Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

yet, a symbolic debugger, which
means that it won't use any labels you
stored in the executable program at
linkage time.
A symbolic debugger is really a
necessity for large programs, unless
calculating a lot of hexadecimal offsets
makes you happy. But everyone writes
their code in small, easily-tested
subroutines, so it's not a problem.
Whaddaya mean you don't use
small, easily-tested subroutines ? Pah
— a plague of soft-boiled Minogue CDs
to rain down on you.
Like all machine code monitors,
Mon allows you to set breakpoints,
and assign values to registers, before
executing your code. The monitor
stops at a breakpoint and displays all
the registers and the next instruction.
If you're really not sure of your
program you can walk (single-step)
through every instruction. It would be
tedious to walk through a ROM
routine — they tend to be large and
fairly incomprehensible — so Mon can
execute a library routine and then stop
with the results immediately
afterwards,
You can guarantee that if your
program decides to run off into the
sunset, you've made a mistake in a
conditional instruction somewhere.
Mon is able to execute code at full
speed then stand on its nose as soon
as it hits a conditional instruction.
This makes debugging almost
enjoyable.
If you find a rogue instruction in
your code you don't need to edit the
hex to replace it. Mon contains a line
assembler, which will assemble single
instructions entered at the prompt.
HERE are a few little utility
routines to make your day more
pleasant. Apart from the usual
memory allocation ones, there is a
play (chip) memory command to
check any samples. Disk blocks can be
read, written and checksummed, so
it's possible to write custom
bootblocks directly from Mon.
I will state now that no
representative of Finland has ever
paid me to say very complimentary
things about Finnish software. Though
if they want to start, I'm not going to
complain. Mon is a Finnish product,
94 AMIGA COMPUTING November 1990
and it really is deeply satisfying to
use. But then, you'd expect that from a
country which had the intelligence to
invent the greatest invention since the
wheel, the sauna.
Right — those are the basic tools
you'll need. To get into programming
the Amiga, you'll also need one or two
books, and a linker library file. Can't
help you with the first field (techie
books ain't PD, y'know) hut the
second is a little easier.
The proper Include files belong to
Commodore, and they still believe in
keeping Amiga programming out of
the hands of the masses. We'll have to
make do with a library that just
defines where all the system routines
live in each library.
Commodore supply Function
Definition files with on the Extras
Oops -
6B
I'm going to rabbit on about
Object E Orientated Programming, I'm
not. Heck, my idea of structured
programming is putting a REM
statement full of asterisks above all
R
the GOTOs.
Nope, the tone here is of deep
apology. Remember a while back I
otold
the world at large that NorthC
u was the best thing, toasters
notwithstanding, since sliced bread?
Well, there's a better C compiler out
there that I missed, but this one's not
a
without itk drawbacks either.
ZC on Fish Disk 314 is a very
nearly complete C compiler system. It
thas
a Unix-style "cc" front end, a
Make utility, an optimiser. an
assembler and a linker. As it stands,
nyou
can compile and run programs
k
which use simple CLI I/O. with no
1F
O
1
E
y
;clu
s
t
ar
t
l
h
i
rmM
floating point.
i
n
NorthC could do that too, but its
printf() routine was so slow you
g could see the characters appearing
like an ancient 300 baud modem.
NorthC could work with floating
apoint
numbers, but couldn't output
t
them. The much swifter ZC is quite
happy outputting floating point
numbers, but doesn't have the
support files to work with them.
The ZC documentation cheerily
: t
h
disk, which actually contain enough
information to build such a linker
library. There isn't the space here to
describe how to do it.
Alternatively, if you look in the
Sozobon ZC archive on Fish Disk 314,
not only will you find A68k and Blink
— complete with documentation — but
you'll also find Ami.lib. This file is a
linker library containing, among other
things, all the library routines'
positions.
So Fish Disks 310 and 314 contain
all the tools you really need for the
Build Your Own Assembly Language
Development Kit. If you have an
unexpended machine, you may need
to find someone with more memory to
unpack the big archive on Disk 314.
Once unpacked, the programs work
just fine with 512k.
tells everyone to send $20 to
Commodore in the US, who'll send
the 1.3 Developer Upgrade pack by
return of post. This wonderful
package contains everything you need
to flip the helpless ZC tortoise back
on to its feet.
There's just one sandfly in the
Savlon, though: Commodore UK do
not sell the 1.3 Developer Upgrade
pack to non-developers. It costs at
least E75 to become the lowest form
of developer, and you'll probably
have bought an expensive compiler
before considering that move.
Commodore do not allow the
distribution of their Include files —
the things that compilers and
assemblers need — unless it's by a
Commercial Developer. It's a case of
the old greedhead "Need money to
make money" vicious circle that 1. for
one, want no part of. Copying Include
files off your mates is theft, another
thing I'm not into.
I guess I'd better give my Tirade
Launcher a rest now, lest I start to
sound like some lowlife student
politico. But I have met registered
developers whose opinion of the
technical support available in the UK
is on a par with the sensation of
finding damp chewing gum under a
desk. Worse still, it's still warm.