[Coco] I need help with intermediate-level Basic09

Wayne Campbell asa.rand at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 9 20:51:19 EDT 2009


possibly through the use of low-level explanations. I have reached the point where I have done all I can do to identify everything contained in the I-Code modules. While I have the original header to Basic09, and have been able to identify the vast majority of the tokens, there are a few that defy me.

I'm including below the beginning of the document I have prepared for anyone interested in learning more about it. It is a 10K file, and that is why I'm only posting the Introduction. Email me if you are interested.

Unfortunately, I don't know if I have permission to share the header file. It is copyright protected, and I've not heard of any source-material being made available to anyone who wants it. If I can determine the legality of sharing it, I can then know if I have permission. It was provided to me, as far as I understood it, for my expressed purpose of trying to unravel the I-Code myself. I don't know if sharing it to try and answer questions, which I am not educated enough to understand, qualifies as reasonable use.

Introduction

While I have been able to decipher most of the I-Code generated by Basic09 when
it packs procedures, there are still some things I do not know how to
interpret. I am presenting this in the form of a memory module layout, so you
can understand what occurs where. This may help in determining what it means,
and how to interpret it.

Because I know so little about assembly language programming, and machine
language in general, I don't know if I am even close to what these things are, 
or what they mean. I just know they exist, and I would like to understand their 
purpose and use.

Contents

Module Header Definition          - 3 points of interest
Module Body                                - 2 points of interest
Data Storage Allocation Table  - 2 points of interest
Variable Declaration Table        - 0 points of interest

Terms

I have, over time, created some terms that help me describe some things in a 
single word, instead of a phrase, or a label phrase that, to me, makes more 
sense. I list them here:

My name/phrase                          Basic09 Header name/phrase
-----------------------------                   --------------------------
Data Storage Allocation Table   Description area
Variable Declaration Table         Symbol Table
vector                                             1 Dimensional Array
table                                               2 Dimensional Array
matrix                                             3 Dimensional Array
record                                            user-defined variable
struct                                              RECORD (TYPE)

I know that, technically, any array is a matrix. Using vector, table, and 
matrix as labels just simplifies reference to those variable types.

Wayne


      



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