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Kaj de Vos

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  1. Arnold van Hofwegen published a nice collection of documentation and example programs for Meta: https://language.metaproject.frl/documentation/ https://language.metaproject.frl/examples/
  2. Previous post here Good news! The Meta programming language secured its first funding for further development of the language. The development is sponsored by New York Link. The build service and tools will be developed further. The Meta compiler currently supports multiple targets: - Atari 8-bit, through the compile.com command-line tool; - Web browsers, through the web console; - Popular PC platforms, through the run.com command-line tool. While the build service is already universal, the tools are not. The compile.com tool will be extended to support multiple target platforms. You will be able to compile for PC without needing to run the resulting program. This is also a necessary preparation for releasing more target platforms for cross-compilation, such as Atari 2600. The build service will actually benefit from being less universal. We will set up an extra build server in, you guessed it, New York. This will ensure our customer will have the best latency and performance for compiling Meta programs. This is the kind of thing we can do for sponsors. If you're interested in funding your particular wishes, please contact us throught email to discuss it: https://language.metaproject.frl#contact
  3. The CC65 library stack is one of the causes, but it's not just that. CC65 derives from an old compiler design that doesn't do many optimisations. Some constructs do generate better code than others, but you have to change your program code to use those constructs. Typical C code doesn't compile very well.
  4. Chances are the source code needs a lot of tweaks to force CC65 to generate more efficient code. Not only faster, but also smaller.
  5. Made a series of improvements to the web console: https://console.metaproject.frl Layouting of long error messages is improved. Several bugs in the Meta web backend were fixed. Thanks go to iArnold from the REBOL scene for testing.
  6. List-XEX automatically adapts between command-line environments and menu-driven environments such as Atari DOS. Here it analyses itself running directly on the Atari800 emulator, without a DOS: This is treated like a menu-driven environment, because the emulator also clears the program output after it runs. Because there are no command-line parameters, List-XEX asks for the file name interactively. The emulator's H: device is used here to read the file from the disk of the host system. After the program is done, it asks for a key press to preserve the output. Some more info: On Atari, List-XEX needs 32 KB of RAM. It could run on a stocked up 800 or upgraded 400 or 600XL. While reading the input file, it uses a buffer that can buffer a full track of a double density floppy disk, to speed up operation on floppy drives without a track buffer. The program loads at address $2600 to leave room for optional extra drivers. For example, this is enough to load the FujiNet N: handler above regular Atari DOS, so List-XEX can access files on the Internet and other networks.
  7. List-XEX automatically adapts between command-line environments and menu-driven environments such as Atari DOS. Here it analyses itself running directly on the Atari800 emulator, without a DOS: This is treated like a menu-driven environment, because the emulator also clears the program output after it runs. Because there are no command-line parameters, List-XEX asks for the file name interactively. The emulator's H: device is used here to read the file from the disk of the host system. After the program is done, it asks for a key press to preserve the output. Some more info: On Atari, List-XEX needs 32 KB of RAM. It could run on a stocked up 800 or upgraded 400 or 600XL. While reading the input file, it uses a buffer that can buffer a full track of a double density floppy disk, to speed up operation on floppy drives without a track buffer. The program loads at address $2600 to leave room for optional extra drivers. For example, this is enough to load the FujiNet N: handler above regular Atari DOS, so List-XEX can access files on the Internet and other networks.
  8. Yes, I probably used Bill Wilkinson's tool in BASIC at the time, or perhaps I already made something to desegment Mac/65 files, I don't remember. In any case, it's a basic tool, that I missed in the CC65 toolchain, so I wanted it back in Meta, and it's a good next step in its evolution.
  9. It can be hard to grasp other people's motivations, but when I had an XEP80 on my Atari, it was because I wanted to see more content on the screen. For example, if you use List-XEX on a file produced by Mac/65, you would get lots of 256-byte segments. It's very useful if they don't scroll off the screen. List-XEX is a portable text-mode program, mainly for command-line environments. Colouring text mode is hard on Atari, so this is far outside the scope of List-XEX. Showing the file name is just a feedback to the user how his or her command-line parameters are interpreted. Especially because they can also be interpreted as commands.
  10. I don't know what you mean. Again, the layout is optimised and the text of the built-in help is optimised. If you mean it doesn't have to be, then yes, it doesn't have to have this feature, but it does have this feature. In the case of the file name, it gets its own line on 40 columns to allow for longer file names, for example including directory paths, or FujiNet network paths.
  11. Look closer. The leading information uses fewer lines. In a future version, I will put more info on a line, but this is the version that was frozen at the ABBUC's deadline. The previous screenshots of the built-in help have completely different layout and different text between 40 and 80 columns.
  12. Here is the portable binary version of List-XEX running on Linux, analysing the Atari binary version: Again, it automatically adapts to the larger screen, also if you have 80 colums on your Atari.
  13. Here is the portable binary version of List-XEX running on Linux, analysing the Atari binary version: Again, it automatically adapts to the larger screen, also if you have 80 colums on your Atari.
  14. Here is List-XEX analysing itself: It shows all values in decimal and hexadecimal. It recognises initialisation and run vectors and shows their addresses.
  15. Here is List-XEX analysing itself: It shows all values in decimal and hexadecimal. It recognises initialisation and run vectors and shows their addresses.
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