Skeleton for embedding test snippets (16-bit bootable/DOS)

[~]

Skeleton Application for Embedding Test Snippets (COM, 16-bit bootable/DOS version)


To efficiently develop and run functions, we need a skeleton boilerplate application that is empty and which we can use to embed the test, debug-grade code.

Whether we use a C/C++ compiler or an assembler, we will equally need to develop first a portable skeleton application that is simple and generic as to be used as a simple entry point to be converted into a binary executable file and which then will ship any function we want to try out.

It needs to have cross-platform portability for software and hardware so that our snippets can also benefit from such portability and be ported equally easily from a text console, to a Windows' window and/or DirectX surface, to a JavaScript/HTML5 application.

Here we will optimize the different parts of a COM executable skeleton so that they also provide hardware/software/OS/library platform-independent structures.

We use the logic of:
- Specific raw functional modules (like specific, fully-defined tricks for a particular individual case).
- Module-selecting subsystem.
- Usable-module-detection subsystem.

[Ycep]

Wut? ...is that?
I don't understand.

[iansjack]

Are forum posts really the most efficient way of disseminating this information? Would they not serve their purpose better in the Wiki? As it is they seem, to me, to create a lot of noise in the system. I am seriously thinking of putting you in my "foes" list so that I don't see any of your posts in future.

On another matter, I think you do yourself a great disservice by constantly advertising how inadequate your web site is. If you are not able to run a decent site why not do the sensible thing and get it properly hosted?

[Octacone]

Can somebody please explain what is going on?

[alexfru]

Does not compute.

[~]

Here you can see how the core skeleton program has been typed (so far it's just a file for the DOS version):
http://archive.org/download/App_Skeleto ... n.asm.html


Current source/documentation/binary:
http://archive.org/download/App_Skeleto ... rceDoc.zip
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________


This is the base for a COM executable that is capable to contain platform-independent assembly language and library code. I will use it for tests that I can make fit into 64K, like learning about using VESA graphics portably, the keyboard, load on-disk images, etc.

I need to make MZ EXE, PE EXE and other program skeletons fully written in assembly, normally without involving a linker or compiler, just an assembler and the information about file formats/loaders.

Over time as I need it I will add more functions like command-line interpretation (normally I really need real-world problems to solve to make it easy to sustain a proper development, so I can have real samples I can process a solution against).

[max]

Stop spamming the forum with your bullshit.

Nobody wants and needs this kind of information in this forum and I seriously think the moderators should ban you.

[matt11235]

~snip~

archive.org is not your personal dumping ground.

[glauxosdever]

Hi,

(COM, 16-bit bootable/DOS version)

It needs to have cross-platform portability

Stop contracting yourself.

Why do moderators still allow him to post? I'd like an explanation from their part.


Regards,
glauxosdever

[onlyonemac]

More crap from ~, I see. I bet his namesake is as much of a mess as his forum posts (as evidenced by the disorganisation of his "server" - let's not mention how unreliable it is).

@~: Please stop misusing archive.org: it's not a file-sharing platform and your personal crapware is not "digital artefacts" that need to be preserved for future generations, no matter how important you think it is. Either keep it on your own server or get cloud storage to share links from.

[onlyonemac]

Why do moderators still allow him to post? I'd like an explanation from their part.

Good question. I'd guess it's because he posts slightly relevant stuff and occasionally says something on-topic in other people's threads. I still think he should be moderated though based on how many occurrences of the words "DOS", "16-bit", or "Windows 9x" there are in his posts.

[onlyonemac]

Commentary on the first few paragraphs of his server's main README file:

This website must have a structure such that it's ready to be compiled into our Operating System, and such that it's easy to include as little code as possible. We will need to create ordinal index text files and index source code files to create from the tiniest to the fullest system.

Yes, let's compile a website into an operating system. What does that even mean? Increasing the size of the operating system by including a local mirror of a disorganised pile of meaningless crap? Sure it's easy to include as little code as possible - let's just... not include any code! (That was really easy, and that is the absolute smallest amount of code possible.) I don't even know what the last sentence means.

It must be able to compile even if it's fully casual in terms of the style of the code written, the documentation, and the overall directory structure. It would be like an OS distribution from which it's extremely easy to learn from.

I'm going to assume that "casual in terms of the style of the code written" refers to whitespacing, not to the actual code, in which case that's what preprocessors are for (if the latter, then by basic laws of computing that's not a suitable way to write code because it's impossible for a machine like a computer to understand). What the second sentence means, I have no idea.

It will be like a set of full education courses, real world programs to compile and use as portable programs, a generic history of all of our activities, user help files and redundant pointers but preferably inclusions of full external resources containing only what we have exactly used in practice, all in one same place.

I think this is trying to be a description of his server. I'm a bit concerned about the redundant pointers though...

We shouldn't normally include index.html files but _index.html to show the full directory listing always.

At least now I know why his server is just a messy tree of directory listings. Nevertheless, index.html is a standard for a reason and breaking that standard because you can't figure out the proper way to do something is a Bad Idea. While we're at it, let's write a replacement for HTTP that's portable, casual in terms of the style of the response returned, and can be compiled into our Operating System.

If we are using or improving a given program, let's include it fully in its portable format to download and to inspect completely online, with source code and with reverse engineered versions available, no matter if it's open source. We need it to reach the full scope of computing.

I sincerely hope a DCMA takedown request is enough to get this tragic mess of a server off the internet. I'm sure that will help us to "reach the full scope of computing".

Include a download index for that too.

index.html? That's typically how you include an index. What is a "download index" anyway?

It all will be searchable. We will probably need to prefer direct decompression of PDFs to search text on them, or create full TXT versions.

Except that there's actually a standard to include real text in PDFs, which can be searched with any PDF reader and converted to plain text easily using a utility such as pdf2txt if you really have to use grep on a PDF file.

I wonder what his server configuration file looks like...

[f2]

I don't understand the purpose of your posts. I guess it's the case for everyone here.
You remind me "mbr_tsr" on the flat assembler forums. He posted useless crap again and again, and you are doing the same thing now.
To avoid losing my time for trying to understand your upcoming uninteresting posts, I have added you to my "foes" list.
Oh great! Forums are clean now!!

[deleted]

Hi,

This is a joke right? I don't have any idea what is going on here.

Cheers
Walt

[onlyonemac]

Hi,

This is a joke right? I don't have any idea what is going on here.

Cheers
Walt

I'm afraid I don't think it's a joke. I think it's the output of a very sophisticated Markov chain.