What are your favourite assemblers, compilers, environments, interpreters for the good old ZX Spectrum?
+2
A:
Just programming in BASIC, the commands are right there on those rubbery keys. Now if only PC's could have key-legends with while, case, switch etc. on them :-)
tovare
2008-09-16 22:18:14
+2
A:
I used to type in hex-tables from a magazine and then a a short basic application to unpack the data into assembly code. I couldn't make heads nor tails of it for ages until I discovered I wasn't actually coding at all!
I then moved onto Z80 assembly on a College owned CP/M mini computer system. Programming the Speccy was never the same after that and I never went back!
Ray Hayes
2008-09-17 16:54:34
+4
A:
I always used to use Roybot Assembler - which had you enter your program using the BASIC editor and REM statements. It comes with a decent debugger/disassembler that lets you single-step machine code too.
The Hisoft Gens and Mons assembler and disassembler (aka Devpak) are probably fairly popular.
For high-level compiling, the Mira Modula-2 compiler is very good.
djpowell
2008-09-17 17:05:48
+2
A:
Devpac (a blue cassette) comes to my mind, even after all these years.
Sure, it was #1. I don't miss the cassette loadings, though. Nice question!!! :D
http://www.clive.nl/detail/22916/
I think I had v.3. It sure looked much more home-made than the this pic. But it worked and didn't have a single bug. Beat that, current software!!!
akauppi
2008-09-17 17:21:28
+2
A:
ZX ASM 3.0
It had the best user interface and good feature set compared to other assemblers at the end of the twentieth century.
Linulin
2008-09-17 18:45:00
A:
Well outside of GEN80, HiSoft Pascal and Hisoft C were pretty impressive. Proper high level languages, way cool. Before I learnt Z80, and was frustrated by the speed of BASIC, I also loved MCODER, though more on the ZX81 than ZX Spectrum.
Shane MacLaughlin
2008-09-27 13:57:48
A:
There are some good PC-based packages too. For Sinclair BASIC based development the excellent BASin package for Windows gives you a good syntax highlighter, runtime virtual machine, built-in editors for fonts and UDG's etc.
DamienG
2008-12-23 08:42:49
+1
A:
Zeus assembler, was the best.
I'd add a couple of the Spectrum books in there if I could remember the names, still have them at home. One was something like the Complete ROM disassembly, which was commented and described as if it was the source, a fantastic piece of reverse engineering, including a suggested bug fix for the know ROM bugs. If only flash memory had been around in those days. I also memorised a tiny book called the Z80 Workshop Manual which was a great summary of the processor.
Martin
2008-12-23 08:51:15
+3
A:
Hisoft Gens and Mons assembler and disassembler for programming/debugging.
The Artist / The Art Studio for graphics:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0007918
The Music Box for sound:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0008481
Flavius Suciu
2009-08-06 12:13:14
A:
For contemporary development, TommyGun is an excellent choice.
It has a built in assembler, map editor, graphics editor and other goodies. It also supports multiple 8-bit platforms.
It works well in conjunction with the excellent ZX Spin emulator for debugging.
Andrew Rollings
2009-12-04 15:22:46
A:
BASin, TommyGun, ConTEXT and the Pasmo cross-compiler. Works great with the ZXSpin emulator too,,
polomint
2010-05-09 21:47:33