[Coco] Noob 6809 ASM programmer looking for tips

[Mark McDougall]

On 25/12/2015 6:03 AM, ricspam at mpc.com.br wrote:

> Now I'd like to develop a couple of games for the Coco, and I want (and probably
> need) do it in assembly. So, any tips from experts such as you guys are really
> welcomed!

I'll throw my $0.02 in though I suspect the mainstream won't agree with me.

For books, I never really liked Leventhal (sp?) and prefer Zaks (Sybex). 
If you're fluent in other assemblers you'll likely need nothing more 
than a reference anyway. Ditto for any Coco books; the GIME data sheet 
and source listings of example code should suffice - _if_ you've coded 
for other platforms.

As for assembler, I use ASXXX because I develop for multiple 8/16-bit 
CPU's and like the fact that I can use the same syntax for all of them.

My build environment is command-line make (or simple scripts) and my 
text editor of choice (everyone has their own favourite, I won't bore 
you with mine).

My test environment includes file2dsk for the Coco to produce a DSK 
image before launching MESS.

There's no integrated IDE or turnkey build-and-run with a mouse click, 
but I've tended to always roll my own tools anyway. And once you've set 
it all up, it's easier to customise, and easier and more portable from 
host to host and into version control software for example. You can also 
archive the entire development environment for each project in a single 
archive that doesn't require installation, registry settings, etc etc.

Regards,

-- 
|              Mark McDougall              | "Electrical Engineers do it
|  <http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug> |   with less resistance!"