Assembly vs. Everything Else (was: SemiOT: Mourning for ClassicComputing)

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_eskimo.com>
Date: Sat Aug 18 03:18:27 2001

On Sat, Aug 18, 2001 at 02:45:08AM -0500, Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:
> Jeffrey S. Sharp said:
> > Now, why is it so important to have a PRINT statement?
>
> Iggy Drougge said:
> > So that you may print "HELLO WORLD". It's essential for the newbie.
>
> Please bear with me. Does it have to be "HELLO WORLD" exactly, or could
> something different suffice?

I just wanted to mention macros.

If the assembler can define macros, and if it can accept a string argument
to a macro, then you could combine a routine (like a simple version of the
6809 printf clone already posted) with a macro that calls it. Then you
really would be able to write PRINT "HELLO WORLD" or something with similar
syntax.

Or you might want to use the full printf clone and write
PRINTF "HELLO WORLD %D",X instead.

Using macros to create a full high-level language environment would be hard.
If that's what you want, then a high-level language with embedded assembler
(like BBC BASIC) might be better. But you could certainly make a nice
medium-level language (between assembler and C). If the macro processor is
powerful enough, it could check the number of arguments to the PRINTF, and
even C doesn't do that.

-- Derek
Received on Sat Aug 18 2001 - 03:18:27 BST