> But as I'am currently trying to write a source code
> that I'll use as the basis structure of all my future
> programs, I'am trying to be very accurate into cycle
> couting for each portion of the code, so I'll be able
> to say exactly how many cycles will be available for
> the Verticlal Blank or Overscan periods without care
> about all the instructions I already wrote for timer
> programming and other stuff.
I don't want to discourage you from knowing more about
your program, but you may find *always* having a tab on
how many cycles you're using--including the conditional
branches, which means you have to keep track of different
tallies....you might find it's just not worth it for the
non-kernal parts of your code. It seems to be that a
lot of coders just throw a ton of stuff into the VBLANK
time, and then IF they start running out of time, they'll
either start moving stuff into the overscan or start
inspecting their code for efficiencies. (assuming they're
not doing too much computational heavy lifting, like
"thinking" during chess...)
Every bit is sacred, and cycles are precious, but your
time as a developer is important too...I'd hate to see
1 less game out of the career of a coder because the
cycle counting got out of hand.
(There is, arguably, a lack of great tools for automatically
computing time values....It might be possible to do with
a script, add a ;3 or whatever after each instruction.)
> > actually, I don't know how big Atari was in
> France...
> Well Atari was very popular here in the golden days,
> but today I think there's just few persons interrested
> into the 2600/7800 regarding Atari's related French
> sites and the French Ebay activities. I think the 2600
> is more supported in Germany.
Ah, good to know. I know you guys have had the Minitel
somewhat-Internet like technology, I wasn't sure if you had
home grown solutions for your other types of consumer
electronics (ok, it sounds a little silly now that I think
about it, so I phrased it as a general atari marketing
question :-)
--
KirkIsrael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://kisrael.com
"Unrequited Love is like hitting your head against a wall that isn't there."
--Too Much Coffee Man
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