GEAR is very nice·· I'm using it often now.· Today I found my first bug (in my code)·using it.· Great work so far.· Here are a couple suggestions that I think would make it even better.·
1) Ability to search Main Memory for specific bytes or byte sequences
- OR -
·Ability to copy main memory map to the clipboard·(so you can search it in another program)
2) Cog writes to Main Memory (via Byte[noparse][[/noparse]@variable] for instance) do not seem to update main memory, or I'm just not looking in the correct place.· It would be nice if the last main memory read/write were highlighted or something to make them easier to find.·
3) There should be some way to manually set the Ina port to high so they can be read by the cogs.· At this point they are always low (unless set in code),· so you cannot simulate external input.· In saying that I realize that you could just but some testing code in another cog for most operations, still it would be nice to be able to click a pin and set its state as if an external circuit was there.
I've already found a number of show-stopper bugs using GEAR, which is why I've made the changes that I've made. I must admit, I haven't seen Asterick on the forum for several months now - so I'm not sure if he's still using the prop (btw has anybody seen Chris Biffle lately?).
Re you points:
1) I can see how this would be handy.
2) The biggest problem with memory is that it doens't always seem to update while you're watching it. I've on occasion found that I need to scroll-down scroll-up to see an updated memory location - I think. (Or was that the time my pointers were funny and I was busy overwriting code).
3) This is what the plugins are for. Having said that Asterick was the GEAR plugin guru. I haven't used the existing plugins at all. Your idea of using another cog is probably not a bad one.
When I get a little more free time I'll probably make some more enhancements to GEAR. I've thought it would be nice to have a breakpoint set on a pin change, or on a memory location change.
I think he's been busy. Google Forth and Propeller finds that he won't even come to a local forth group to brag/talk about PropellerForth. Messages on his blog suggest that he has let inquiries about PropForth go unanswered.
OOOO, break points, now that would be the cat's meow.· BTW, mirror, is the source code released?· I can write plugins too.· All I have right now is the exe.· I suppose I could reverse engineer.
OOOO, break points, now that would be the cat's meow.· BTW, mirror, is the source code released?· I can write plugins too.· All I have right now is the exe.· I suppose I could reverse engineer.
The source code of the original GEAR is available. As to the break points, I've already added breakpoints for Spin and assembly (only 1 breakpoint per cog though). Just grab the EXE that's attached to the most recent post in this thread where I left an attachment (Posted on 23 May 2007). It also allows you to select decimal vs hexadecimal in the Spin dissassembly, as well as my take on shorter Spin opcodes. The shorter opcodes read a bit like forth: @ = fetch, ·! = store,· # = literal. In·fact the whole Spin-bytecode concept is·very forth'ish.
See what you think, then let me know if you're interested in my·variation of the source code. As I said in an earlier post, I haven't seen a post·from Asterick in a while. Also, I haven't seen GEAR source code contributions from anyone else, so (unofficially) I sort of feel like I've inherited the "current-maintainer" status for·GEAR.
Comments
Re you points:
1) I can see how this would be handy.
2) The biggest problem with memory is that it doens't always seem to update while you're watching it. I've on occasion found that I need to scroll-down scroll-up to see an updated memory location - I think. (Or was that the time my pointers were funny and I was busy overwriting code).
3) This is what the plugins are for. Having said that Asterick was the GEAR plugin guru. I haven't used the existing plugins at all. Your idea of using another cog is probably not a bad one.
When I get a little more free time I'll probably make some more enhancements to GEAR. I've thought it would be nice to have a breakpoint set on a pin change, or on a memory location change.
·
I think he's been busy. Google Forth and Propeller finds that he won't even come to a local forth group to brag/talk about PropellerForth. Messages on his blog suggest that he has let inquiries about PropForth go unanswered.
See what you think, then let me know if you're interested in my·variation of the source code. As I said in an earlier post, I haven't seen a post·from Asterick in a while. Also, I haven't seen GEAR source code contributions from anyone else, so (unofficially) I sort of feel like I've inherited the "current-maintainer" status for·GEAR.