Going the Next Level Up

I was brought up on Turbo Pascal V3 and it is available for CP/M-80. But no, it is for the Z80 (or at least the one I tried did not work).

Okay, a C compiler would be pretty cool. First compilers of the CP/M era are generally K&R (not ansi) which means the syntax (of the function definition) is not the same as modern compilers. So every modern C program will need to be modified.

Next, many of the compilers are short integer and offer floating point as an add-on (i.e. the professional version).

Finally, you do need the documentation!

BDSC

Okay, first of the line is the free and professional version of bdsc. Looks good but it does not run under the Linux CP/M emulator I am using.

Aztec C

Looks good, works with Linux CP/M emulator and I have the documentation.

Better still the minimum package (with floating point) is:

• CC.COM
• CC.MSG
• AS.COM
• LN.COM
• C.LIB
• M.LIB
• STDIO.H
• MATH.H

Now you will need to add other libraries as you require them but the above is only 160kb.

Here is an example (under my Linux CP/M emulator):

• ./cpm cc test.c
• ./cpm as test.asm
• ./cpm ln test.o m.lib c.lib
• ./cpm test

Here is my test.c:

  #include "stdio.h"
  #include "math.h"
  main()
  {
      char buf[80];
      float r;
      printf("please enter your name: ");
      gets(buf);
      r=sqrt(1.1);
      printf("hello, %s, %f welcome to the growing community of Aztec C users\n",

     buf,r);
  }

And the Output:

  ./cpm test

  please enter your name: AlanX

  hello, AlanX, 1.048798 welcome to the growing community of Aztec C users

The only downside is that the COM file is rather large (12.4k) for such a small program, but then COM file needs to include all the libraries (i.e. static) and the 8080 is a rather primitive CPU (8 bit and no FPU).

Without floating point maths, the executable is still 8.5kb.

Yes and No

Modified makeDisk256 to read native CP/M files rather than hex files (saves a lot of work renaming files once they are on the machine.

Took a day trying to workout why the compiler did not work on the machine. I only have 32kb of RAM (less CP/M) for a 39kb executable.

Any, uploaded a precompiled test file (TEST.COM) and it works.

Only problem is when the program exits it kills my machine. Likely a problem in my CBIOS.

Here is the run:

my CP/M 2.2 V1A

A>DIR
 
A: STAT     COM : ED       COM : ASM      COM : DDT      COM
A: LOAD     COM : SUBMIT   COM : XSUB     COM : PIP      COM
A: BASIC    COM : BASIC    DOC : UNZIP    COM : TEST     BAS
A>STAT *.*

 Recs  Bytes  Ext Acc
   64     8k    1 R/W A:ASM.COM
   59     8k    1 R/W A:BASIC.COM
   51     8k    1 R/W A:BASIC.DOC
   38     6k    1 R/W A:DDT.COM
   52     8k    1 R/W A:ED.COM
   14     2k    1 R/W A:LOAD.COM
   58     8k    1 R/W A:PIP.COM
   41     6k    1 R/W A:STAT.COM
   10     2k    1 R/W A:SUBMIT.COM
    1     2k    1 R/W A:TEST.BAS
   28     4k    1 R/W A:UNZIP.COM
    6     2k    1 R/W A:XSUB.COM
Bytes Remaining On A: 180k

A>STAT DSK:

    A: Drive Characteristics
 1984: 128 Byte Record Capacity
  248: Kilobyte Drive  Capacity
  128: 32  Byte Directory Entries
    0: Checked  Directory Entries
  256: Records/ Extent
   16: Records/ Block
   16: Sectors/ Track
    4: Reserved Tracks

A>BASIC

BASIC/5 INTERACTIVE INTERPRETER    V Z1.0  10/16/77

NEW OR OLD? O
OLD PROGRAM NAME: TEST.BAS

READY
LIST
10 FOR I=1 TO 10
20 PRINT I
30 NEXT I
40 END

RUN

 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

READY
SYSTEM

A>B:

B>DIR

B: CC       COM : CC       COM : CC       MSG : AS       COM
B: LN       COM : C        LIB : C        LIB : M        LIB
B: STDIO    H   : MATH     H   : COMPILE  TXT : TEST     C  
B: TEST     COM

B>A:STAT *.*

 Recs  Bytes  Ext Acc
   52    24k    1 R/W B:AS.COM
  277    36k    2 R/W B:C.LIB
  307    40k    2 R/W B:CC.COM
   27     4k    1 R/W B:CC.MSG
    1     2k    1 R/W B:COMPILE.TXT
   54    24k    1 R/W B:LN.COM
   70    26k    1 R/W B:M.LIB
    3     2k    1 R/W B:MATH.H
   11     2k    1 R/W B:STDIO.H
    2     2k    1 R/W B:TEST.C
   97    14k    1 R/W B:TEST.COM
Bytes Remaining On B: 68k

B>DIR

B: CC       COM : CC       COM : CC       MSG : AS       COM
B: LN       COM : C        LIB : C        LIB : M        LIB
B: STDIO    H   : MATH     H   : COMPILE  TXT : TEST     C  

B>TYPE COMPILE.TXT
 
cc test.c
as test.asm
ln test.o m.lib c.lib
test

B>TYPE TEST.C

#include "stdio.h"
#include "math.h"
main()
{
    char buf[80];
    float r;
    printf("please enter your name: ");
    gets(buf);
    r=sqrt(1.1);
    printf("hello, %s, %f welcome to the growing community of Aztec C users\n", buf,r);
}

B>TEST

please enter your name: AlanX
hello, AlanX, 1.048798 welcome to the growing community of Aztec C users

my CP/M 2.2 V1A

my CP/M 2.2 V1A

my CP/M 2.2 V1A

[and it continues]

AlanX