Beginner's guide

[GeorgeM]

Hello, I have a good knowledge of the C programming language. Unfortunately, I don't know assembly language. I want to make a demonstration in C programming language. I have read several documents on this subject . Do you have any recommendations on how to do a demonstration in C programming language? Or should I not try to do the demonstration using C programming language? As a result, I will have to write an assembly program. It may be difficult for me to learn z80 assembler at this age. Looking forward to your advice.

[McArti0]

https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Category:C

pay attention to CPCtelera if you want to see the effect quickly.
But if you want to get tired of working with CPC hardware, read CPCwiki.

ps. have you ever written code for a cpu around 0.3-0.5 MIPS ? :-D

[HAL6128]

Some coders here around have made some good demos in C (Z88DK or SDCC in conjunction with assembler I assume) e.g. Productions - NoRecess (weebly.com).
If you want to kick the shit out of your CPC or program time critical processes you definitely need assembler.
CPCtelera is worth to have a look but still need assembler knowledge or know a CPC.

[eto]

,,At this age"? 

See it as a challenge. I also started learning assembler 2 years ago ;-)

[Anthony Flack]

Honestly I think figuring out Z80 ASM might be easier than figuring out CPCTelera. Well ok, I haven't tried figuring out CPCTelera but learning Z80 ASM is not difficult - because there aren't many instructions to learn - and at least that way you know exactly what the CPU is up to, and when you debug, the code you see running is the same code you wrote.

My advice would be to fire up WinAPE and try running a few really simply ASM routines (like filling the screen memory with a particular byte value for instance) and calling from BASIC to get a feel for things.

[McArti0]

assembler is like C with 98% of the pages in the documentation ripped out and that never were.

[asertus]

Honestly I think figuring out Z80 ASM might be easier than figuring out CPCTelera. Well ok, I haven't tried figuring out CPCTelera but learning Z80 ASM is not difficult - because there aren't many instructions to learn - and at least that way you know exactly what the CPU is up to, and when you debug, the code you see running is the same code you wrote.

My advice would be to fire up WinAPE and try running a few really simply ASM routines (like filling the screen memory with a particular byte value for instance) and calling from BASIC to get a feel for things.

Actually, cpctelera is just a lot of already implemented functions, in both C and assembler, plus some helpful scripts. For starter it is good even to develop in assembler, for example if you do not want to deal with sprite drawing or music integration, while having full freedom for your own asm code..

[Anthony Flack]

Fair enough, I tend to prefer to just write my own because I'm too lazy to figure out somebody else's code. Anyways, Z80 ASM isn't hard to learn; I picked it up in no time. The main thing I reckon is to be thinking in terms of simple 8 bit boolean operations rather than the maths you would use in a higher-level language.