[Coco] going with the flow

[Wayne Campbell]

I am in the process of merging the disasm output of Basic09 and RunB. Both are the versions included on the OS-9 Level 2 Basic09/Config disk. The .os9 file was named Master, but the OS-9 System Disk was not included in the archive.

As I go through them, matching them up where the code agrees, and seeing all the various differences, I can't help but notice that there is a very complex process involved in making one part of one program become a separate program. In many places, there are large sections of Basic09 that are absent in RunB, as you would expect. But these are offset by the changes to the RunB code, either to compensate for a re-addressing of labels or variables, or to replace a complicated routine with a different routine.

Understanding all those differences, and how they affect the operation of the programs, is paramount to understanding how each one is dealing with the data. I have been merging the code for the last four days, and I think it will be at least another four days before I am finished merging. Then I have to go through the merged code, and start looking over the code, where the differences occur, to see if I can find a better match, or determine that the code involved is unique to RunB. After that, I start renaming known labels, and tracking down (hopefully) most of the others that are common to both programs. 

I find this an interesting, and very educational, experience. I'm happy that I can be part of the effort to preserve, and find new uses for, an old 8-bit OS.  :)

Wayne