[Coco] CoCo gcc project

[Roger Taylor]

At 04:45 PM 11/4/2003 -0600, you wrote:

>Yes, it is, but, as I said above, it may take quite a bit of work to get
>implemented and I wonder if there are very many people who would use it
>after it was completed.  It's fun and quite interesting researching the
>internals of things like gcc, etc. but it is also disheartening thinking
>that you might put in all that time and then there was no one to benefit
>by it.  If I did something like that, I'd want people to benefit by it.

Here's the deal.  Hard-to-use development tools are just what they are... 
hard to use.  It also depends on how much the programmer is willing to 
learn in order to set up an environment that works for him.  Anything that 
makes me run here, grab that, compile this, recompile this, feed into that, 
etc. will probably never get used over here, especially when nobody's 
offering complete working instructions on how to get a system set 
up.  Nevertheless, I use tools that aren't all that perfect and do require 
quite a bit of pre-knowledge.  It's just not practical to do everything 
from a console prompt anymore.  Save the keystrokes for editing your source 
code.


>I've been seeing a lot of discussion about this, but haven't taken the
>time to explore it.  Will this be a total replacement of the BASIC that
>is now in the coco rom?


Portal-9 runs under Windows only.  It's being designed just for CoCo 
users/programmers.  It assembles EDTASM source code (includes the CCASM 
assembler), lets you edit ASCII BASIC programs, text files, and do HEX 
edits on any binary file, and all of your project files can be sent off to 
a virtual floppy disk, mounted in M.E.S.S. and emulated in one of many 
versions of the CoCo, 2 versions of the Dragon, the CP-400, and 2 Vectrex 
game machines.  Also planned is an ASCII BASIC to tokenized BASIC 
translator so you can actually import tokenized BASIC programs (which are 
the majority), and EDIT them in the IDE, and they'll be retokenized as they 
are being stored onto your virtual floppy.  It's all going to be a seamless 
process from A to B, as it is now.  I also plan to add a BASIC compiler <- 
yep, but don't expect all the DECB/SECB stuff.  It will simply be put in 
for those who can't program in assembly.  Imagine your BASIC program being 
edited in a window and ending up on the virtual floppy or even a ROM as 
pure machine language code.

The hex edit mode is super nice, as is the text editor, which has color 
syntax highliting of the 6809/6309 mnemonics and pseudo ops, etc.  You can 
have any number of source file windows up where you can cut/copy/paste 
between all of them to name a little of what's typical.

How easy it is to use?  TOO easy, but the work involved in making this easy 
to use has been great.  But you still have to know 6809/6309 assembly in 
order to create programs, just as in any other environment.  I'm just 
making it possible to do everything from one single program, from 
editor-to-running of ROM PAKs and virtual floppy disks.  Once you see a 
demo, you'll want it.  No doubt.

There is no demo yet because I'm still adding necessary features like the 
Save Project option, etc. :)
I am also looking into hijacking the M.E.S.S. video window and keeping it 
positioned within the IDE at a certain place which would let you flip 
through the folder tabs to bring it up.  In other words, there's a tab for 
each of your source files, a READOUT window, and I want to add a M.E.S.S. 
tab that brings up the CoCo emulation.  Currently, it pops up over the IDE, 
which is also a preferred option.  You click the close button on the 
M.E.S.S window, and get back to work on your source, click the Go! button, 
and watch it happen all over again until you develop your 
masterpiece.  Sound like fun?