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From: minich@d.cs.okstate.edu (Robert Minich)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Device drivers : must they be written in assembler?
Message-ID: <1990Sep12.172957.8690@d.cs.okstate.edu>
Date: 12 Sep 90 17:29:57 GMT
References: <872.26ee1d0a@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Lines: 18

|Inside Mac Vol. II-6 desribes all sorts of neat stuff about device drivers, but
|also makes some sort of statement about how they are normally written in
|assembler. Is this just a dated statement, or is it still accurate? It seems
|unlikely that it wouldn't be possible to write a serial driver, say, in
|Think C. Anyone/everyone want to set me straight?

  I think the original point was probably closer to "...because device
drivers must access some low level structures, at least SOME assembly is
required..." IM I-III were written back when you had to use a Lisa to
program for the Mac and the high level language was Pascal, which
doesn't do low level things too well.
  With THINK C, you get the inline assembler which should satisfy any
need you might have wrt writing a driver. Good Luck!
-- 
|_    /| | Robert Minich            |
|\'o.O'  | Oklahoma State University| There are no heroes --
|=(___)= | minich@a.cs.okstate.edu  |   We all wear gray hats.
|   U    | - Ackphtth               |