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Author Topic: Enterprise programming options in 2022? (Read 11217 times)

Offline Zozosoft

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Re: Enterprise programming options in 2022?
« Reply #15 on: 2022.August.06. 19:13:44 »
Another option might be to compile for Z80 with FreePascal
This sounds interesting! Existing UNITs for Turbo Pascal 3 can be converted to Free Pascal?
« Last Edit: 2022.August.06. 19:16:55 by szipucsu »

Offline Wysardry

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Re: Enterprise programming options in 2022?
« Reply #16 on: 2022.August.06. 19:47:58 »
According to the FreePascal Wiki entry on Turbo Pascal, the compiler "provides a high level of compatibility with code written for Turbo Pascal and Borland Pascal".

Unfortunately, I didn't get any matches there when searching for "HiSoft", but Pascal dialects seem not to vary as much as BASIC dialects do.

Offline zzarko

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Re: Enterprise programming options in 2022?
« Reply #17 on: 2023.January.06. 06:38:23 »
Wysardry, geco, szipucsu: Maybe you should contact the author of TRSE:

https://lemonspawn.com/turbo-rascal-syntax-error-expected-but-begin/

TRSE is a multi-platform IDE that uses PASCAL-like language and can compile code to many retro computers. Has a very good compiler that puts out very optimized code. The author is more than willing to add support for new machines, current list is here:

https://lemonspawn.com/support-sheet/

There is an email on contact page. I do not know enough about Enterprise to be able to answer his questions (I already contacted him for some other systems), but I guess someone from here could be. Giving his previous dedication, support for Enterprise could be added probably in a week time.

Offline geco

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Re: Enterprise programming options in 2022?
« Reply #18 on: 2023.January.06. 09:30:57 »
Thx, i use only ASM, but if somebody wants to EP RASCAL also, i can help answering questions.

Offline Wysardry

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Re: Enterprise programming options in 2022?
« Reply #19 on: 2023.January.07. 22:57:21 »
I installed TRSE about a week ago, but haven't managed to find the time to try it out yet. The author seemed to think that it might be able to compile simple programs for the Enterprise using the custom platform options and that if it did he would be able to add better support fairly easily.

I've also been looking into what would be involved in adding the Enterprise as a target for FreePascal. One of the core coders at their forums seemed to think it would be possible for a beginner to do so using the documentation and the code for the other supported Z80 platforms (ZX Spectrum and MSX-DOS) as a guide.

It would be handy if the Enterprise was a target for both FreePascal and TRSE.

Does anyone know if HiSoft Pascal was ever officially released as freeware or public domain software? I've tried to contact HiSoft about obtaining it legally several times without getting a response.

Offline zzarko

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Re: Enterprise programming options in 2022?
« Reply #20 on: 2023.January.08. 18:41:26 »
Two days ago I asked TRSE author on how to compile a program for an obscure ex-Yugoslav school computer, also as a custom system. After several hours, I managed to get something to work. I showed that to him, and in the course of couple of hours he added support for that machine to TRSE (we had a lot of chat during that time) :)

Now, regarding FreePascal vs TRSE, TRSE's compiler is specifically built for old CPUs, has many optimizations for them and takes into account their limited resources. FreePascal is a general programming language for modern processors that happens to compile to Z80 too. My guess would be that TRSE's variant of Pascal would be (significantly) faster than FreePascal, at least on Z80.

Offline Wysardry

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Re: Enterprise programming options in 2022?
« Reply #21 on: 2023.January.08. 19:00:22 »
Currently, FreePascal has very few optimisations for the Z80, but they will likely be added in the future if more retro enthusiasts start to use it.

On the other hand, TRSE doesn't really support modern architectures and I would like to create programs for both modern and retro platforms.

If both FreePascal and TRSE were able to target the Enterprise, I might be able to come up with a way to create code that could be compiled using either system with minimal changes.