[project] MSX (Z80) Pascal compiler

[Ñuño Martínez]

I don't know if there's any MSX owner here, but I decided to write a MSX Pascal compiler. That's why:

After finish a fair stable game library (Allegro.pas, test it if you didn't! ) I decided to step back to my origins: the good old MSX system. I almost forget everything about Z80 microprocessor and the MSX hardware, so I looked for information and I found some C and Pascal compilers for Z80 (Did you know there were a Turbo Pascal for MSX? Me didn't!), but that compilers where discontinued, closed and/or non-free.

So here I am with this new bizarre idea. :roll: The objective for version 1.0 is to build a compiler for simple Pascal programs, non Object Pascal, non optimized code, etc. I think I can do it because “simple Pascal” isn't too complex to parse, is it? I never did a compiler before but I did a small script interpretor and a complete math analyzer some time ago. And that wasn't so hard as it seems.

I wrote a brief description about what I want to do. If somebody else has interest or is curious about this project (retro game lovers, where are you? :mrgreen, I'll answer your questions. Any comment and suggestion will be welcome too.

[VilleK]

I don't have a MSX but I used to own a ZX-Spectrum which was a great little Z80-based computer. And I think all retro-projects like yours are really cool, so I say go for it!

[WILL]

You might want to check out 'Let's Build a Compiler' by Jack Crenshaw. I found it easy to follow and all the code is in Pascal (uses Turbo Pascal dialect for all the code examples and is 100% compatible in FPC with little or no exceptions needed)

[paul_nicholls]

You might want to check out 'Let's Build a Compiler' by Jack Crenshaw. I found it easy to follow and all the code is in Pascal (uses Turbo Pascal dialect for all the code examples and is 100% compatible in FPC with little or no exceptions needed)

LOL! You beat me to that...I was going to post that link myself as I have used it to make a scripting language 'compiler' before in the past

I second that recommendation ;-)

cheers,
Paul

[Ñuño Martínez]

Thanks for your comments

You might want to check out 'Let's Build a Compiler' by Jack Crenshaw...

I did read it some time ago. I'll keep a copy as reference for some tasks but I'll try an object oriented approach.

Now, I decided to do the compiler more generic, so it can be used with other Z80 based devices (i.e. ZX-Spectrum and several 8bit game devices). I think I'll start coding it this night.

[Ñuño Martínez]

SourceForge did accept the project, so if you have interest about it, visit it's project page and add the RSS feed to your RSS reader.

[pstudio]

Good luck with the project.

I don't know if you're aware of this website[/url], but it has a Pascal version of Lex and Yacc which you may find useful.

[Ñuño Martínez]

Thanks for the reply, pstudio. I did use Yacc some years ago and I don't like it. I know it's a great application and Free Pascal is written using it, but I don't understand most of its logic and I can't see how to write a compiler using it. I like recursive parsers as Creenshaw suggest in his articles.

[VilleK]

Coco/R saves time when writing recursive parsers. It works with a definition file just like yacc/lex, but with the great benefit that the generated code is readable and easy to debug.

http://tetzel.com/cocor/coco-r-for-delphi/

[Ñuño Martínez]

I'll study it. Thank you, VilleK.