2018-09-28 17:05:11 +00:00
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<title>Code Generation & Assembly - 6502bench SourceGen</title>
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<h1>6502bench SourceGen: Code Generation & Assembly</h1>
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<p><a href="index.html">Back to index</a></p>
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<p>SourceGen can generate an assembly source file that, when fed into
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the target assembler, will recreate the original data file exactly.
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Every assembler is different, so support must be added to SourceGen
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for each.</p>
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<p>The generation / assembly dialog can be opened with File > Assemble.</p>
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<h2><a name="supported">Supported Assemblers</a></h2>
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<p>SourceGen currently supports the following cross-assemblers:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="https://cc65.github.io/">cc65</a> v2.17 or later</li>
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<li><a href="https://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/crossdevtools/merlin/">Merlin 32</a> v1.0.0 or later</li>
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</ul>
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<h3><a name="version">Version-Specific Code Generation</a></h3>
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<p>Code generation must be tailored to the specific version of the
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assembler. This is most easily understood with an example.</p>
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<p>If you write <code>MVN $01,$02</code>, the assembler is expected to output
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<code>54 02 01</code>, with the arguments reversed. cc65 v2.17 doesn't
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do that; this is a bug that was fixed in a later version. So if you're
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generating code for v2.17, you want to create source code with the
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arguments the wrong way around.</p>
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<p>Having version-dependent source code is a bad idea, so SourceGen
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just outputs raw hex bytes for MVN/MVP instructions. This yields the
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correct code for all versions of the assembler, but is ugly and
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annoying. So we want to output actual MVN/MVP instructions when producing
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code for newer versions of the assembler.</p>
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<p>When you configure a cross-assembler, SourceGen executes it and
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extracts the version information from the command-line output stream.
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This is used by the generator to ensure that the output will compile.
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If no assembler is configured, SourceGen will produce code optimized
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for the latest version of the assembler.</p>
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<h2><a name="generate">Generating Source Code</a></h2>
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<p>Cross assemblers tend to generate additional files, either compiler
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intermediaries ("file.o") or metadata ("_FileInformation.txt"). Some
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generators may produce multiple source files, perhaps a link script or
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symbol definition header to go with the assembly source. To avoid
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spreading files across the filesystem, SourceGen does all of its work
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in the same directory where the project lives. Before you can generate
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code, you have to have given your project a name by saving it.</p>
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<p>The Generate and Assemble dialog has a drop-down list near the top
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that lets you pick which assembler to target. The name of the assembler
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will be shown with the detected version number. If the assembler
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executable isn't configured, "[latest version]" will be shown instead
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of a version number.</p>
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<p>The Settings button will take you directly to the assembler configuration
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tab in the application settings dialog.
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<p>Hit the Generate button to generate the source code into a file on disk.
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The file will use the project name, with the ".dis65" replaced by
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"_<assembler>.S".</p>
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<p>The first 64KiB of each generated file will be shown in the preview
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window. If multiple files were generated, you can use the "preview file"
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drop-down to select between them. Line numbers are
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prepended to each line to make it easier to track down errors.</p>
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<h3><a name="localizer">Label Localizer</a></h3>
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<p>The label localizer is an optional feature that automatically converts
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some labels to an assembler-specific less-than-global label format. Local
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labels may be reusable (e.g. using "]LOOP" for multiple consecutive
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loops is easier to understand than giving each one a unique label) or
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reduce the size of a generated link table. There are usually restrictions
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on local labels, e.g. references to them may not be allowed to cross a
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global label definition, which the localizer factors in automatically.</p>
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<p>The localizer is somewhat experimental at this time, and can be
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disabled from the
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<a href="settings.html#app-settings">application settings</a>.</p>
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<h2><a name="assemble">Cross-Assembling Generated Code</a></h2>
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<p>After generating sources, if you have a cross-assembler executable
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configured, you can run it by clicking the "Run Assembler" button. The
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command-line output will be displayed, with stdout and stderr separated.
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(I'd prefer them to be interleaved, but that's not what the system
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provides.)</p>
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<p>The output will show the assembler's exit code, which will be zero
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on success (note: sometimes they lie.) If it appeared to succeed,
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SourceGen will then compare the assembler's output to the original file,
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and report any differences.</p>
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<p>Failures here may be due to bugs in the cross-assembler or in
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SourceGen. However, SourceGen can generally work around assembler bugs,
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so any failure is an opportunity for improvement.</p>
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2018-09-28 17:05:11 +00:00
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