🚀 go-pugleaf

|>
|>masticol@cadenza.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) writes:
|>: Hi,
|>: 
|>: I've met a couple of people who have attempted to write assemblers for
|>: RISC machines, who say that it's a difficult job. Can someone give me
|>: an inkling as to why?
|>: 
|>: I'm not saying that it isn't; the reason just isn't obvious to me
|>: right now.
|>: 
|>: Thanks,
|>: - Steve (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu).
|>

To give you an example,
You might want to look at gatekeeper.dec.com /pub/DEC/Alpha/assembler/
There are sources and user guide for an AlphaAxp assembler/Linker.
-done by 2 engineer in a week. 
-Written in protable C 
(meaning the source will compile on PC(GNU C),Mac(THINK C), Mips, Sun, VAX
these are the platforms that we had access to check the protability).

As one of the authors of this assembler, I can assure you that if the 
machine architecture is free from "goofy-ness", writing one is a basic 
programming excercise.
Actually, if you look at the sources you might be able to retarget it to any
other 32bit instruction size architecture.

--
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Homayoon Akhiani                               "Turning Ideas into ... Reality"
Digital Equipment Corporation                        "Alpha, The New Beginning"
77 Reed Rd. Hudson, MA 01701            "All Rights Reserved. Copyright(c)1992"
Email: akhiani@ricks.enet.dec.com     "The words are mine, and not my employer"
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