I am a fan of C, C++, C#, Pascal. Not done much with python, but eventually maybe.
But, assembler in stand alone microelectronics projects are a must I think. Smaller devices can be used, smaller memory but cheaper costs. I maintained a projects over 10 years in an 8k device and never passed 1.5k, even after adding extra features. You learn the best way to fit things, get the most speed, learn what the processor can and can’t do. Another skill you learn is reading a datasheet, when i started also that the datasheet may tell you about features they removed from the chip and forgot to remove from the datasheet, lol.
I always find a bit of code in assembly language improves my mojo, the thrill of getting it to do the thing I had in my head, nothing beats it. I used to be able to visualise the code in my head and run it until I thought it would work, then I’d commit it to the machine and see if it was right. Not so much these days, as I learnt more over the years, but still it makes me happy to see code running and working as I expected it to do.
Huge project for a beginner
I once did a project, it was my second project for the company, after I’d sorted out a project started by someone else, that had hit a road block. I rewrote it from scratch, got the hardware changed and got it to work. So they moved me onto my next project. It was a programmer for CPLD’s. I was more than one programmer, not sure what they were thinking getting one person to write the code for such a huge task. I did it anyway, but it took a lot longer than they expected and they never got that it was a multi person project.
It involved writing code in C, for Linux, Windows, AT89, AT90S8515. The code had to work on all of them. The same code. So my first problem was making sure the C code would fit in the 8k processor, it was always in my mind. The Linux and Windows code used a Parallel port dongle to write the code to the CPLD, which I did first. Starting on Windows. All the time trying to write the code as compact as I could. I learnt a lot, both in programming terms, processor terms and how not to manage a large project like this without taking into account the scope.
I was a beginner like everyone else back then, at the time Atmel only had about 3 AVR chips ready to use, and honestly even those were not fully working yet.
Hobby coder
I started out owning a Sinclair zx81. It had 1k, I later upgraded it to 16k with a Memotech ram pack, so I never had any of the ram pack wobbles everyone else moaned about. The 1k machine though soon showed me I needed to learn assembler language, was only about 600 bytes to play with, the screen taking the rest. So I started learning and became quite good at making little 1k games, never published them back then, all lost now, wish I could remember them and relive the experience, but I was 13 and who knows what I did with them. Once I got 16k I turned to more and more BASIC programming.
My next machine was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k, whoa, all that extra space. Wrote a lot of games on that, have one listing and a disassembly of my first attempts at a game in assembly language. Futurenoids, later to be started in PC assembler, C, Pascal and more. Never did finish it, but it was always a personal project I used to learn not complete, maybe one day. I also got far into a Fruit machine game.
I enjoyed getting performance out of slower speed processors. z80 was my starting point at 3.5mhz. I never did 6502 stuff, but have a c64 clone and hope to get into that soon. I’m on the look out for 6809 things. I’m looking at creating some games on these systems, there are a lot of people getting back into this stuff and I’m one of them. Its easier these days with the way you can code on the PC, emulate on the PC, and then test on the original machine. Saving the games via the PC’s audio sockets.
Modern world
Modern things are ok, but the satisfaction of getting an old retro chip to do things that people say is impossible in a small micro outlasts any other tasks. The experience gained and the knowledge cannot be underestimated. Not that I won’t be doing modern things too. Using my own rules, rules have ruined the fun. I have been a professional coder, it wasn’t the same as doing things as you like, as you want. Breaking the rules is fun. I like doing my own thing, I like writing my own code, every project is a learning experience, I write all the code, try not to just use an include of other peoples stuff and say that will do, unless I’m trying out something and need to be sure its working before I start something new.
So that is what I intend to do with Bryish. Bryan ish, as maybe there will be more than me working on things in the future, who knows. I prefer B-sys though as a name now. Its a journey. I have a million ideas and only one me. Time will tell how this will all work out.
I’ve bored you enough today. Will try and post more regular from now on. This may seem a bit of a ramble. Dyslexic and maybe a bit ADHD, so..
PS. This is my sole thing now, as I am no longer employed.