From: healyzh at
aracnet.com
To: cctalk at
classiccmp.org
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 16:45:09 -0800
Subject: Re: Sources for 8b TTL keyboards (Keytronics)
I'm curious as to why one would do that? Is
it really quicker to
design, implement, test, maintain, support something on your own rather
than use a pretested application/utility?
Jim
At times, yes. Can you guess what I'm doing this week? :-(
Sometimes there are real advantages to rolling your own. You know what it
does, you have full control over the data, and if you're a good enough
programmer, it does exactly what you want. Other times the reasons boil
down to $$$'s.
Zane
Hi
I often write my own assemblers. These are quite easy to write
so it usually means a few days looking at the data books and one
or two evenings to write the assembler.
Of course, I've written a few so it is mostly just modifying
previous code. I write it in Forth so it is by nature it's a macro
assembler.
Over the years, I've gotten used to using single pass assemblers
so it keeps them simple. Once one realizes that one doesn't have
to write code in the same order as the memory in the system,
the need for multipass goes away. Add a few macros to deal
with flow structures ( like if else then ) and one can create
good code.
The reason I'd do this rather than use the manufactures
assembler is that theirs rarely has the quality of macros
I can create and requires a lot of extra learning. While
I'm writing the assembler, I get to understand better
things like the addressing modes that I'd have had to learn
anyway.
The last thing is that in many cases, the manufactures assembler
only runs in windows with a mouse. I like to script things.
I like to combine various elements of file management and
revision maintainance in the scripts with my assembly.
This is a pain to do with a mouse as my input. It also
seems that most every tool I've used from vendors always
has some limitations or bug that I have to find a way
to work around.
Dwight
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