[Coco] Who needs Debuggers was: Re: Strange behavior in MESS

[Lothan]

Let us know if you remember which one it is so we can update the docs in the 
NitrOS-9 wiki.

-----Original Message----- 
From: gene heskett
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 12:27 PM
To: coco at maltedmedia.com
Subject: Re: [Coco] Who needs Debuggers was: Re: Strange behavior in MESS

On Thursday, July 07, 2011 12:13:18 PM Steve Bjork did opine:

> You need a debugger, you say?
>
> In all the games and programs that I created for the Coco, not once did
> I ever used a debugger.  Or maybe I should say, no outside debugging
> program.
>
> My games had their own OS complete with drivers, signaling and game
> status systems.  The status system was very handy for "debugging" a
> problem in the game.  But in most cases of the code "just stop working",
> I would return to the source code I just worked on and look for the
> problem there.
>
> I my opinion, debuggers are overrated and you should learn to code
> without a crutch.
>
> Steve (Mega-Bug) Bjork
> P.S. the above pun was intended

Chuckle.  The only 'crutch' I ever used was os9p4, now krn4 once I had
converted it to show the 6309 registers IF it was running on a 6309.
Without that, a utility such as "vfy", or "myram", likely would have been
several more months in gestation, and likely not as stable and bulletproof
as they now are.

Intimate familiarity with both the cpu, and the OS itself, should be the
first step in trying to write in assembler.  os9p4 disclosed that one
system call was not doing what the l2 manuals said it was, but the error,
once understood, sure made my job of using that particular call a heck of a
lot easier. IOW, the manual was wrong.

I don't recall the call itself ATM, and I would have to sit down and page
through both copies of the l2 docs I have now to find my notes and identify
it.

Cheers, gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.

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