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ROPE/1401 (Ron's Own Programming Environment)


by Ron Mak, September 10, 2007
How to use the new runtime card deck input feature in v0.4:

- Remove the old ROPE1401 executable file and replace it with the attached
ROPE1401.jar file. 

- Run the attached ROPE1401.bat file from the same directory as the .jar
file, or enter the shell command:

    java -jar ROPE1401.jar

- Make sure it says "Version 0.4" in the main window's header. - Select and
assemble an Autocoder program in the EDIT window, as before.  You can try
the attached list8080.s program which lists a card deck. 

- In the EXEC window, click on the new "Program input ..." button. In the
"Program input" dialog box, click the "Browse ..." button to select the file
containing the input card deck.  Click the "OK" button.  For example, you
can select list8080.s to list its source. 

- Back in the EXEC window, click the "Restart simulator" button. Set
breakpoints, single step, etc., as before.  If the program has an R (read)
instruction, it will read card images from the input file you selected. 

- If your object deck is aaa.cd and the input deck is xxx.xx, then ROPE will
generate a file named aaa_xxx.cd which will contain the object cards
followed by the input cards.  This combined card deck is put into the card
reader for execution. 

- You can click the "Program input ..." button only when the simulator is
not running.

Runtime card input tips:

- If sense switch A (the "last card switch") is on when your program
executes an R instruction, you can do a "branch on last card" instruction
like this:

    B    DONE,A

where the branch to "DONE" is taken only if the card reader is empty (i.e.,
the last card has already been read). Note the "A" d-character.

- If sense switch A is off, then the above branch is never taken, and the
machine will immediately halt on an R instruction if the card reader is
empty.
 
- The sense switches are in the CONSOLE window (press the "Show console ..."
button in the EXEC window). The sense switches are settable only after your
program has started executing, so put in a breakpoint and press the "Start
program" button.

Enjoy!

-- Ron