Re: Point me to the FAQ please...

[rubywand@swbell.net]

Jon Mines wrote:
> 
> I have recently started to get into some assembly for the 65816.  I'm
> looking for a FAQ for this newsgroup and related Apple IIgs things.
> 


     A few months ago, a Commodore 64/128 user was asking about the same
thing. (Some C-64/128 vendor is producing a new 65C816 accelerator
board.)  Evidently, the closest thing to a "65C816 group" is the
programmer sub-group of comp.sys.apple2.

     Two good text resources are 65816/65802 Assembly Language Programing
by Fischer (from Osborne McGraw-Hill) and a similar book by Eyes &
Lichty. These books document 65C816 code, along with programming
examples. French's book is a bit better organized; the Eyes & Lichty book
has more Apple-specific examples.

     In any case, the main barrier to useful 65C816 programming on the
IIgs is not assembly language. It is the IIgs collection of system
firmware and add-on software called the "Toolbox".

     Since the GS Operating System employs toolbox calls, the programmer
must have some facility with the Toolbox in order to write 'serious' GS
applications whether or not he/she wishes to take advantage of Toolbox
resources.

     The Toolbox is a set of routines for doing both simple and complex 
tasks. It can be very handy. On the other hand, it is 'something else to 
learn', a fairly extensive 'something else'. The Toolbox Reference 
volumes are a great help.

     A programmer can reduce problems of interfacing with GS hardware,
firmware, and system software by using an assembly language system with a
nice set of library routines and lots of documentation. Getting ORCA/M
from ByteWorks is a good start.
  

Rubywand