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Re: GCC for 6502

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Bill Buckels wrote:
> 
> Discussion of C compilers on the Apple II may be old as dirt, but Aztec
> C65
> and cc65 are more than discussion as cross-compilers go... I for one am
> happy with them... could always use some more though.
>

True. Aztec C. Now there's an interesting product. I wonder if it came too
late to the Apple II platform, or if it didn't penetrate the developer's
market enough to build a sturdy user base. We should have a lot more
user-contributed sample programs and libraries, I think, if it really had a
strong installed base.

I fiddled around last evening with the Aztec C Plus compilation, trying to
compile the p.c program that's given on page xxx in the Kernighan book on
Unix Programming Environment. No dice. Looks like the shell isn't loading
the profile file to set the correct environment paths.

Anyway that got me searching through this Usenet archive that I have and I
found this interesting little essay from early 1989:
http://macgui.com/usenet/?group=7&id=9791#msg

It's a proposal for a 16-bit C compiler for 8-bit Apples. So you'd need to
get the 65802 to run it.

Brian writes 
"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. "


Brian predicted its fate too: "Unfortunately, no product like this will come
out since not many Apple II owners have the 65C802 plugged into their
board."

-- 
]DF$
The Marina IP stack for Apple II--
http://marina.a2hq.com/

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Thread

GCC for 6502 D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2016-08-01 22:45 +0000
  Re: GCC for 6502 mmphosis <mmphosis@macgui.com> - 2016-08-02 16:11 +0000
    Re: GCC for 6502 D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2016-08-02 19:09 +0000
  Re: GCC for 6502 Michael Pohoreski <michael.pohoreski@gmail.com> - 2016-08-03 10:35 -0700
  Re: GCC for 6502 David Schmenk <dschmenk@gmail.com> - 2016-08-03 13:30 -0700
    Re: GCC for 6502 D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2016-08-03 21:24 +0000
      Re: GCC for 6502 Bill Buckels <bbuckels@escape.ca> - 2016-08-03 17:57 -0700
        Re: GCC for 6502 D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2016-08-04 17:40 +0000
          Re: GCC for 6502 handyandy802@gmail.com - 2017-07-06 12:05 -0700
  Re: GCC for 6502 D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2016-08-08 19:11 +0000

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