4 ms·

3E 00 : I was on MSX and never had an assembler when you so I only remember the Hex, never actually knew the instructions; I wrote programs/games by data 3E,00,

3E 00 : I was on MSX and never had an assembler when you so I only remember the Hex, never actually knew the instructions; I wrote programs/games by data 3E,00,CD,etc without comments saying LD A as I never knew those at the time.

unnah 11mo ago
Umm... how did you manage to learn those hex codes? You just read a lot of machine code and it started to make sense?
- jgrahamc 11mo ago
  I started out writing machine code without an assembler and so had to hand assemble a lot of stuff. After a while you end up just knowing the common codes and can write your program directly. This was also useful because it was possible to write or modify programs directly through an interface sometimes called a "front panel" where you could change individual bytes in memory. Back in 1985 I did some hand-coding like this because I didn't have access to an assembler: https://blog.jgc.org/2013/04/how-i-coded-in-1985.html https://blog.jgc.org/2013/04/how-i-coded-in-1985.html and I typed the whole program in through the keypad.
  - stevekemp 11mo ago
    Same here. On/For the ZX Spectrum, looking up the hex-codes in the back of the orange book. At least it was spiral-bound to make it easier. Later still I'd be patching binaries to ensure their serial-checks passed, on Intel.
- kragen 11mo ago
  The instruction sets were a lot simpler at the time. The 8080 instruction set listing is only a few pages, and some of that is instructions you rarely use like RRC and DAA. The operand fields are always in the same place. My own summary of the instruction set is at https://dercuano.github.io/notes/8080-opcode-map.html#addtoc_2 https://dercuano.github.io/notes/8080-opcode-map.html#addtoc....
- amirhirsch 11mo ago
  I implemented a PDP-11 in 2007-10 and I can still read PDP-11 Octal
- af78 11mo ago
  I had a similar experience of writing machine code for Z80-based computers (Amstrad CPC) in the 90's, as a teenager. I didn't have an assembler so I manually converted mnemonics to hex. I still remember a few opcodes: CD for CALL, C9 for RET, 01 for LD BC, 21 for LD HL... Needless to say, the process was tedious and error-prone. Calculating relative jumps was a pain. So was keeping track of offsets and addresses of variables and jump targets. I tended to insert nops to avoid having to recalculate everything in case I needed to modify some code... I can't say I miss these times. I'm quite sure none of my friends knew any CPU opcode; however, people usually remembered a few phone numbers.
- senderista 11mo ago
  It wasn't unusual in the 80s to type in machine code listings to a PC; I remember doing this as an 8-year-old from magazines, but I didn't understand any of the stuff I was typing in.
- anonzzzies 11mo ago
  Typing from mags, getting interested in how the magic works by learning to use a hex monitor and trying out things. I was a kid so time enough. I didn't know you could do it differently for years after I started.

unnah 11mo ago

Umm... how did you manage to learn those hex codes? You just read a lot of machine code and it started to make sense?

jgrahamc 11mo ago
I started out writing machine code without an assembler and so had to hand assemble a lot of stuff. After a while you end up just knowing the common codes and can write your program directly. This was also useful because it was possible to write or modify programs directly through an interface sometimes called a "front panel" where you could change individual bytes in memory. Back in 1985 I did some hand-coding like this because I didn't have access to an assembler: https://blog.jgc.org/2013/04/how-i-coded-in-1985.html https://blog.jgc.org/2013/04/how-i-coded-in-1985.html and I typed the whole program in through the keypad.
- stevekemp 11mo ago
  Same here. On/For the ZX Spectrum, looking up the hex-codes in the back of the orange book. At least it was spiral-bound to make it easier. Later still I'd be patching binaries to ensure their serial-checks passed, on Intel.
kragen 11mo ago
The instruction sets were a lot simpler at the time. The 8080 instruction set listing is only a few pages, and some of that is instructions you rarely use like RRC and DAA. The operand fields are always in the same place. My own summary of the instruction set is at https://dercuano.github.io/notes/8080-opcode-map.html#addtoc_2 https://dercuano.github.io/notes/8080-opcode-map.html#addtoc....
amirhirsch 11mo ago
I implemented a PDP-11 in 2007-10 and I can still read PDP-11 Octal
af78 11mo ago
I had a similar experience of writing machine code for Z80-based computers (Amstrad CPC) in the 90's, as a teenager. I didn't have an assembler so I manually converted mnemonics to hex. I still remember a few opcodes: CD for CALL, C9 for RET, 01 for LD BC, 21 for LD HL... Needless to say, the process was tedious and error-prone. Calculating relative jumps was a pain. So was keeping track of offsets and addresses of variables and jump targets. I tended to insert nops to avoid having to recalculate everything in case I needed to modify some code... I can't say I miss these times. I'm quite sure none of my friends knew any CPU opcode; however, people usually remembered a few phone numbers.
senderista 11mo ago
It wasn't unusual in the 80s to type in machine code listings to a PC; I remember doing this as an 8-year-old from magazines, but I didn't understand any of the stuff I was typing in.
anonzzzies 11mo ago
Typing from mags, getting interested in how the magic works by learning to use a hex monitor and trying out things. I was a kid so time enough. I didn't know you could do it differently for years after I started.