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Ragsdale Forth assembler history

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  Ragsdale Forth assembler history "Johann Klasek - swap last two domainparts" <johann+usenet@at.klasek.invalid> - 2026-07-29 21:50 +0000
    Re: Ragsdale Forth assembler history dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> - 2026-07-30 13:18 +1000
      Re: Ragsdale Forth assembler history "Johann Klasek - swap last two domainparts" <johann+usenet@at.klasek.invalid> - 2026-07-31 11:04 +0000

#135280 — Ragsdale Forth assembler history

Hi folks,

sometimes ago (2012) I did some re-work on a 65C02 assembler derived
from the well known Ragsdale Assembler published in c't magazin,
1984/01, p. 72, "65C02 Assembler in FORTH".

The aim was to support WDC commands (not just those from Rockwell). In
addition to a number of performance improvements (which were due to
shortcomings in the Ragsdale code), several new features were
introduced: certain structure commands, as well as loop or conditional
blocks, can now (using the word `FAR') span code sections of more than
127 bytes.
Recently, in 2026, a number of further changes were made to improve
runtime performance.

https://klasek.at/forth/ also covers a number of other Forth topics,
though the main focus there is on assemblers and disassemblers.

My test environment is a C64 Forth/79 from Performance Micro Products,
but I don't think porting it would be a problem (at least on little-
endian platforms).


Happy Forth-coding

JEEK

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#135281

On 30/07/2026 7:50 am, Johann Klasek - swap last two domainparts wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> sometimes ago (2012) I did some re-work on a 65C02 assembler derived
> from the well known Ragsdale Assembler published in c't magazin,
> 1984/01, p. 72, "65C02 Assembler in FORTH".
> 
> The aim was to support WDC commands (not just those from Rockwell). In
> addition to a number of performance improvements (which were due to
> shortcomings in the Ragsdale code), several new features were
> introduced: certain structure commands, as well as loop or conditional
> blocks, can now (using the word `FAR') span code sections of more than
> 127 bytes.
> Recently, in 2026, a number of further changes were made to improve
> runtime performance.
> 
> https://klasek.at/forth/ also covers a number of other Forth topics,
> though the main focus there is on assemblers and disassemblers.
> 
> My test environment is a C64 Forth/79 from Performance Micro Products,
> but I don't think porting it would be a problem (at least on little-
> endian platforms).

Interesting.  While I left the 6502 behind long ago, I also had need to upgrade
Cassady's 8080 assembler to Z80 and again to eZ80.  I deliberately retained
Intel's mnemonics (with TDL extensions) knowing Zilog's would be an expensive
PITA for no demonstrable gain.  Indeed Zilog themselves would have preferred to
use Intel's but fearing legal action, hired a third party to devise a new set:

https://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/TDLmonitor.html

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#135287

dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 30/07/2026 7:50 am, Johann Klasek - swap last two domainparts wrote:
>> Hi folks,
>> 
>> sometimes ago (2012) I did some re-work on a 65C02 assembler derived
>> from the well known Ragsdale Assembler published in c't magazin,
>> 1984/01, p. 72, "65C02 Assembler in FORTH".
[..]
> 
> Interesting.  While I left the 6502 behind long ago, I also had need to upgrade
> Cassady's 8080 assembler to Z80 and again to eZ80.  I deliberately retained
> Intel's mnemonics (with TDL extensions) knowing Zilog's would be an expensive
> PITA for no demonstrable gain.  Indeed Zilog themselves would have preferred to
> use Intel's but fearing legal action, hired a third party to devise a new set:
> 
> https://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/TDLmonitor.html

Thank you, I wasn't aware of the TDL extensions at all. It's very
interesting to have gotten an overview of the whole thing after just a
quick glance.


JEEk

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