[A83] Re: Apps: part II

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[A83] Re: Apps: part II


That's a good point, but the reason to switch is that ZDS is better :)  Of
course, it's not a big deal either way, I just wanted to suggest that people
at least give ZDS a try to see if they like it.

As for why I personally prefer ZDS, here the list:
1) It's much more organized.  You can have lots of files in your project,
and easily switch between them (without having twenty instances of notepad
open).  It also does some highlighting, which I don't really care about, but
it's there.
2) When you've got errors, you can just double click on them and it'll take
you straight to that line, so you can easily fix it.
3) At least on my old and moldy computer, ZDS runs much faster than TASM.
4) You almost *must* use ZDS is you want to write multi-page apps (it has a
nice linker).  You're going to have a lot more trouble setting up and
linking off page calls, tables, etc using TASM.  Also nice for multipage
apps is that, when assembling, ZDS will only assemble pages that have been
changed since the last compile.  This saves a lot of time if you have a good
number of pages.
5) ZDS produces symbol files in a format that the Flash Sim will read,
allowing you to do some symbolic debugging (which is very nice).
6) It's got a lot of nice changeable settings that are missing from TASM
(just check the options) and macros are more powerful.

Anyhow, I say try them both out for a bit, and stick with whichever you end
up liking more.

-Dan Englender

P.S. - For those used to programming with TASM, the major differences you
have to be aware of are "bcall(_ClrLCDFull)" changes to "B_CALL ClrLCDFull",
".db" changes to "db", and that you don't need to do a ".org 4000h", just
set the appropriate linker settings (Described in the Dev Guide, which any
83P (or 83) programmer should download ASAP :)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Vincent" <hookman@worldnet.att.net>
To: <assembly-83@lists.ticalc.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 8:32 PM
Subject: [A83] Re: Apps: part II


>
> I prefer TASM over ZDS though. There are subtle differences I wouldn't
want
> to live with. My reasoning is, if I've used TASM for years, and it works,
> why switch?
>
> --
> Michael Vincent
> Detached Solutions - www.detacheds.com
> --
> Senior Vice-President/Chief Software Architect
> Radical Software - www.radicalsoft.org
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dan Englender" <dan@calc.org>
> To: <assembly-83@lists.ticalc.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 5:25 PM
> Subject: [A83] Re: Apps: part II
>
>
> >
> > Yes, you could write the source in notepad, and use TASM to compile.  I
> > strongly suggest (assuming you're running windows) trying out ZDS for
> > application development, but you don't have to use it.  A ti83plus.inc
> file
> > that's usable with TASM is included in the MirageOS zip file  (TI's is
> > formatted for ZDS).
> >
> > Technically the calc doesn't skip all 128 bytes, it'll start running
code
> > somewhere in the middle of that pad of zeros (I don't remember where
> > exactly), but it doesn't matter as they're nops.
> >
> > In terms of what messes up on the Silver Edition, more or less, if you
> don't
> > turn on the "fast mode" of the silver edition, most everything should be
> > compatible.  The one thing that definitely wont work are games/programs
> that
> > use the link port in non-TIOS protocol.  The reason is that the SE has a
> > "hardware-assist" that automatically sends/receives link-port data (so
the
> > Z80 doesn't have to waste time doing so), and it'll get confused if you
> > manually change the link port lines.  It may be possible to disable the
> > hardware-assist, I haven't experimented enough to tell.
> >
> > Hope this helps,
> > -Dan Englender
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Harper Maddox" <gte172i@prism.gatech.edu>
> > To: <assembly-83@lists.ticalc.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 8:09 PM
> > Subject: [A83] Re: Apps: part II
> >
> >
> > >
> > > so by this methodology, you can write the source code in notepad, and
> use
> > > tasm to compile?  The APP automatically jump to the start of the
> > > application + 128 bytes, to "skip" the header.  Is that correct?  if
it
> > is,
> > > then making a flash application is easier than i thought.  Also,
thanks
> > for
> > > sharing that bit about the header.  I know its in the help file at TI,
> but
> > > the new education.ti.com site was pretty hard to navigate.
> > >
> > > also, Does anyone know what kind of stuff messes up between the silver
> 83+
> > > and the 83+?  I noticed that Phoenix 83+ has the graphics off by a few
> > > bytes on the silver 83+.
> > >
> > > Harper Maddox
> > >
> > > ps. If this is the case, then I might port a few games to 83+ app
> > > tonight.  So a swift response from anyone "knowledgeable" is
> appreciated.
> > >
> > > At 04:21 PM 6/20/2001 -0700, you wrote:
> > > >Addendum to previous e-mail:
> > > >
> > > >After you have compiled your app (use "tasm -i -o20 -80 %1.asm
%1.hex"
> in
> > > >a batch file), you must copy the .hex file to the C:\Program Files\TI
> > > >Education\TI-83 Plus Flash Debugger\Utils\ directory. Open a DOS
> window,
> > > >and type "appsign 0104.key myfile.hex" where myfile.hex is your .hex
> > file.
> > > >Then send the *.8xk file it creates to your calc.
> > > >
> > > >Have fun
> > > >
> > > >--
> > > >Michael Vincent
> > > >Detached Solutions - www.detacheds.com
> > > >--
> > > >Senior Vice-President/Chief Software Architect
> > > >Radical Software - www.radicalsoft.org
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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