[Coco] decode 1.2.10

Wayne Campbell asa.rand at gmail.com
Mon Jun 12 15:48:34 EDT 2017 

I have corrected the two issues in decode. It seems I did not account for 0
line references correctly, and I did not account for no DSAT entries at all.

On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 6:57 AM, Wayne Campbell <asa.rand at gmail.com> wrote:

> As I was testing decode I found two more items that are broken that were
> not broken before. They are not major, but are important. The first is line
> number references. decode is supposed to account for a procedure with no
> line references, but it does not. It claims 1 reference for all procedures
> that have none, and obviously, that reference is incorrect. The second is
> more fatal. It is causing decode to end with a 67 (illegal argument) error.
> It concerns procedures that have no Description area (DSAT). Again, I
> thought I had that accounted for, but apparently it has become broken. I
> will be correcting both of those issues as part of the 1.2.10 release since
> they were not supposed to be broken to begin with. My goal is to have
> 1.2.10 devoid of any problems other than the TYPE statement issue, which I
> am still working on.
>
> My next post, when I have the data ready, will document the TYPE statement
> issue. I will be asking for help to try and determine a way to deal with
> it, though my current thinking is there's nothing that can be done about it
> due to the lack of information contained in I-Code.
>
> In a previous thread, a few years back, I had brought up an issue where
> passing a BYTE variable was not being received by the called procedure as a
> BYTE. At that time I was told that it is normal for all bytes to be
> expanded to integers when being passed as parameters. I accepted this as
> true concerning a BYTE variable being passed by value (byteVar+0), but I
> had never had problems passing the variable alone before. Well, I wrote a
> test program
> , and lo and behold, the problem is not existing anymore. I was using VCC
> back then, so I can only suspect that it has something to do with the
> DIVQ_X problem, because I can now pass a byte variable (or a byte field in
> a record) and the called procedure will receive it as a byte, not an
> integer.
>
> My test program is as follows:
>
> PROCEDURE main
> TYPE TST=path:BYTE; popen:BOOLEAN
> TYPE TST2=path1:TST
> TYPE TST3=path2:TST2
> DIM phat:TST3
>
> phat.path2.path1.popen:=FALSE
> OPEN #phat.path2.path1.path,"main.b09"
> phat.path2.path1.popen:=TRUE
>
> RUN second(phat.path2.path1.path,phat.path2.path1.popen)
> END
> PROCEDURE second
> PARAM path:BYTE; popen:BOOLEAN
> DIM path2:BYTE
>
> path2:=path
> IF popen THEN
> PRINT path
> ENDIF
> PRINT path2
> CLOSE #path
> popen:=FALSE
> END
>
> The program executes as expected and displays the path2 and path variables
> as having the same value, and there is no error when closing the file in
> the "second" procedure. This test began as two variables named path and
> popen. When that worked, I decided to see what happens with compounded
> records. Previously, the program would not get past the first level (ie, it
> would pass the address of path2, not the value of path). This time I kept
> increasing the difficulty by adding in more depth to the record. It still
> correctly passes the value of the path field.
>
> I add this to this thread only because I am so happy to see that the
> problem no longer exists. Again, I think it may have been related to the
> DIVQ_X issue in the emulator, but I don't know for certain.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 5, 2017 at 4:17 PM, Wayne Campbell <asa.rand at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> 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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