Commander x16 development tools

[pcman902]

Hi All
i've started work on a Commander x16 development tools enviroment. It is still work in progress and it is open for suggestions and feedback. It includes instructions and links to a lot of resources such as tutorials.

Here is the link
https://github.com/pacav69/x16devproject

[Johan Kårlin]

Projects like this are always interesting! I am not sure what your aim is but I am using cc65/ca65 and he extension that exists for VS Code is obsolete so a new one would be most welcome. The dream when we are talking about IDE:s is the possibility to debug from VS Code and see where in the source code you are and being able to see values and addresses of symbols. But I don’t know if that is even possible.

[AndyMt]

[...]
The dream when we are talking about IDE:s is the possibility to debug from VS Code and see where in the source code you are and being able to see values and addresses of symbols. But I don’t know if that is even possible.

Absolutely! Getting better VS Code integration would be fantastic! Right now it's now really great. I use it because I use VS Code a lot for other things.

[pcman902]

The aim of my project is to develop instructions and workflow, using visual studio code, compiling assembly code, run it in the emulator, debug and make corrections then repeat the process.

[pcman902]

Debugging

On the command line of the emulator you can add -debug then when running press F12 to activate and F5 to go back to basic.

here is a video on using the debugger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCLyXvt ... Spriteworx

[Johan Kårlin]

Great video! Very informative, easy to follow and understand.

What I was hoping for what that your aim was to create a more integrated experience when you use VS Code and the emulator. As you have shown, you can configure the function keys to compile your program and open the emulator, that’s all. But it is all totally ok. Tutorials and guidance are most welcome, especially when it is so well done like in your videos. So keep up your good work!

[Yazwho]

I'm working on something similar. BitMagic.

I went down the route of writing a new compiler, emulator and debugger as I couldn't see a way to do it without controlling all three parts. For example, I wanted to be able to see 'variables' defined in asm in the locals window automatically.

The compiler part can be switched for another language (eg cc65) but code will need to be written to support that, along with a better abstraction layer. Maybe at some point!

Example of loading a `.prg` into memory, which enables the breakpoints:

debuginfoondemand.gif (1005.35 KiB) Viewed 5175 times