Programming Manual

orac · Post by **orac** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:28 pm

Hi Everyone,

Am I the first to see that Western Design has put-up a programming manual for the 6502/65816?

http://www.westerndesigncenter.com/

Look at the bottom right hand corner of the main page.

Way cool.

Cheers,

Paul

GARTHWILSON · Post by **GARTHWILSON** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:12 pm

That's the one I've been trying to promote here for years. It's excellent, but I guess the high price they were asking for the paper version kept people from buying it, which I'm sure also kept people from using WDC products. It looks like my paper version is a later revision than the online version. Hmmm... I'll have to talk to them about that. See my post at http://www.6502.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3580#3580 . I'm glad it's online now though!! Take advantage of it!! No 6502/c02/816 programmer should be without it.

debounce · Post by **debounce** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:32 am

Thanks for both those links. Garth, earlier you said:

GARTHWILSON wrote:

It's kind of expensive at $60 or so, but indispensable for anyone serious at this game. (#2915)

I looked on WDC's order forms but couldn't find any literature offered in that price range.
Do you still consider the printed copy essential, over and above the PDF plus the differences you kindly list in #3580, and if so do you know the order number?

Greg

GARTHWILSON · Post by **GARTHWILSON** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 10:22 pm

The paper copy is always nice for making your own notes, highlighting, and underlining in, and stick your Post-It markers in, but I suppose you could either print your own copy or have Kinko's do it for less than WDC was charging if you decide you want it. I have not had a chance to contact WDC yet about the version. Regardless, I would widely recommed reading through what's available online, and not just using it as a reference. Start at the beginning and read through. Most people on this forum can probably skim Part I. Even Part II will go fast but does touch on pipelining and why certain things are the way they are on the 6502 in order to get surprising levels of performance. Part III, while still easy, gets you into the 65816 and opens up new worlds. It's really the most important part to learning the 65816. You might not have any reason to read Part IV (applications) initially. I have not looked at it much. The Instruction Sets section is indispensable, but normally reference and not the kind of thing you just sit down and read from beginning to end. It does devote a whole page to each instruction, clearly explaining the details. Appendix C has the additional Rockwell 65c02 instructions which are now also part of every WDC 65c02 (in addition to STZ, TSB, and other new instructions and addressing modes that weren't available on the NMOS 6502). There's more than I'm mentioning here of course. I highly recommend it.

debounce · Post by **debounce** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 12:33 am

GARTHWILSON wrote:

The paper copy is always nice for making your own notes, highlighting, and underlining in, and stick your Post-It markers in

PDF will do all these things

Plus, the file is searchable.
My query was more about the latest additions rather than the pros and cons of treeware. Inevitably, much of the material is familiar, the '816 details are revealing as I had concentrated on the original '02.

Useful as it may be, I couldn't justify printing my own copy when a newer version is out there (somewhere). As the UK doesn't have Kinko's, for a document like that, you would take it to a Kall Kwik (a print shop) and have it bound as well. Hardly any internet cafes where I live, and the few places there are sometimes shoestring firms that don't take kindly to 500pp print jobs...

Greg