[Coco] decode 1.2.10

Wayne Campbell asa.rand at gmail.com
Mon Jun 5 19:17:01 EDT 2017 

I added in the code to validate the data memory allocation, and am
including that as part of the 1.2.10 release. It's time to see if I can get
into cococoding so I can update the site. Aaron, if you are watching this
thread, I may need your help to remember how to get in.

On Mon, Jun 5, 2017 at 1:11 PM, Wayne Campbell <asa.rand at gmail.com> wrote:

> That would be awesome. I will have to see if I can make time to be
> available in the time slot for whatever show Steve wants to talk about
> this. Saturday mornings (west coast, US) I am in Spanish class at my
> church.
> I may be able to be there, but it depends on what happens after class.
> Sometimes I have to do church related things (I am on the church council).
> If I can make the time I will be there when/if Steve wants to talk about
> this subject.
>
> On Mon, Jun 5, 2017 at 12:37 PM, Salvador Garcia via Coco <
> coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes, agreed! It looks like we have yet another fantastic topic to broach
>> on Steve's CoCoTalk! Salvador
>>
>>
>>       From: D. Bruce Moore <bruce at gracenote.ca>
>>  To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>>  Sent: Sunday, June 4, 2017 10:33 PM
>>  Subject: Re: [Coco] decode 1.2.10
>>
>> Wonderful summary! Cool project, Wayne!
>>
>>
>> D. Bruce Moore, BA, BGS, Dipl
>> www.AlternativeVocalTraining.com
>> Distinguished Voice Professional – New York  Singing Teachers Association
>>
>> > On Jun 4, 2017, at 4:26 PM, Wayne Campbell <asa.rand at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi Bruce,
>> >
>> > As I read your response it dawned on me that there is an entire group on
>> > this list who wasn't here before, and that know nothing of DCom or
>> decode.
>> > I will create a background/history page to explain it in detail, and for
>> > now I will do a brief history here.
>> >
>> > As most all programmers can attest to, when you first begin writing
>> code,
>> > you tend to not make backups of your source, and you also tend to lose
>> the
>> > only copy you have for a variety of reasons, the predominant reason
>> being
>> > that you simply deleted the file by accident.
>> >
>> > My language of choice, since I began programming, has been BASIC. When I
>> > discovered OS-9 and Basic09, I knew that I had found the language I
>> wanted
>> > to program in. Like other programmers, I was not very good at
>> remembering
>> > to make backups of my source until I lost them enough times to learn a
>> > lesson.
>> >
>> > For me it took a few years to learn it. If you are programming in
>> assembly,
>> > and you lose your source but still have a compiled executable, a
>> > disassembly will give you a good approximation of your source and you
>> can
>> > use that as the starting point to rebuild your source. All you have to
>> do
>> > is remember your variable and label names, and where your code may have
>> > differed from the disassembly output. In Basic09 (or any BASIC that
>> doesn't
>> > compile to object code for that matter), you were not given that option.
>> > Even if you had the I-Code module, you could not easily recover your
>> source
>> > code from it. For the most part you were relegated to starting all over
>> > from scratch and rewriting your code from the beginning. I noticed that
>> I
>> > never was able to duplicate my code exactly, as the new modules differed
>> > from the original.
>> >
>> > In early 1991 I decided that someone needed to write a program to
>> recover
>> > source code from a Basic09 I-Code module, and since no one else was
>> doing
>> > it, I would. I named the program DCom - Basic09 I-Code De-Compiler. I
>> > worked on that program from November, 1991 until approximately April,
>> 1993.
>> > At that time I had to sell my CoCo3 and everything that went with it,
>> and
>> > all I had left was a 3-inch binder of the source code and other related
>> > Basic09 information. I managed to keep that binder until approximately
>> > summer, 2009, when I was now in a position to get back to it.
>> >
>> > I discovered quickly that DCom was a kludge. It was a miracle that the
>> > program worked at all, and in most cases it didn't, or didn't work
>> well. I
>> > had learned alot more about programming and program structure over the
>> > years, and decided that I needed to rethink the program and start over.
>> The
>> > program became decode, and has progressed to where it is now. I have had
>> > some help along the way, notably from Aaron Wolfe who supplied me with a
>> > routine to speed up the searches for counter identification and helped
>> me
>> > with file search routines.
>> >
>> > I had to stop working on it again in 2014. For the past three years I
>> have
>> > left it alone pretty much, though I have kept up with the list and the
>> > efforts to make our beloved CoCo more usable in the 21st century. Since
>> I
>> > have been able to return to work on decode, I have decided to try and
>> take
>> > the program the next step by correcting the display issues, adding a new
>> > feature for preserving user options, and start thinking about the next
>> step
>> > in the evolution of the program.
>> >
>> > One of the things that occurred to me before is that I really needed to
>> > come up with a name that better identifies the program with its purpose.
>> > Since I-Code is "packed" in Basic09, I reasoned that the opposite is
>> > "unpacking". unpack is the name the program will have when it reaches
>> the
>> > point in development where it really becomes useful. That point is
>> where it
>> > is able to deal with merged module files and can identify modules that
>> are
>> > object code, and files that are not executable.
>> >
>> > I have already written that code, several times, but decode (in its
>> present
>> > form) cannot be used with the unpack front-end. I am thinking it will
>> > require a rewrite of both decode and unpack to make it work. Those
>> details
>> > are for another day, and for the history of the program document that
>> will
>> > be a page on the unpack-decode site.
>> >
>> > I hope this answers your (and anyone else's) questions regarding what
>> > decode is and what purpose it serves. Oh, and it is written in Basic09.
>> I
>> > am certain that if I could write it in assembly I could make it run
>> faster
>> > and be smaller than it is now, but I do not know assembly (or C) well
>> > enough to do that, and I prefer writing it in Basic09.
>> >
>> > Thank you for your interest, and if you or anyone else has questions
>> about
>> > the remaining issues the decode engine still has regarding I-Code, ask
>> and
>> > I will write another post detailing those issues.
>> >
>> >
>> >> On Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 5:42 AM, D. Bruce Moore <bruce at gracenote.ca>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Wayne,
>> >>
>> >> I took a look at your Decode page and I am not quite sure what’s going
>> on.
>> >>
>> >> An intro, explaining what it is and does, in layman’s terms, might be a
>> >> nice addition.
>> >>
>> >> Cheers!
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>> On Jun 3, 2017, at 11:08 PM, Wayne Campbell <asa.rand at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> I have been working on decode for the past few days. I have gotten
>> much
>> >>> done to correct display issues and add support for preserving user
>> >> options.
>> >>> The new version is 1.2.10. When I can remember how to connect to
>> >> cococoding
>> >>> via telnet (unless that has changed) I will upload the updated pages
>> and
>> >>> new version disk images there.
>> >>>
>> >>> I had prepared a video to showcase decode, but when I went to upload
>> it
>> >> to
>> >>> youtube, iSpring Free Cam8 crashed for no apparent reason. Because I
>> had
>> >>> not saved the project, I lost the video. I am back to square one and
>> have
>> >>> to make a new video. I will post here when I have the video made and
>> >>> uploaded to youtube.
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Wayne
>> >>>
>> >>> The Structure of I-Code
>> >>> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/The_Structure_of_I-Code
>> >>>
>> >>> decode
>> >>> http://cococoding.com/wayne/
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Coco mailing list
>> >>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> >>> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Coco mailing list
>> >> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> >> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Wayne
>> >
>> > The Structure of I-Code
>> > http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/The_Structure_of_I-Code
>> >
>> > decode
>> > http://cococoding.com/wayne/
>> >
>> > --
>> > Coco mailing list
>> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>
>> --
>> Coco mailing list
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Coco mailing list
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Wayne
>
> The Structure of I-Code
> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/The_Structure_of_I-Code
>
> decode
> http://cococoding.com/wayne/
>



-- 
Wayne

The Structure of I-Code
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/The_Structure_of_I-Code

decode
http://cococoding.com/wayne/

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