Hextool



            All the way from Norway comes this

            version of a standard utility, but

           with some very useful extra features.

                   Bob Brown explains...



I've seen many Hex to Dec and vice versa conversions but

so far no math in Hex. As I'm beginning to work in machine

code, I Decided I needed something like that, so I made up

this prog.

   I've found that it has already come in very handy for

me, especially in attempting to read published machine code

listings. It helps me to understand what is happening to

be able to go back and forth between Hex numbers and Dec

numbers easily.

   I use common Hex to Dec, Dec to Hex algorithms and built

on them.

  I started out with five separate progs, then Decided to

make them into one listing. The listing is very compart-

mentalised, and will easily lend itself to being broken

back down into the five original separate progs.

   It is all menu controlled. (I like that expression,

"menu controlled"... aren't almost all of us... a nice

salad, a slab of roast beef, mashed potatoes... enough of

that for a man on a diet!) The prog is also Aborted from

the menu and one is given a second chance before the final

Abort. I've put in an option to hard copy the menu, but I

don't think it would be used much, as one always can return

to menu after each operation.

   But, if one finds he needs to save memory, a hard copy

of menu can be made. Then change menu control number 1 thru

5 to letter variables and use only the letters in menu

display. The following changes will also save memory space.

   Change line 8820 to "M returns menu" and delete lines

8830 thru 8870: change line 9630 to read "M returns menu"

and delete lines 9640/50: delete all REMs. Delete the

complete SAVE/VERIFY routine and enter manually when

needed. Those changes should save a bit of memory space,

but at present, I like it the way it is.



 Chummy



I've made the prog very friendly, I believe. If the cues

are followed it will work fine. But I must caution, the

cues must be followed.

   I used the results of M$ both as a control for the menu

and as a flag for the various operations in the conversion

sections.

   As mentioned earlier, there is an automatic SAVE-VERIFY-

RUN routine. Once it is loaded with 'Hextool' it will RUN

itself.

   In Line 9110, type in "12 spaces, Extended Mode, Caps

Shift 4, MENU, Extended Mode, Caps Shift 0" (not the

commas). In line 9930 go to Extended/Caps 2 just before

"don't" and Extended/Caps 0 just after "forget".

   In the math mode, the ADD and SUB routines will probably

be used the most, especially in jump routines. In such a

listing as:



   7E9A  18A3  JR -5Dh



one would first find Dec equiv. of -A3, equal to -93

(M-2 mode), then the Hex equiv. of 93, equal to 5Dh and

prefix a -.

   Of course an assembler program would probably do all

that automatically, but I personally like to know exactly

what is happening so eventually I'll have a solid under-

standing of the intricacies of a process.

   I'm glad I worked with it for a while, as a wee bug

insidiously crept into the works between the lines and was

merrily laying its eggs. But the problem wasn't what I had

originally believed it to be. I had merged the hextool with

a hexload prog which contained a "DIM a$(2)" line.

   When I tried to load a number into line 9350, which has

the variable string a$, the last two digits of the number

were truncated. It appears that I had set up a "conflict of

interest" between the two programs. One must watch when

merging one prog with another to be certain that there are

no conflicts between assigned variables. I've never seen

that detail listed in anything I've read, so I thought I'd

mention it. In hindsight it is obvious, but if one doesn't

think of it beforehand, some weird results can emerge.

   I like the "PRINT #1" routine to put cues into the edit

lines, and have used these in the prog.

  I get more fun out of trying to program than playing

games, so this type of thing suits me. I hope the prog will

be of use to a lot of novice programmers such as myself.

   That's all, happy programming!