make and friends was Re: [Coco] CCASM for Linux

[Ward Griffiths]

On Monday 13 December 2004 09:53 pm, Willard Goosey wrote:
> >From: KnudsenMJ at aol.com
> >Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 22:24:18 EST
> >
> >I even seem to remember some useful tricks for the C compiler's
> > macro preprocessor all by itself, on text jobs.  --Mike K.
>
> Yeah, cpp is a good tool.  And one that tends to get "integrated" so
> you can't do anything but C programs with it. :-( AFAIK the OS-9 C
> compiler is about the only C compiler for 8-bit (or early 16-bit
> micros) that has a seperate preprocessor.
>
> A lot of the assembly in the linux kernel uses the C preprocessor,
> instead of relying on the assemlber's own macro system (Does GAS even
> have complex macros?)
>
> I have to admit, though, for non-programming purposes, m4 is a little
> more friendly.  If nothing else, it doesn't insert #line lines into
> its output.

cpp dates from when Unix (and C) were first made on 12-bit processors, 
over around the corner in Murray Hill (yeah, I'm in Jersey, not that it 
was my life's goal).  It was standard in most early versions of Unix, 
including Xenix-68k for the TRS-80 Model 16.  Much (most?) of the good 
stuff in OS-9 was backported from early Unix and translated to 
assembler rather than compiled due to memory constraints.  6809 
assembly did give position independent code, the only "8-bit" (to my 
mind as 8-bit as the 8088 -- 16 bit guts, 8-bit outside) cpu that had 
that capability.
-- 
Ward Griffiths    wdg3rd at comcast.net    http://home.comcast.net/~wdg3rd/

"... the device every conqueror, yes every altruistic liberator should
be required to wear on his shield ... is a little girl and her kitten,
at ground zero."			Captain Sir Dominic Flandry