Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!philmtl!philabs!ttidca!woodside
From: woodside@ttidca.TTI.COM (George Woodside)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Mixing C and Assembly
Message-ID: <13001@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: 4 May 90 12:42:34 GMT
References: <3140@rodan.acs.syr.edu> <11900@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu> <1716@electro.UUCP>
Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica
Lines: 27

In article <1716@electro.UUCP> ignac@electro.UUCP (Ignac Kolenko) writes:
>from experience here at electrohome, i'd say that Mark Williams C 
>has probably the most rediculous, non standard, brain dead, stupid assembler
>i've ever seen for the MC68000. nothing in it makes any sense, like how
>to make a register list, the naming conventions for labels, etc. also,
>why the hell are comments started with a bloody '/' character??? it makes
>porting of assembly files a REAL hassle. like Howard says, the object
>file format is completely proprietary, so you can't use a world class
>assembler such as MadMac (in the atari devkit) with the MWC environment.

I was a bit surprised to read this. While I haven't used it, I know that
MadMac has a switch for writing MWC compatible output. That should
eliminate most of the problems quite quickly.

I have to agree with the complaints about the MWC "as" syntax, but I
do understand the reasons. Their documentation states that the syntax
of their compilers and assemblers is common across all development
platforms. So, while it may be bizarre for any one specific machine, it
maintains the same standards for all. The '/' comment deliniator is an
obvious carryover from C syntax. Most of the assembler is designed
to be a compiler back end, not a general purpose assembler. I may find it
as clumsy as anyone else, but I do realize why it is that way.

-- 
* George R. Woodside - Citicorp/TTI - Santa Monica, CA *
* Path:       woodside@ttidca                          *
*   or:       ..!{philabs|csun|psivax}!ttidca!woodside *