I owned the Z80 Rodnay Zaks book way back when and thought it excellent. (I used to program the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.)

I'd go for the Zaks books.

If you want to play with Z80 code, download one of the ZX Spectrum emulators out there; they're one of the few legal emulators available since Amstrad placed the Spectrum ROMs into the Public Domain. It's also a fun machine to program for and very easy to wrap your head around, as there wasn't any custom hardware. (Surprisingly, the Spectrum ROMs were open source; it was possible to buy a book with a complete, annotated disassembly listing of the ROM. I suspect it may be available online now, along with other documentation.)

If possible, use a cross-assembler, such as one of the GNU family. If you're feeling masochistic, you could use the apps I used and code directly on the Spectrum with the Picturesque or HiSoft assemblers, but this can be very frustrating.

*

As for BASIC, this isn't a 'standardised' language like C or C++: there are as many "flavours" of BASIC as there are flavours of soft drink. Frankly, you may as well wait for the XGS to be released and use the users guide in that.

If you're desperate, try something like DarkBasic or Blitz Basic. (I'm sure others will tell you which one of the two to go for; I've not used either, so can't recommend a specific flavour.)

Note that Microsoft BASIC--assuming there's a book for it still in print--was quite popular in the early '80s, but had minimal support for graphics at best, since graphics were platform-specific.

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Sean Timarco Baggaley



[edited by - stimarco on November 14, 2003 8:21:19 PM]

the XGS is going to use an ARM processor right?

quote:Original post by sagwagon

As for BASIC, this isn''t a ''standardised'' language like C or C++

People sure are posting alot of CRAP around here; doesn''t anyone check their facts before spouting off like they know something?

ANSI Standard for Minimal BASIC (ANSI X3.60-1978 "FOR MINIMAL BASIC")
ISO Standard for Minimal BASIC (ISO/IEC 6373:1984 "DATA PROCESSING -

The toughest thing about learning/using basic is how much it ties your hands behind your back so you can''t do anything.

I find it easier to recommend implementations of BASIC that actually exist in the real world and are readily available.

Those Minimal Standards docs (written in 1978 and 1984, in case you missed it) are utterly irrelevant today; they talk about practices such as making line numbers optional.

In case you hadn''t noticed, we have moved on a tad since then.


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Sean Timarco Baggaley