 8-Bit Assembler?

josephoswaldgg@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: 

SC Assembler for Prodos seemed to have some bugs in it, at least in the
archives posted for download; when I tried to use it, I ended up with
chunks of zeros in the middle of my object code files. I vaguely recall
there might be some patches described in the Assembly Lines columns
which are available from the same site. I changed to ORCA/M (bought
second-hand) on a simulator (KEGS on Macintosh), editing in MicroEMACS,
until I got too frustrated with the small screen size, and long delays
starting up MicroEMACS.

I really don't program much on the GS although I have the ByteWorks Opus collection. Perhaps someday.

The SC environment resembled programming from the Applesoft prompt:
line numbers determine the order of statements, with plenty of LIST
1000-1100
commands to keep track of what is in memory. It uses a custom file
format, for which some conversion tools exist.

Yes, SC's origin was based on the DOS 3.x/BASIC environment of the original Apple ][. This was a common environment situation for the era. EdASM and Merlin share a similar style. It really wasn't that bad as I recall but that could be simple nostalgia.

As to which is best? 


"Best" is tough to answer; the original poster did not give much
description of his preferred mode of operation.

For a IIgs system, running natively, with enough memory and disk, the
ORCA/M environment is probably best. The LISA assembler (available for
download) seemed to be OK for 8-bit, but missing some essential 16-bit
pseudo-ops.


I rather liked the GS version of Lisa but I only used it for 8 bit coding.

For a IIe-type system, SC or EDASM are about equally "usable." Which in
2005, doesn't mean what it used to mean. Editing with Applewriter,
assisted by WPL macros, was one way to improve things.


This might still be a possibility for some as Apple Writer is now available.

For modern ease-of-use, a cross-assembler is probably best; downloading
the resulting code to the II (or a simulator) requires some doing, but
you probably save time overall by using a sane editor with a larger
than 80x24 screen. The development system would determine the
cross-assemblers available; DOS/Windows vs. Linux vs. Mac.

After spending a little bit of time trying to roll my own assembler, as
well as trying to port some existing cross-assemblers (cc65 package
looks most interesting) to the Unix-y Mac OS X environment, I'm looking
forward to receiving the MPW tools from Syndicomm to develop under the
Mac Classic environment.

Many claim cross development is the only way to go. I still prefer the original environments or using an emulator for extra speed. Considering I don't do that much programming lately, it seems the easiest way to go.

Cheers,
Mike T.
.

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