brianw@microsoft.UUCP (Brian Willoughby) (02/09/89)
<eat this?>
After all the questions about a C compiler for the II, I thought I would
mention the Orca/M Small C compiler which is available for their shell (which
runs under ProDOS). Although it's not full C, the source to the compiler is
included. And in C !. The compiler converts C source to Macro Assembly text
which can be munged by Orca's Assembler. This Assembler supports 6502, 65C02,
and 65C802 commands and will run on my home-built II Plus clone with a 65C802
installed.
My other compiler is Aztec C. It produces too much object code and text
output is terribly slow. The reason stems from the 6502's lack of a large
stack. 256 bytes is not enough for a high level recursive language, so the
Aztec compiler inserts code to copy the stack to a software stack of sufficient
size. This, coupled with the 8-bit nature of the 6502, requires a lot of
instructions to get anything useful done.
Since I have been looking for a more efficient C compiler, but can't seem
to find one, I started brainstorming. With the source for Small C, and an
assembler which works with a 16-bit 65C802, it should be possible to rewrite
the Assembler Macros that the compiler uses (this source is also included) to
use the 65C802 instructions. Thus the processor could access a true 64K stack,
not a software simulated stack. There would be many other benefits such as
faster manipulation of 16-bit data and smaller code.
Unfortunately, no product like this will come out since not many Apple II
owners have the 65C802 plugged into their board, and any 16-bit C compilers
will probably be GS specific (not available to me!). { By the way, JameCo
Electronics has the 65C802-4MHz for $15.95 at 1355 Shoreway Road, Belmont, CA
94002 (415) 592-8097, and it works on my clone motherboard with all software
because it powers up in 6502 emulation mode! It also works with the standard
TransWarp accelerator from Applied Engineering. I swapped out the 65C02 and
found that AE even wrote boot code to recognise a 16-bit processor!. This gives
you a 3.58MHz 16-bit machine which is totally compatible! } END PLUGs;
My proposal is this:
The only way to get a non-GS Apple II 16-bit compiler is to write it!
Inspired by Richard M. Stallman's free GNU software spirit, this is possible.
If the source for full C were available, then a 16-bit compiler could be
written using the Orca/M environment. The lack of DOS 3.3 support could be
ignored since ProDOS allows devices drivers and keeps a list of allocated
memory.
My problem...
I have been doing a lot of 65C802 programming, and I could easily make the
modifications to the assembly macros that Small C uses to build code, but I
don't know how to get source to a full C compiler. Would any fellow Apple II
owners out there like to get involved in a team project? The 65C802 is
certainly affordable by any Apple owner who doesn't already have it. All I
need is an interested person who understands compiler languages and perhaps
has a C compiler source.
Please respond by EMail to: microsoft!brianw
or uw-beaver!microsoft!brianw
This has nothing to do with my work at MicroSoft (The buggers don't even
support the Apple II !. END DISCLAIMER;